short story, first published by Postscripts Magazine
I sat down this morning to get words. On anything. I have a slew of unfinished short stories to choose from — I figured if I got words and finished any or all of those stories, that would be good. I could take one to the workshop at the end of this month (for which […]
In the lose-some department, news from my agent is that one of the UK publishing houses considering Shadow Queen has decided to pass. C'est la vie. In the win-some department, Google Alerts is a dangerous wonderful thing. Today it informed me that Issue #18 of PostScripts Magazine will be released in Spring 20091, and will […]
Today, I am full of requests for blurbs and biographies. Note to self: when you write a story, write a blurb then and there. You'll need it later. Pledged has been read through (and hopefully all those embarrassing typos caught and corrected) and emailed to my agent and editor, which means it's off my desk […]
Today's word of the day? golem noun (in Jewish legend) a clay figure brought to life by magic. an automaton or robot. — origin late 19th cent.: from Yiddish goylem, from Hebrew golem 'shapeless mass'. This is my novel's way of sneaking up on me. It wants revising, it wants out the door — and […]
The blasted short story wants to be written longhand. And it wants to be written a hundred words at a time. Have explained to story that time is pressing and a hundred words a day will not cut it. Story remains unmoved. Have threatened story with never being written, but story is unfazed. You've written […]
So it looks like the possum is not sick or injured. She's just decided the corner is a neato place and thanks very much. She seems to wander away for food and whatnot during the night and just wants to spend the days sleeping there. H'm. Better there than trying to get into the roofspace, […]
…is the sound of this story wiping the floor with me. It just took me an hour and a half to come up with a new way of beginning this story. An hour. And a half. It's not even in the final perfect and polished form. There's a little note next to it which says […]
Revised Words: 2,595 / 2,770 (Dead Queen), 1,411 / 1,740 (Blessed) Soundtrack: Garden State, Scrubs Exercise: An hour and a half! It didn't help my plotwork any. That hope I had, of the rest of this short story falling into place now I'd found the new structure? Unfounded. Utterly. Honestly, it's like waging war. I […]
I cannot concentrate today. If someone were to barge in, place a shotgun to my temple and shout, "Quick, what's the square root of one?" I doubt I'd be able to find an answer. (Well, sure, yes, the shotgun might make me wibble at the best of times. But hush in the galleries, would you? […]
We have book. We have book delivered to beta-readers. We have author, stuck in post-novel restlessness. (The ennui either hasn't hit yet, or has passed already in those last two nights I spent virtually comatose. Only time will tell.) It's a strange, and largely useless, state of mind. I want to work on — and […]