Yes, I’ve been writing and editing a few short stories again. I’ve been trying to piece together the novel and get it to a point where I think I can pitch it to agents and editors at World Fantasy this year, but I needed a break. And what do I do when I need a break? I write and edit short stories.

I was very happy to receive an Honorable Mention for the 2nd quarter of the Writers of the Future contest. Honorable Mention may not seem like much, but considering the amount of entries they receive, it’s affirmation that I’m heading in the right direction. I think the story I submitted for the 3rd quarter is stronger, and I’ll be surprised if I don’t get at least Honorable Mention for that one. Then again, it’s hard to judge your own work. I mean, without actually getting professional feedback in the form of red marks or comments on your manuscript, the only way to learn is to read and write. And keep repeating the process.

So, the story I received an Honorable Mention got revised and submitted to Asimov’s. I probably won’t revise the story anymore, but keep submitting to other magazines, that is, unless I get feedback of some sort. I also submitted a different story to Fantasy & Science Fiction. And tonight I finished revising another short story. It’s science fiction, but more Bradbury like. Now, I’m not saying I write like Bradbury–no one does. It’s reminiscent of Bradbury.

I have a couple of other short stories that are ready for revision, but I think I need to get back to revising the novel–World Fantasy is right around the corner!

It’s been how many months since I posted? Hmm, yes, since February and my nice, long unplanned snow vacation from the day job. Pure bliss that was. The day job has really sucked the life out of me the past few months and I’m afraid it also sapped my writing a little as well. And then a couple of great writing moments happened for me:

I had a short story (novelette really) receive Honorable Mention at the Writers of the Future Contest for the 3rd 2nd quarter, and I just got back from David Farland’s Professional Writers Workshop in Dallas, Texas. I met many wonderful people and had a great time–and learned a great deal!

I’ll write more on my experiences during the workshop this week. But now it’s back to the manuscript and major overhauling/revisions.

Revising.  I love the idea of revising.  So, I let my completed manuscript sit for about a month. I did absolutely nothing with it, I didn’t even think about it.  What did I do during that time?  I wrote a short story in a different genre.  I wrote the short story, let it sit for a week or so and then I revised that.

Why did I not go back to my 115k word novel? Well…for one I had a contest deadline I wanted to meet for the short story.  Plus, I figured revising the short story would be excellent practice for when I started on the novel. I learned a lot during the revisions on the short story, and I also learned that I had to let it go.  No matter how many times I read it after a revision I always found things I could fix or tinker with. Finally, I had to stop. I read it through after I don’t know, nine revisions and said that’s it.  I checked it for obvious errors and just sent it away to the contest.

I think the process of editing the short story was important for how I was going to tackle the 115k word novel. Seeing the short story grow with each revision excited me and I actually started to believe I could write an engaging story and craft interesting sentences.  Those sentences came to life and the characters became real.

So, now I’m revising my novel and it is still daunting. I’ve restructured the opening and believe it is much stronger this time. I know though that once I make it through the whole novel it is going to take a few more passes before I think it is anywhere close to being ready for me to query agents about it.

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While revising the novel I thought I’d write the second book of the series, but I’ve decided to write something entirely different. After I write this book I’ll go back to the series, but for now I think it’s a good idea to try writing something much different than the first book.  It’d be so easy for me to continue to write the series since I know the characters and setting so well, but I don’t want a comfort zone at the moment. In the end I think this will make me a better writer. Once I get the world built and some characters to inhabit the world I’ll post more on it.

Anyway, off to revising the Progeny manuscript.

Alistair