I'd say the Denise Little workshop was a success. Two stories that didn't exist a week ago are now written.

I wrote "The Closing Of The Third Eye" between Tuesday and Thursday of last week for the workshop. 3,000 words.

Then what happens at the workshop? We have to read and write a short review of all the prophesy stories we turned in. There were 26 stories from nineteen writers (some did more than one). On noon on Friday we learned we had to read and review ten by 7pm that night. Eight more by noon Saturday. Then eight more by 7pm Saturday night. Plus, a new story was due Saturday at 7pm. The theme: Nightmares.

I had a problem with reading and reviewing all those stories. I'm not a fast reader, but I never thought of myself as a glacial reader, but this excercise made me feel like one. I did better with the eight stories for the noon Saturday deadline. I didn't review any of the stories for 7pm Saturday.

Due to all the reading and reviewing, I didn't get started on my story until Saturday morning, around seven. Dean told us about the Kate Wilhelm rule (a nugget of wisdom I remember from Clarion). Don't pick the first idea that comes to mind when writing about a particular subject. Nor the second, nor the third. Pick the fourth. The obvious ideas will come to you first.

I only had one idea, and it came to me almost as soon as we got the assignment. I felt confident in its originality and I went for it.

"Light In Every Dark Corner" is 3000 words and I like it better than my prophecy story because it hangs together much better.

Will Denise Little buy these stories? We will find out in the next month or two. I need to do some line by line work, smoothing out "Light In Every Dark Corner." When I write fast, I need to give myself time to get rid of some of that awkward phrasing. It is possible to do that. If these two stories don't sell to Tekno books, I can send them elsewhere.

Densie described Tekno books and what they're all about and how they pitch these anthologies to publishers. I only heard her talk in front of the workshop. Otherwise, I only got to say a few sentences to her the rest of the weekend. I was huddled in my room, working.

I slept very little. Four hours of sleep both Friday and Saturday night. I preferred to go to bed instead of pushing on. I do better after some sleep. So I went to bed around midnight and got up at four in the morning.

On Sunday I thought I might be too tired for the drive home, but the lovely, cool coast weather kept me awake and my spirits high. It was great to see some faces I hadn't seen in awhile, too.

One workshop down, Strange Horizons workshop coming up next!

Hey, I wrote two new stories!