Thursday, January 3

Happy 2002!

A group of us were talking the other day and Leslie What asked what our goals were for 2002. I said I wanted to write a draft of a novel. I still will write short stories, but I gotta take the novel plunge sometime. Plus, when I go to that two week workshop in March, I will be learning about novel proposals. In fact, during my time off from work (and before the two week workshop) I may take a shot at writing a synopsis and three chapters of a novel. I'm going to be learning a lot during those two weeks in March and plus I'll be talking to a New York editor. I'm dreaming of taking the novel plunge soon after March.

But what about right now? Short stories. I'd love to have a large amount of stories in the mail before doing a novel. I have nine out right now. Is twenty stories in the mail before doing the novel too much to ask for? Too ambitious?

So I don't have my day job right now. I have a story I'm rewriting now that I will have in the mail on Tuesday, my first story of the year. Well, first new story mailed anyway.

I need to find structure in my day right now since I don't have a day job to imply some kind of structure. I think doing four one hour sessions of writing is a good start. Preferably two of them by noon, because procrastinator is a killer--the more time goes by, the less of a chance I'll write. Inertia is the procrastinator's cohort in crime.

Getting that story done and in the mail on Tuesday is the first thing I'm going to do before I get in any deep goal setting for my two months free from the day job.

Other journalers are talking goals and resolutions. Good luck to them all. I wish you success in the new year!




Sunday, January 6

How quickly things change. I HAD nine stories in the mail, but on Friday rejections began to pop into my mailbox.

I got a rejection from On Spec for my story "Recall."

Also on Friday, the winners of Strange New Worlds Five were announced. And I was not one of them. So although I didn't get a rejection in my mailbox, it's a rejection just the same. One bright point with this one is Dean told me my story "Ghost In The Machine" was in his final table of contents and Ordover approved and liked my story, but it was Paula who rejected the story. Sounds like I was so damned close at maiking it. And as I have been saying around here, just being close makes me smile. While I may not be able to cash that smile like a check, that smile is good for the soul.

Then on Saturday I got my rejection from Writers Of The Future. Well, I didn't feel so confident with "A child In The Closet." I may "desk" that one until I do some revision on it.

I can get "Recall" back out right away. "Ghost In the Machine" is basically a dead story. There's no other market for it and I don't think I can send it back in next year for SNW VI. That story was practice and I did enjoy writing it.






Wednesday, January 9

Another rejection! This one from Brutarian. I feel my rejections have grown quickly this early in the new year. It's probably all timing and I have the whole year to have silence from the mailbox.

My full time writing officially began last Thursday. There was no writing last week. This week, the writing has begun. I'm still as slow as a glacier. Two days I have written. I'm finding a routine. More words to come. And more updates too.




Saturday, January 12

Twelve day response from Realms Of Fantasy (that's my quickest response from them ever!) adds another rejection to my storyboard. That is quick. And I think Shawna read it. There was a handwritten note on my coverpage. The initials look like SM.

If Realms is going to be so quick to respond, I just may send a new story to them on Tuesday. Yes, it looks like I might get this story out this week, instead of last week as originally planned.

I wrote a little over a page today. I'm off to write a little more.





Thursday, January 17

So I need to get motivated to write every day. While I have gotten some writing done I'm still doing a lot of slacking. The days are unstructured. I don't obey the clock and the time slips on by.

It's nice to see what I have gotten done with the use of graph paper, very low tech. Just as I did last summer, I used one sheet for one month. I wrote the day/date along a horizontal line and the pages along a vertical line. I can see at glance how many days in row did write. I can see how many days in a row I did not write.

Writing out my goals help. I have mix feelings about stating them publicly, whether through this journal or through the workshop, but what the hell, here it goes:

I want to do four one-hour writing sessions per day. An hour of writing means at my desk. No pacing. No staring at the walls. Type something.

The hour sessions should begin right away in the morning. To have three of those sessions done by noon or one would be ideal.

This should be good for starters. Now let's see how much I can get done.





Monday, January 21

Today is a good example of how I want to use my days during the next six weeks. I wrote only 473 words which is fine, really, beause the daily number will rise. What counts is the structure to my day. I started off with my first hour early in the morning. The second hour followed the first after a twenty minute break. I let too much time slip by between the second and third hour. Then between hour three and four I let a full hour slip by. I rather keep the time down between sessions. Hey, I have four hours to get through. I might as well not stretch it out too far.

