Saturday, June 2
Hey, I got two stories back out in the mail today. Finally! I'm still bad at getting stories back out the door right away.

"To Anna, From The Styx" went to Darkling Plain. And "Eternity Serves Fate" went to Aboriginal SF.
Darkling Plain rejected "Messages" before it was sold to Realms. The editor wrote a nice rejection letter and it seemed like I was very close to selling "Messages" to them. I don't think "To Anna, From The Styx" is as strong of a story, but I won't play editor.

I wrote 239 words on a new story today. However, I really need to get cracking on some revising for the story I'm handing in on Tuesday. I'll be revising on Sunday.
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Have you ever workshopped a story while it was in the mail?

At Kris and Dean's workshop in early May, I brought "Shattered" even though it is currently at Realms Of Fantasy.

I knew the story was close and I liked the story a lot. I had fun writing it. It's my narcissist story. I created a world where people interacted with their mirror reflections. Their reflections is all that matters. In this story, Evy's reflections start vanishing. There's someone stealing them.

Anyway, I knew if I brought it to Kris and Dean's, I'd get a fresh read. Only Ray and Jerry W had seen it before.

The feedback was fantastic. I learned the story is good, but there a few things I could do to make it stronger.

So it's on Shawna McCarthy's desk and I'm all anxious because I'm wondering if she buys it as is, I'm still going to feel like rewriting it to make it stronger. In an ideal world she'll ask for the same changes the workshop reccommended.
Maybe she'll reject it. Then I'll just do the rewrite (and the changes are minor) and send it off to the next market.

Oh, but the waiting. I keep saying I should hear from Realms any day now.

The reaction I got at Kris and Dean's makes me believe in this story. I think it will sell somewhere. This could by my next story to sell, in my humble opinion. Although it's had several rejections already, I remember "Messages" had fourteen rejections before it sold.

Kris and Dean's workshop is similar to Kate and Damon's, except Kris and Dean move things along with one or two minute critques per person. They provide the spaghetti dinner. Everybody brings a side dish, drink, or dessert. It was great fun.

It's worth the three hour drive to the coast. I get to see some people I don't see very often and meet new people too. Two writers from Reno, Nevada drove up for the workshop. Now that's a long haul!


Monday, June 4

I should be able to hand in story #3, Ghost In The Machine, to the workshop tomorrow. I spent a lot of time rewriting it this weekend, and also writing one of the last scenes. All I need to do is write the validation scene (which should only be a page) and print it out.

Ghost In The Machine is a Star Trek story for Strange New Worlds. It's a revised version of a old story. Many new words written for this revised puppy.

This story still needs work, I know it, but not that much work. It's close, I'm sure. The workshop will help me figure it out.

I still need to get in the habit of critiquing workshop stories earlier. Waiting until Monday or
Tuesday to read four, five, or six stories isn't fun. It would be ideal to read one a night, starting Wednesday.

Karina is at Clarion. Stop by her journal and read about her Clarion experience as it happens. Much success, learn a lot, and have fun, Karina!

More Web Rats going to Clarion West coming soon!


Wednesday, June 6

Ghost In The Machine was handed to the workshop yesterday.

The critique of After The Sky Fell was good too. I was afraid with the choppy way I worked on that story, it might be lost. I heard great support for that story and I got some good comments to get it to work better.

I'm planning to get a rewrite of that story finished for Kate and Damon's workshop this Saturday.

Today wasn't very productive, so I better be careful.


Sunday, June 10

"After The Sky Fell" is a story I'll be revising slowly. The words tumbled out awkward and inadequate when I tried to change it from first person to third person. I do believe third person is the way to go. I'm just having trouble getting the right narrative voice.

Ray said during the critique (you really can't go wrong listening to Ray Vukcevich) I may want to focus on the main image of the story. Develope it, tighten it, and then ask myself how would this affect the characters.

I finally had a small breakthrough on Saturday when I did as Ray said a few hours before I left for Kate and Damon's workshop. I focused on the image and developed the details. I printed out the page for Ray to read during the short drive to the workshop. (Ray is my next door neighbor so we carpooled)

He thought it was better. And just as I predicted, I was told it could still be better.

When your writing fantasy, part of the fun is creating something nobody has seen before and it is fun playing with the words so the vision is clear in the reader's head.

I want to have patience with this one. Patience at this point is important, I think. While I want to write faster and get things done in a more timely fashion, I can't forget to dwell in the details of the worlds and images I create. This is imperative for I want the reader to experience what I experience inside my head.

I can learn to dwell in the details as I write fast. It just takes practice.

We critiqued three stories at Kate and Damon's. And we celebrated two birthdays. Kate's birthday was on Friday, June 8. Eric Witchey's birthday is today, Sunday, June 10. Cheers!

Now it's Sunday evening and I'm way behind on finishing a story for Tuesday. Yikes!


Tuesday, June 12

"Ghost In The Machine" was critiqued tonight. This one is close to being done. I got some good comments. I know what to do to make it stronger.

