Ah, the first week of January, a traditional moment for soul-searching and self-evaluation.
So, first, the little gonzo novel-writing experiment: I’m 19,000 words in, which means, unbelievably, I’m more or less on schedule. And this with the big welter of wasted time that is the holidays right smack in the middle. Is it any good? Well, I don’t think it sucks, but the jury’s out until it’s over.
Second, short story submissions: Those of you who have, inexplicably, been keeping up with this site for more than a year may recall I posted last year about my SS subs. In 2008 I only managed 37 submissions, with one sale. That’s a crappy number of subs, actually, but I’m limited by increasing turn-around times, my own incompetence and laziness, and increasing amount of projects. My goal is always to hit about 75 subs. Now, I force myself to write a short story a month, so I never lack for material to submit, but of course forcing yourself to write a story a month doesn’t necessarily mean you’re writing good stories, as many, many beleaguered editors I’ve submitted to can attest. I know some writers wait for really good ideas to hit them, then write a kick-ass story they labor over for years, then submit it to select markets. If I tried that, I’d have written about 2 stories over my entire life. Just how I’m wired.
Besides, if I did that I wouldn’t have these amusing little posts about numbers, would I?
Rock on.