Obviously I wasn't pounding the keys constantly during each hour session, otherwise I'd have more than 473 words. The lag time during each hour needs to be shortened. There's still some hesitation and uncertainty. Inertia is also being picked away.

I said today was a good (not great) example of how I want to do my writing days. There is much much room for improvement and I can do better, but the form is there.

I want to rewrite "After The Sky Fell" for Kris and Dean's workshop this Saturday. Before I begin workin on that, I'd like to get done with my current story. By the end of the week I might be revising two stories. We'll see.

Hey, there was snow on the ground in Eugene this morning. We don't see snow very often on the valley floor. What a treat to see a layer of snow over the grass and cars. It melted by about noon of course.






Tuesday, January 22

I wrote 465 words today. And today wasn't as structured as yesterday. In fact, my first hour in the late morning resulted in no words. Had trouble focusing. Obviously. When I decided to switch to the rewrite of "After The Sky Fell" in the next hour the writing flowed easier. 465 words are new words for this story. My mind has been lingering on this story lately so it's no surprise I had a better writing session when I focused on it.

The rest of the day I focused on reading and critiquing the workshop stories for tonights workshop. There were four of them. One story I read last night but hadn't written the critique yet. There's six stories to critique for next week and it would be good for once if I didn't save the critiquing of all six stories on Tuesday, thank you very much.

I did manage to get back to the keyboard before workshop to rewrite the earlier 465 words in third person. "After The Sky Fell" was originally written in first person. When it was critiqued, some found the first person to be distancing or wrong. I used to love writing in first person, but now I'm not so sure of the strength of first person narrative. Or my strength in writing from that POV. It seems like it's too easy for me to fall into elaborating on feelings and reactions when in first person. In third person with these 465 words, the narrative isn't as obtrusive.

It's so hard to tell with your own writing. How can you judge your own writing?

I'm thinking I'll continue on with third person for this story. I'll find out at Kris and Dean's workshop this weekend if it works.

**********************************

Exciting news at the workshop tonight.

First, Cody Wasner revealed he one first place in this short story contest organized by a Japanese airline. ANA, I think. The winner gets a free trip for two to Japan. Not too shabby. There were entries from 13 countries. Hey, it's an international contest and he won first place. The story will be printed in the airline's in flight magazine.

And we have another winner in the Writers Of The Future contest. Leon West won second place in the last quarter. The news was revealed by Eric Witchey, who is a WOTF winner and is in the current volume. He got to tell Leon in front of the workshop instead of Leon getting the usual phone call. Leon had recently moved from Salem to Eugene and the people at WOTF couldn't get a hold of him. They knew Eric from the contest and they knew Leon was a local writer for Eric. WOTF doesn't like to keep their winners in suspense any longer than they have to, so they told Eric to pass on the news and a phone number to get in touch with the contest.

Leon was stunned. We had confetti poppers to POP! and, man, that guy was stunned. This was his first sale and unexpected. He thought the story had been rejected. I don't think this will be real to him until he calls the people at WOTF.

Congrats to them both!

**********************************

I've been meaning to mention a couple of journals in here.

A Clarion classmate of mine has a journal and he is now a member of the Web Rats. Welcome, Michael Carr!

And Dayle's journal is new. She's going to the same two week workshop on the Oregon coast in March as I am. See you in March, Dayle!





Thursday, January 24

Well blow me down! I wrote 1414 words today. That's more like it. I'll have a great spike on my progress chart. I still need to work on that daily structure and discipline since I still dawdle through my day. Takes time to beat down those old habits.

I'm right on track and I should have that story ready for the workshop on Saturday. Sounds like I'll be carpooling with Nina, Leslie, and Ray. We might have lunch at that great Indian restaurant in Salem with Eric, Devon, and Jay before we all head west to the coast.

Tomorrow is another writing day.





Sunday, January 27

The weather didn't stop me from going to Kris and Dean's workshop on the coast. There was a winter storm coming into the Pacific Northwest on Saturday. Nina and Leslie decided not to go, so it was just Ray and I. I drove.

