Finished my quick-fix rewrite of “Ashes, Ashes” and sent it off to TOTU. Eric Heideman had suggested I cut the piece by 200-300 words. I cut 500–with relative ease, I might add. That I wrote this story [mumble] years ago might have a little something to do with that, as might the fact that I’ve already done [mumble] drafts. Safe to say I have some distance on it.
One might reasonably ask why I bother. Well, I still believe in it, for one thing. And I’m bone stubborn, for another. I’m sure many people see me as doggedly determined, even driven. But the truth of the matter is that giving up just doesn’t occur to me . . . most of the time, anyway. There are a handful of stories and a novel I’ve pretty much consigned to the fabled trunk. (I don’t actually have a “trunk,” just folders I don’t take out of the desk drawer anymore, and a box of stuff in my closet.) But every now and again, even they whimper softly to me.
I also finally finished my read-through of Petra. I have to say that I really like my ending. I had forgotten some cool stuff I’d thrown in there. Now I must embark on the actual rewrite . . . and I must admit a little trepidation. One of the major fixes I need to work on will hit me right away, in chapter one. No running start for me; I get to begin at a wall. It would be so easy, so tempting, to dither and delay, to busy myself with getting mss in the mail (and believe me, there’s a lot of that to do), but no. I will not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings–
Oops. Sorry. Geek moment. I’m sure you understand.
Write Club update: Baen’s Universe bounced “The Multiplicity Has Arrived” with a tier one rejection. Response time, five days.
And I’m gone.
