Welcome 2011

Since I don’t have nearly enough going on already, I decided to start this blog to keep track of all the myriad of oh so important thoughts that go through my head on a daily basis. No, not those thoughts. You aren’t privy to them. (Unless, of course, you can read minds, and if that’s the case you’ve already hit the “Back” button).

My actual intention is to make this something of a chronicle of my writing, even if nobody else really gives a damn. Because I need some place to crow about my accomplishments, weep about rejection, and generally vent about my ineptitude. I’m thinking that if I feel I need to update my one regular reader on the progress of my novel or stories, perhaps that will give me one more whisker of incentive to sit down and actually – you know - write.

See, I’m not exceptionally self-motivated. Even a little. I sit down to write and immediately think of oh, say, two dozen or so things to do. Get up and get some water. A cup of coffee. Some chocolate. Oh yeah, let’s check the stock market. eBay.

Oh, dammit. One hundred words? In six hours? Somebody kill me.

As much as I enjoy writing in the sense that I feel good about it and it gives me a sense of accomplishment, it is frustrating and sadistic to sit down at a keyboard and try to wring stories from your brain.

I'll begin this blog by looking back at 2010, since I need a starting point. I began my unnamed fantasy novel at the end of 2009. And I’m now ~45K words into it. Near the halfway point. Not bad. More importantly, I’m happy with the novel thus far, even if I’m not so thrilled with the pace. So +1. Semi-warm pat on my own back.

Just as importantly (for me anyway, I don’t expect you to give two figs), I dove back into writing short fiction again. I took a break from the novel and pounded out 3 1/2 short stories in November. That’s record pace for me. And, again, I was happy with them. (Is this entry too happy for you? Me too. I promise angst and pain before the end.)

So I immediately sent them soaring along to my favorite magazines. Two weeks later - two rejection letters in the oh so polite and heartless forms. Bang! Bang! Like shooting a quacking, flapping ego from the sky.

So I did what all good writers do. I wept. I gnashed my teeth. I considered suicidal measures (not really, Mom).

And then I sat down and viciously edited those stories (like I should have done to begin with). And sent them on their merry way again.

So I currently have the first two stories out. The first to Apex Magazine (one of the best spec fiction magazines around). The second to the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future contest (pie in the sky, but fingers crossed).

The third story I mentioned? Don’t ask. It’s still in the corner of the workshop, covered in a dirty old dropcloth so no one can see it. It’s what we call a work-in-progress, which is fancy language for “it didn’t turn out the way I hoped and now I’m awaiting divine inspiration”.

So, that's pretty much what I've got for today. Whew!

I'll try not to make this blog all tediously dry writing stuff in the future. I'll mix in some book reviews, some thoughts on literature and music. Maybe some random, humorous bits of daily life as they happen.

Thanks for checking in on me. I’ll keep you up to date as I meander my foggy way through life.