The trip (usually a two and a half hour drive) there was uneventful. We had some light snow in the Abany are on I-5.

The trip back, now that was eventful. We didn't leave until after 1am, probably closer to 2am. The highway going through the coastal range mountains had slush. I had to drive at 35-45 mph for most of the way. Snow fell occasionally.

By the time we reached Salem the snowfall increased. When you get onto I-5 at Salem the road isn't flat right away. First you got to through a up-and-down stretch of road. It had snowed a lot in Salem. My tires kicked snow against the underside of the car. My car had trouble getting traction. Plus I had to keep it in first gear to get up some those hills. I was sure we were going stranded, but I cruised along in first gear. Snowfall drifted against the window making visibility hell.

Oregon rarely gets this much snow!

The further away from Salem, the less of a problem with the weather. It was around Albany when the sky cleared and there was no snow at the sides of the road.

Not far beyond Albany, I-5 became icy. I knew it was going to get down twenty-nine degrees in the valley, so this wasn't a surprise. I had to drive the rest of the way to Eugene (forty or fifty miles approx.) at 35 mph, sometimes getting up to 45. There were already cars in the ditch. Plus one semi-truck! That ice had taken some drivers by surprise.

The road was less icy as soon as we got into Eugene. When pulled up to my apartment it was almost 6 am. It took about four hours to get home. Remember, it should only take two and a half hours.

Yes indeed. This is a cold winter around here when we get snow. Eugene might get more snow tomorrow. It doesn't stay around long, of course.

And I'm glad I had a chance to use my Minnesota winter driving experience.

Anyhoo, the workshop. We had five stories to critique and, alas, I did not finish the story I wanted to bring. I had some problems with "After The Sky Fell." I felt the need to rethink some of the action of the story. It's probably a poor excuse for not getting it done. I'll continue to work on it as I work on other things.

There was plenty of talking and such after the critiquing, which is why we didn't leave until almost two in morning. The workshop was in the same house where the two weekshop is going to be. I found myself getting pumped up for those two weeks in March.

Well actually, the way to get pumped up is to keep writing until then.

Tomorrow is the start of another week for more writing.





Wednesday, January 30

No snow in Eugene. Just the cold and rainy weather. I guess all the snow stayed up around Salem, although it all could be gone now.

It's been a slow week, writing wise. I'll feel good if I can get this rewrite finally done and in the mail tormorrow or Friday. I brainstormed titles today. It's fun to create a list on piece of paper. I might go for Darkness Elixir or . . . or . . . or I might brainstorm more titles. Hell, I filled up one page, I can fill up another.

I have a lovely Rockaway weekend coming up. That's where we rent the Colony House practically on the beach in a town called Rockaway Beach and eleven or twelve of us writers each write a story between Friday and Sunday night. We read what we've written aloud on Sunday. There aren't many rooms so most people write on the main floor. There's tremendous synergy in that house when we get together.

It's about a three hour drive from Eugene (same route as my trip last weekend). I always look forward to those Rockaway weekends.

I'm hitting the road on Friday morning to be at the house by noon. I'm aiming to get that story in the mail before I leave.





Thursday, January 31

I worked on rewriting today and I'm basically done with the story, but . . . Well, it's better than what I thought it would be so I wouldn't mind taking a little more time going over it line by line. I'll be taking this to Rockaway with me. I don't know if this my same old procrastination/avoidance behavior, or a genuine and honorable focus on the craft. This story is much more closer to completion than last week and the plan is still to get it out in the mail as quickly as possible, which means early next week.

The goal this weekend is to write a complete story. I'll read mine aloud on Sunday. Any comments I get, because I will ask for them, I'll make changes and send that story out next week as well. I have a story idea in mind. A story I call The Sudden Room. The primary plan is to start and finish that story and the secondary plan is to do line edits on the Darkness Elixir story. Probably do line edits on the secondary during breaks from the primary story.

I need to pick up the pace and push harder this month. That workshop in March is coming up fast.

So I'll be at Rockaway this weekend and I'll update again on Monday. By the way, yesterday when I wrote the Colony House is practically on the beach, that means the house is one street back from the beach and sits on a hill. We can hear the ocean and the beach is just yards away. A ocean view is available from any window facing west. No matter the season, it's always nice to see the ocean.