I did it!!

I finally got around to finishing up my submissions. I had two stories ready to go out (when I looked at the others closely, I found too many flaws for me to be able to send them out with a clear conscience), which brings my total of outstanding stories up to five, now, with one at Critters, two awaiting revisions and two awaiting typing and revisions, four awaiting finishing, and nine awaiting something more than title and a plot summary.

Yayness!

AND, I've made a new resolution. From now on, I'm not going to get online until I've written at least my 100 words for the day. Let's see if that doesn't cure this starting/stopping nonsense. It certainly did today, at any rate. ;-)

:sigh:

I had written a lovely long post, full of information/rant about my horrible morning, and happy babblyness about finding a new market for my work (well, potentially), and the browser window closed without warning, and I lost it all. And since I'm reallyreallyreally tired, not to mention that my fingers are so cold they're hurting, and I can't type well, I'm not going to rewrite it.

However, I will say that it was an awful morning, followed by a moderately better afternoon, and I am thrilled and relieved to be home, and someday I'll be rich and famous and never have to leave again. And that's all, really. Except that I still haven't written today, and I need to.

A Day of Rest...

And sorely needed it was, too. I slept late, I lazed about outside, I did only the bare minimum of chores and my walking, and, of course, my writing. If I'm not mistaken, today is Day 13; almost two weeks without missing! Let's hope my memory holds.

I've read over several submissions today, as well; of course we get inundated with new subs while I'm busy working. It figures. :-P (Or maybe we didn't get unindated--maybe it only feels that way because they piled up on me while I was gone :shocked look: You think?)

I've also started working on this week's crit. So, I suppose I have done quite a bit today--it just doesn't feel like it because there's been no rush, no pressure. If only I could work that way every day! Unfortunately, what with being in town all day Sunday for Boo's two services, and going back to work again next week (although there are no 3:30 mornings next week, thank goodness!), my days of happy-go-lucky productivity are numbered. Ugh. I've got to start making enough of a living at this writing stuff that I don't have to do this babysitting thing again next year!

And, for the first time, I'm starting to think that making a living at it may be sort of within my reach. I've always known that it could be done, and that I could do it; I make up for what I lack in talent by sheer stubbornness and determination (not to mention a healthy dose of desperation.) But now, it's within reach. I can sense it; if I stick my tongue out and pant like a dog, I can taste it. :-D I'll be a writer! I'll be a real, paid, full-time writer! I shall! :laughs happily:

Critters, Streams, and other Writing News

I'm over at the Critters website right now, getting ready to send Streams into the queue. After so much waffling, it feels good to be taking some decisive action!

And I got some very good advice on Squirrel, from Scott, which made me feel ever so much better about it! Apparently he liked it, very much; as soon as I make the changes he suggested, I'm going to send it out to The Town Drunk (it publishes light, humorous pieces--Rites of the Squirrel God was written for it. :-) and see if I can't at least get a nice rejection. And there's always the chance I'll get a nice acceptance, instead--wouldn't that be fun!

I Finished It!!

At long last, I finally typed up Streams and got the rewrites melded in with the rest! I'm just so pleased with myself--the sense of accomplishment is awesome! ANd I also added some stuff, which I happen to think makes it stronger. ;-) Contrary to 'Squirrel', where I finished it feeling dissatisfied with my ability to capture what I thought (still think!) is a really cute idea, I feel great about Streams. It's so powerful, so potent! The idea I wanted to capture is strong within it--stronger than I ever dared hope it would be!

And I, waffler that I am, am now wondering if maybe I shouldn't go ahead and send Streams in to Critters, rather than Squirrel....maybe....

Meh. :-D

Written Earlier, offline...

I Found It!

Yay! At long last, after much searching, I finally found my little pile of index cards (I had planned on putting them in a box, but I forgot) with all my random story ideas on them!! Three cheers! :grins: I know, I know. Too many exclamation points there. I can't help it; I'm thrilled. I know I had them, but I couldn't find them, and it was most frustrating, especially during that dry spell when I couldn't come up with any ideas!

