I sat in traffic for an hour today. Although I’m not terribly bothered by traffic, I hate wasting time, so I made the most of it by scheduling appointments, returning phone calls, text messaging a couple of people (yes, I know, I shouldn’t text while driving) and making some notes on a couple of projects I’m working on. I think if I drove anything bigger than a Miata, I might have pulled out my laptop and tried to write a few hundred words. Good thing I drive a Miata, huh?
It is the last days of summer and while I didn’t accomplish all of my lofty goals over my summer break, I have shifted gears a bit. I’m prioritizing my writing a little differently in order to fit novel writing back into the mix. It’s slow going, mostly because making the transition from short fiction to novel length fiction requires a completely different writing process. It’s like going from running the hundred yard dash to running a 10K. It’s still running (writing), but it’s a different strategy.
Of course, I can’t give up short fiction entirely. First, I love writing short fiction. It’s deceptive in its brevity-- one would think it’s easy to write a short story, unless one has attempted it. There is an art to writing short and while I haven’t yet mastered it, I still enjoy the challenge. Second, as I’ve said before, short fiction is immediate gratification. Or as immediate as anything can be in the snail’s pace world of publishing. I like writing a story and selling it while it’s still fresh in my memory. I’ve literally forgotten the plots to a couple novels I’ve written-- while they were still being submitted! Third, I’ve built enough of a reputation writing short fiction (and, yes, I mean erotica, though I don’t categorize my writing that way-- it’s short story, novel or essay in my mind) that I get private invitations to submit. Even if I stopped seeking out new markets to write for, I don’t think I could turn my back on requests for my work. Writing short fiction has brought me into contact with a bunch of incredible editors and publishers and I’ve been doing this long enough to know better than to take for granted a single sale or word of encouragement. Call me foolish, but I like being told I’m a good writer. It beats the three-inch thick folder of rejection letters I’ve received for various novels over the years.
Still, having said all that, it’s nice to be delving back into longer fiction. I miss it when I’m not working on a novel, and heaven knows I’ve gone long, long stretches without writing more than 15 consecutive pages. I’ve been working on a partially finished novel, but today as I sat in unexplainable Friday afternoon traffic, I had an idea for a different book. Who knows whether anything will come of it, but it’s nice to be thinking in terms of chapters instead of scenes.
I may actually finish a novel one of these days. I may even get around to submitting it. What happens after that is anyone’s guess, but the possibilities are exciting.
In less than a week I will be laying on a beach, soaking up the sun and sipping a lethal tropical beverage with a name like Bushwacker or Headbanger or some such. Until then, I’m diligently working on writing deadlines and making lists of things to do before I leave. By the time I’m on that beach, I will be very glad to be on vacation.
Amidst the short fiction deadlines are two novels I need to finish sometime this year, preferably one this summer. I have pulled them out and dusted them off (figuratively speaking) and I’m ready to get back to them. One is mostly finished and in need of serious editing and a new ending. The other is two-thirds finished, but I know where it’s going (I think). I still like both stories and I’m still excited about working on them. I have a third novel idea floating around in my brain, but I need to finish at least one of the others before I start something new.
I’m not lacking for novel ideas or already-written-need-to-be-edited-novels. What I’m lacking is a critique partner/group to give me feedback and keep me motivated. I had a fabulous critique group ten years ago, but we eventually went our separate ways as each of us branched out from where we’d started and into other genres. We all went from unpublished, aspiring writers to published authors during the time we worked together, so I know the value of that kind of feedback and I wish I could find it again. I used to have a strong network of writer friends I met through conferences and mailing lists, but I’ve become rather isolated from the writing community in the past few years and I need to work on that.
Finding the right critique partner or group is a lot like finding the right spouse and it doesn’t always work out; when it does, it can be priceless. If you are a writer (or know someone who is)—preferably published, preferably writing genre fiction (romance, mystery, chick lit or erotica), preferably with a finished or nearly finished manuscript—and you’re looking for a critique partner, drop me a note.
*Terms are negotiable.
I’m on track today. 2500(ish) words so far, with maybe another hour’s worth of writing in me, thanks to a couple of iced coffees (one lousy, one pretty good) at two different writing spots (the usual one and a brand new Starbucks with very comfy chairs). There is a story swirling around in my brain that I’d like to at least get drafted tonight. I have an annoying habit of coming up with the best lines of dialogue when I’m half-asleep and then promptly forgetting them the next day.
I found out yesterday that my story “At Midnight, In the Month of June,” which was originally bought last year by the lovely and wise editors at Clean Sheets when no print anthology would touch it (must be that weird sex-and-death theme, hmm?) has been bought by the fabulous Maxim Jakubowski for the next edition of The Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica. For those keeping track, this is my second year appearing in the Mammoth collection. I really, really love this story and struggled for months to make it what I wanted it to be (to be honest, it’s still not quite there yet) and I’m thrilled Maxim was willing to take a chance on my rather unusual plot.
I have stories in thirteen erotica anthologies this year (so far-- there are still a couple of submissions pending for end-of-year collections). Ten of them are in the sidebar, with the others coming just as soon as the covers are available. I hope, one of these days, I’ll have a novel over there as well. Much as I love seeing my name in a book, the urge to see my name on one is growing stronger every day.
It’s my first day of eight weeks of academic freedom. I wish I could say I’ve been more productive, but I think I’m taking today as a free day before I get into a new routine of writing. It’s hard sometimes, after keeping up a furious pace of reading/writing/researching for school to adjust to a new, more relaxed rhythm of writing for myself. In some ways, I do better with a rigid academic schedule because the deadlines are not self-imposed and it’s easier to be disciplined because there’s a grade point average with my name on it.
For the next eight weeks… I can read what I want! I don’t have to write anything academic! I don’t have to do any research except on St. Thomas and other travel destinations! Ahh! Freedom!
It’s almost scary having so much freedom, because it means I have to be self-disciplined when I’d rather play, write when I’d rather watch a movie, edit when I’d rather read someone else’s book. No one is going to tell me I must write, except me. Surprisingly, I don’t always listen to myself. It’s all about discipline and, if I slack off (or let someone else convince me I can slack off), I have only myself to blame.
Not that I’m complaining. I lead a pretty charmed life and I know it. I have lofty aspirations for my eight week break and they don’t all involve drinking tropical alcoholic beverages and mastering the art of the nap. Really. No, really.
Sigh… guess I’ll just have to prove it.
Two literature classes. Eighteen books. Six weeks.
Yes, I read them all.
What’s it all about?
Life. Love. Writing. Editing. Sex. Books. Romance. Movies. Friendship. Photography. Teaching. Coffee. (Lots of coffee.) Travel. Feminism. Academia. Insomnia. Memories. Experiences. Rants. Raves. Reviews. Babies. Pregnancy. Motherhood. Insanity. Musings of an insomniac writer. Want to know more?
