the waiting game
One very frustrating part about writing as a business is the waiting. Generally it takes me a while to write, edit, get my works critiqued and then re-edited before they are ready to be sent out in search of publication. This all must take into account writer's blocks, procrastination, my friends' writing/critiquing schedule and just plain, 'I don't wanna!' time.
(You may think that IDW time is actually procrastination or writer's block, but it's a different beast involving intense hatred of the characters and/or their problems and not knowing whether to fix them or abandon ship. I sometimes wonder about all the half-formed relationships and cliff-hangers I 've left dangling in cyberspace. What f they all actually exist in some parallel universe? Will they meet up with other authors' forsaken protagonists and create their own endings? But I digress...)
So when a story is ready to go out and face the world, I'm all over it. Last night I finished editing, "My Hero." It's a short story (5,000 words) and I even knew which magazine I planned to send it to. Yeah!
So imagine my distress when I checked the website and found my first choice publisher wasn't accepting new submissions until January 15! I was discombobulated! (I know, only two days away, but I'm an instant gratification kind of gal. I was ready to send it at 2AM last night and was thwarted. Thwarted, I tell you!)
Usually the waiting game is after you've sent your baby out into the cruel world and you're waiting to hear if it has passed muster, but this is a new kind of torture. I feel like I'm caught in limbo. I should go back to writing "texas hold 'em" about the racehorse trainers. Or back to "psychics anonymous" which is actually at the 2/3rd mark, but I like to feel "My Hero" is out there before I move on. Or back, as the case may be.
And whenever there's a lull between writing projects, I get a few new shiny projects dancing in my head. I was thinking about a story (probably a short one) where a woman finds a kitten who then turns out to be a witch's cat. (Fuzzy Magic as the title???) This cat has magical powers but may not actually do what the hapless new owner wants. But I'm trying to decide how much mayhem the cat would create beyond (of course) endless amounts of cat treats and toys...
What will I do now? Which story will win out in the race to fruition? And will I get over my devastation at having to wait? Stay tuned for the next exciting installment of Nora, Smut Writer in Process.
But meanwhile I think I'll look into the profiterole and wine situation. Or maybe there's still some chocolate around here somewhere...
(You may think that IDW time is actually procrastination or writer's block, but it's a different beast involving intense hatred of the characters and/or their problems and not knowing whether to fix them or abandon ship. I sometimes wonder about all the half-formed relationships and cliff-hangers I 've left dangling in cyberspace. What f they all actually exist in some parallel universe? Will they meet up with other authors' forsaken protagonists and create their own endings? But I digress...)
So when a story is ready to go out and face the world, I'm all over it. Last night I finished editing, "My Hero." It's a short story (5,000 words) and I even knew which magazine I planned to send it to. Yeah!
So imagine my distress when I checked the website and found my first choice publisher wasn't accepting new submissions until January 15! I was discombobulated! (I know, only two days away, but I'm an instant gratification kind of gal. I was ready to send it at 2AM last night and was thwarted. Thwarted, I tell you!)
Usually the waiting game is after you've sent your baby out into the cruel world and you're waiting to hear if it has passed muster, but this is a new kind of torture. I feel like I'm caught in limbo. I should go back to writing "texas hold 'em" about the racehorse trainers. Or back to "psychics anonymous" which is actually at the 2/3rd mark, but I like to feel "My Hero" is out there before I move on. Or back, as the case may be.
And whenever there's a lull between writing projects, I get a few new shiny projects dancing in my head. I was thinking about a story (probably a short one) where a woman finds a kitten who then turns out to be a witch's cat. (Fuzzy Magic as the title???) This cat has magical powers but may not actually do what the hapless new owner wants. But I'm trying to decide how much mayhem the cat would create beyond (of course) endless amounts of cat treats and toys...
What will I do now? Which story will win out in the race to fruition? And will I get over my devastation at having to wait? Stay tuned for the next exciting installment of Nora, Smut Writer in Process.
But meanwhile I think I'll look into the profiterole and wine situation. Or maybe there's still some chocolate around here somewhere...
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