Where Have I Been All This Time?

No, I'm not dead. I've just slacked off somewhat. A terrible shame on me.
 
Over the last couple weeks I've found myself caught up in house cleaning, video game playing, exercising and reading the Murakami novels I hadn't gotten around to yet. I'm still about 15 books shy of my goal in the 50 Book Challenge, and I'd like to have most of that done by November before embarking on my second NaNoWriMo project.
 
I have written a few more small chapters for Rain and a few 1000+ Words exercises, just to flex the writing muscles once in a while. I suppose if I honestly don't want them to atrophy I'll have to use them more. I'm a bit ashamed of myself at the moment. Something that makes me so completely happy and fulfilled should be a bit higher up on my list of priorities. At least now, though, I have an orderly area in which to work, rather than that sty of a bedroom I used to spend all my time in. It took several days to get it to where I wanted it, and now that it's clean and organized I'm amazed at the amount of space I have to work with.
 
I've come to the realization that without structure and organization I am nothing. I can't get anything accomplished if I allow myself total freedom. Without putting things in writing I can't remember my goals. So from now on I'll have to go back to making daily To-Do lists, including both my household chores and my writing ideas. I'd ideally like to write a chapter of Rain a day before the enthusiasm for the project wears off, but barring that I'd at least like to write one 1000+ Words exercise daily or every other day. The exercises I'd really like to share, maybe even post here, but since a few of them grew into full-fledged short stories (and some are even still out for submission) I don't know if I can do that or not.
 
For today, though, I think before I wind down mid-afternoon in preparation for sleep I'll get to reviewing and adding to Rain. It's a neat little story that I'd like to finish not only for myself but also for Eric, who has been waiting patiently for the next several chapters.

A Few New Rejections

“A Poor Self-Image” was recently rejected from Fail Better (www.failbetter.com) and “Cryptic Coloration” was sent back from Ideomancer (www.ideomancer.com).

Oh, well.

“A Poor Self-Image” may end up being too heavy-handed to sell, considering the message it’s pushing. I didn’t really want to tell the story like that, with a moral nicely baked in the center, but it was the only way I could write it that included everything I wanted. A rejected reflection only comes about from one of a few things, most of which are going to sound cheesy when put down in writing.

“Cryptic Coloration,” though, I’m very fond of. I can go back and read that any number of times. It was my first attempt at Magical Realism, and though there’s not much in the way of an exciting plot (and zero in the way of real conflict), I felt a sense of accomplishment when I finished it. It was a delight to write. Only now, during the submissions process, I’ve come to realize that this story really doesn’t meet any genre criteria. I might have to go the way of literary magazines to find a home for this one. It’s not horror at all, nor science fiction, and it could only be categorized as fantasy in the loosest of senses. Ideomancer requires a genre to pigeonhole the story in, and gives you a list to choose from, so I picked “slipstream.” I’m not even sure that was accurate, to be honest.

So now I have four or five stories I need to shop out again, and two I’m waiting on hearing back about still.

Back to the Post Office I go.