Unfortunately, I did not hand in a story tonight. I decided to continue working on my current story instead of whipping out a short-short for the group. I wrote 588 words today.

I like what's happening inside my head, psychologically speaking. I feel a sense of purpose and I don't feel like I lost just because I didn't hand in a story this week. The writing continues. I've had the attitude in the past (mainly on the sub-conscious level) to quit when my writing seems clunky and awkward. These last few weeks I've been able to let go and relax. Sometimes the words still come out clunky or awkward, but I have the focus that it can be fixed.

And this is all just process. Process and practice.
I beat procrastination today and I'm aiming to have that story done for next Tuesday.

Oh, the story that got critiqued last week, "After The Sky Fell," will be the story I read aloud at WesterCon. It's my goal to have that story revised by then. This story has a big WOW factor and it should make a good reading. It will be my first reading ever.

Rejection today from Asimov's. They passed on "Recall." I'll get that back in the mail on Saturday.


Sunday, June 17

Dave Bischoff and I went out to play golf today. Well, we tried. The golf course (not the one I work on) had an hour and a half wait. So we hit some balls off the driving range instead. I'm no golfer. It's been over a year since I've been on a driving range, but I was surpised how well I hit the ball on my first swing today. When I say first swing, I mean no practice shot. I just got up to the ball and swung. It was all down hill from there.

I don't know how often I'll play golf this summer. It depends how many times Dave and Bruce want to go. I told them I can golf for free on the course where I work and my guests can golf for free too.
It was nice to do something different. Warm day and a cool breeze.

I don't want this to get in the way of writing and I don't plan on letting it. I built up some steam and progress the last few weeks. Now I'm trudging along. Inertia is threatening to return.

I'm hoping to have short-short done for Tuesday. I gotta kick ass tomorrow. And I have most of the workshop stories (4 out of 6) read and critiqued.

On our workshop listserver we've been discussing a possible new way to critque. We get 20-30 people each week. The tables stretch across the room and some (at times) at one end of the table can't hear the others on the other end. Then there's the problem of too many critiques and the time involved.

Change might be good here. We're not burning any bridges. We're just going to try another method or two and see what happens. If nothing else works, we can go back to the old way.


Monday, June 25

At our workshop last Tuesday we did not do any major changes in our critiquing procedure. Again, there were close to thrity of us. Leslie had come up with an idea to try "Ditto."

Ditto-ing is what you say when you agree with a particular point someone else is saying during a critique. In theory this is suppose to cut down on time spent critiquing one story. As the crtique moves around the table most points have been covered, so usually the only thing the last person can do is say: "All my comments have been dittoed." Or "Everything's been covered."

I had to spend some time getting use to focusing on each person's critique so I could ditto when the dittos were called. There were a few times when I was reading my comments (preparing for my verbal critique) for someone's story when I heard a flurry of dittos. Since I wasn't paying attention, I didn't know what everyone was agreeing on.
We also tried "Dissent." You descent when you disagree with a ditto or another particular point.

The critiques did seem to run faster and smoother. At least at first they did. By the time the last story was critiqued, however, people were giving longer verbal critiques.

"Dissent" seemed to derail some people during the verbal, especially if more than one person disagreed with someone's particular point. A person getting too many descents wouldn't finish elaborating on their point. And that's not right. It's probably better if they have their full say.

There was one moment of magic with "Ditto." A new writer got a story critiqued that night. She's had stories critiqued in the workshop before. She's not even 21. She writes well and I don't think her ego is fragile. When someone mentioned during his verbal critique that she must send this story out, a majority shouted, "Ditto!"

That had to feel good. I know I smiled. And I was one of those who shouted. One person at a time could say the same thing, but there's less power when compared to a supportive mob who all shout at once.

We're going to tinker a bit with this new tool.
Also, six stories should have been handed in for next week, but only three stories showed up. We've got an easy week. Tomorrow, we'll have time to discuss possible new ways to critique with our growing population.

Yes, my story was one of the no-shows. I got three stories handed in this quarter, enough for the Colonist Award, and a new quarter begins soon.


Wednesday, June 27

Last night at workshop we continued with the dittos and I think we're ready to get rid of the dissent rule because it tends to derail the critiquer.
We only had three stories to critique so we didn't rush things and everyone was able to spew criticism all they wanted. We also didn't talk about any other changes in critiquing, but with only three stories a night and the ditto rule, things are working pretty well.

Three stories again for next week.

In other news, I looked at the typical response time I've been getting from Realms Of Fantasy and it's almost exactly four months. Earlier this month I talked about "Shattered" critiqued at Kris and Dean's workshop while that story was at Realms of Fantasy. Well, I had sent that story there on Feb. 20. Four months have passed and I'm anxiously waiting. Will it be rejected? Will she want a rewrite? I wanna know!

Really, I shouldn't worry about it. I have a lot other things I could be working on.

More later.