When I first wrote them, it was with the idea of keeping them in a little box, so that I could rifle through it when needed, and get ideas when I was drawing up a blank. Since then, however, I've been so happy as to get one of the little $1.50 blank notebooks from Dover (Mine is the Renoir of the two girls at the piano--it's one of my favorite paintings of all time), for keeping story ideas in. It's much easier to keep track of than a loose pile of cards, and takes up less space than a box (it's a very small notebook, something like 3"x5"). And, if I only put one idea per page, there's room for a title, the idea itself, and about half a page left for Date Written, Submitted To, and Published By information, when such information becomes available. It's very cool!!
I do like my story ideas, most of them. (Some, I'm not sure where I was going with them, and the bit of the idea that I wrote down doesn't give me a clue. ;-) They include such titles as "Amber and Jade", "The Tennis-Club Cats", and "Death is a Cat's-Eye" (on that last one, I can't tell if it's supposed to be "is" or "in"....I suppose the story will dictate, once I start writing it and get more than a vague idea and a cool title.) I'm also planning on putting ideas from my unwritten or nearly-unwritten WIPs; The Greatest of These and Called to Glory (which title I will not be putting down in my book...either it gets a better name, and soon, or I kill myself :-P ) I thought about putting Autumn's Game in there, but since the plot itself is the bit I'm not sure about, I didn't really see the point. But so many new stories to write! I'm absolutely delighted by it, or would be, if I actually had the time to write them. ;-) Shoot, at this rate, I may pass Eugie in the number of stories I submit and rejections I recieve this year (once I actually start writing them :-P )! Hehe. I don't even pretend to think I can pass her in sales!

Fasten your seatbelts, ladies and gentlemen...

I've decided that I'm going to try for an MPC this week. (Yes, I know. It's a stupid week to try it, when I'm going to be away for most of it.) But Rites of the Squirrel God needs help, desperately, and that's the only way I see getting it through Critters on time. This means, however, that I will need to read and critique no fewer that ten stories over at critters, which is sheer lunacy defined, if I've ever heard of it. The one good thing is that doing that will definitely raise my percentage to safe and acceptable levels. I only need to write 3 crits this week to get it back up to 100% (it's at eighty right now, which is above the 75% minimum, but not by much), and 10 crits would put me at least at 150%; maybe closer to 200%. If, of course, I can find the time for them.

Well, no time like the present!

Oh, well.

I never did complete my "Task for the Day" yesterday. Streams remains unfinished. I did, however, manage to get some new words written on "Squirrel', which is a good thing. I wonder, is it permissible to complain about needing more time to write when I'm in the middle of 'wasting' two hours on the computer? If so, I will, but if not, never mind. ;-)

We have to leave for Boo's piano lesson at 10:00. I'm really not looking forward to it...I'm ready to stay at home and write again. Or waste time on the computer. ;-)

I'm working on another crit right now, my second this week. You need only write one a week, but I'm behind and trying to catch up. Some days, I think I must be nuts, trying to keep up with Critters on top of everything else, but it really is the most useful resource for improving one's work that you'll ever find. I was planning on sending "Squirrel" through there, but I really want to get it submitted (before I can change my mind!!). So, instead, it will be Streams next, if I ever get it properly rewritten.

Task for today: finish rewriting "Streams" and get it sent out. And I've been mulling over the changes I need to make to Autumn's Game. (Formerly Writing Each Other's Lives). Nothing's coming...then again, the answer on Streams was so obvious that it took me forever to think of it. I'm sure this one will be the same way.

