Just a little reminder to myself. Time to get back to work. I have 3 or 4 stories that have been in the percolator for way too long and really need to be written. So I'm going to get those done. One of them will be my next WOTF entry and there's no doubt that it'll have to be all kinds of awesome to stand a chance. Also have three ghost stories nearing completion. Over the last couple days I've managed to get 2 more stories back out into the wilderness, bringing my total back up to 11 (if you count the 3 Heinlein entries and a poem. The poem's been out for a while and to tell you the truth I'm a little worried I may have killed the slush reader... ya'll know my Vogon skills). 3 more are ready for the post office, and one is almost ready to send out to Apex. Should be back up to 15 soon, not too shabby me thinks. Also noticed today that both my sales for this year were sent on January 31st (weird right?). Too bad I only sent two on that day....... Next year I'll have to send like 10.  I'm starting to believe in all this numerology stuff. Maybe I should go consult a Chinese fortune teller before I send out submissions.

I don't know if I shared this before, but I did actually go to see a fortune teller to choose an auspicious wedding date. Of course they go completely by Lunar calendar so he had no idea the implication when he chose 9/11 as the perfect luckiest day for us to get married. Of course there was no way I was going to go with that. Luckily, he gave us a second choice (10/5).

 

Well, they say writers should read. And that's what I've been doing. I'll admit to not being as avid a reader as many of the people I see around this LJ world. I think a book a month is about my current rate. Anyway as I mentioned earlier I've been reading Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus and really enjoying it. Well guess what? What they say is true. Today an idea hit me. A novel idea. I can always tell these when I get them, and this is definitely one based on the scope of the story (could never ever ever be a short). Best part about it is that it wasn't just a concept idea, but a zillion ideas coming at me all at once for different sections of the book. I took about 6 pages of notes and have even mapped out chapters 1-7 (Part One). Of course there's still a lot to do, but it certainly is a start. Only problem is technically I'm still working on Novel #3 (well, it's been on hiatus for a while but still). I think I'll put that one aside for now and move right onto this novel instead or at least try to get my outline built. I'm not really sure if I'm an outliner or a pantser yet. My first novel was definitely write what comes to mind, but the second novel was a bit more outlined with a lot of write what comes to mind in between. I'm gonna try more outline on this one. I guess by my seventh or eigth novel I'll start to find my groove. 

Besides that I've been playing Command and Conquer Generals. Fun game. Nothing like the senseless blowing up of things to take ones mind off writing. Not online though. Whenever I play these kinda games online I manage to get annihilated within 30 seconds which is a good indication I should probably stick to writing.

I consider three LJ friends signing with agents as a kick in the butt for me. So as of today I'm going to spend more time whipping that second novel into shape (It's a YA Humorous Fantasy). Doesn't mean I'll be giving up on short stories, but I want to divide my time a little more between the two. I need to make sure it's really ready before dedicating myself to the query process again. It took me about a year to get back to it which is kinda sad, but says a lot about my will to edit stuff. On the other hand I think the timeout will make it easier to see the problems (plus I wish to think my writing has improved in that time...).

Anyway, wish me luck! I hope to be finished many of the revisions by the end of the month. Currently it's at around 100,000 but I'm looking to bring it down to the 80,000-90,000 range. And good luck to all of you currently working on novels. That's just about all of you, isn't it?