I've been working on a rough outline for The Greatest of These. (Tobie, you should be glad to hear that. ;-) I've been posting so many inspirational posts to Thunder in the Attic, I guess I sort of inspired myself. :blushes: I just thought--well, I have the idea; I have something that I want to say, something that I think needs to be said, so I ought to go ahead and say it!! After all, that's what editing and polishing are for. Never mind that I don't think I'm skilled enough at the craft to write it the way it ought to be written; I'm the one with the idea, I'm the one with the need to say something, therefore I'm the one who ought to say it! And of course that doesn't mean that I'm not going to make it the best it can possibly be; every tool I own, every method I know, will be employed to make it as good as it can be. But I have no excuse for not writing it. No one ever has any excuse for not writing the story that has been given--entrusted, really--to them to write.

Well, that's what I'm telling myself, at any rate. I dare say I shall get all nervous and waffly about it once I actually sit down and start writing. (And yes, of course I'm sitting down to type this. It's a figure of speech. :-D )

Closing this, before I get any more silly....

AWESOME!!

I got an acceptance back from DKA for "To Name a Star". I'm so happy about it!! I think they figured that as I was an editor, they could take their own sweet time about it; it's been about a month and a half, and we usually get responses out in half that time, or we try to. :-D Still, I don't mind. An acceptance is an acceptance, and if it had come much earlier, it wouldn't have been my first sale of 2006, which it is! It also might not have been accepted after the pay raise, which it was, and goodness only knows whether I would now be tied for the year on sales and rejections (1/1), which I am. So, a good thing all around! Now, to get the contract printed and signed and sent off in today's mail, if the mail runs today, which it probably doesn't. Okay, tomorrow's mail, then. :-D

Yayness!!

Learning the Ropes

I'm still going around reading things and clicking buttons. I see I've managed to get Google ads in my lovely logue....not sure if I like that or not. :shrugs: It can stay for now. Right now I have more important things to worry about. Such as, being able to post all the time. Sometimes I can find a posting button, and other times, I can't. Meh. At least I always know how to exit the site and return to the first page. ;-)

About the title...

Technically, this should have been my first post. But the others, alas, came first, so there you have it, and there's simply nothing to be done about it.

It comes from sort of an idea I have about myself. I'm a seeker in so many ways. I seek excellence. I seek perfection. In my writing, my studies, my spiritual life, my home life; I'm forever seeking.

But there's more; it isn't just the idea of the seeker, the rugged, woodsy individual, that I was trying to capture. I also wanted the idea of the completely-feminine; roses and pearls, teacups and silk, carved wood and lace.

I'm both. The hunter with his bow, the pioneer woman, the medieval monk--and the princess, the debutante, the lady of the lake. So, that's what I've tried to do with my logue title; to show both (or, two-of-many) sides of me. And that's that. :-)

Okay....

Well, I finally think that I'm getting the hang of this. Or I think I'm finally getting the hang of it. Whatever.

I was thinking about Inkies and DKA earlier. About the fact that they're so similar--but not in an exactly-alike way; more in a perfectly-complimenting way. We're Christian spec-fic writers; they're Christian spec-fic publishers. So why aren't my Inkies friends flocking over there? :sighs::shrugs: Oh, well. I've almost got Tobie over, I think, so that's a good start.

Boo is doing electricity right now. She's working on a completely different circuit, but I'm mortally afraid that mine is going to flicker suddenly, and I'll lose everything.

And, speak of the devil, she's just come and told me tht she needs to shut the power off so that she can do some work in the big box. :rolls eyes: So, it looks as though won't be doing any of those other things that I had been planning on doing. :-D Oh, well.

Seeker in Lace

Seeker in Lace

I'm still trying to figure out just exactly how this works...I had just gotten LiveJournal down pat. Now I'm not even sure how to post!

Grrr.

As though I really have the time...

For another logue. :sigh: But who can resist a logue community that strives to lift and carry the torch dropped when Lewis and Tolkien died?! So, here I am. I don't promise to post often. Or even coherently, when I do post. Some of my posts may be 'double' posts (triple, now, I suppose!) with my other logues. But I'll do my best.