News: February 2007 Archives

So back in early February, I wrote:

One deadline done -- the short piece is off to the editor -- here's hoping that taking the path less traveled for this anthology will pay off. One thing I really like about this one over the others that Kate and I have done for these anthologies: this one is funny. I don't say that without some small amount of hubris, maybe, but it's not wrong, either -- there's a lot of stuff in this one that makes me laugh.

Well, I don't know if it made the editor laugh, but he did pick it for the anthology. It's a 'supernatural' collection of shorts, and we decided to do a superhero story instead of a predictable Hamilton rip-off with vampires or witches or werewolves or whatever -- that choice definitely paid off -- the editor was very happy to have something different to balance out all the more predictable stories, and some very nice things to say both about that choice and about the story itself. After a few editor-requested tweaks (name change, et cetera), it's a done deal -- check off one third of one of my New Year's Resolutions.

In other writing news, the Revision Death March is going along like a millstone in a muddy field. Which is, sadly, an improvement.

If your success is not on your own terms, if it looks good to the world but does not feel good in your heart, it is not success at all.
-- Anna Quindlen

One deadline done -- the short piece is off to the editor -- here's hoping that taking the path less traveled for this anthology will pay off. I think it's a good story, though thinking back through it I can see at least a couple places where a minor addition to the dialogue would have made things that much clearer. Ahh well. One thing I really like about this one over the others that we've done for these anthologies: this one is funny. I don't say that without some small amount of hubris, maybe, but it's not wrong, either -- there's a lot of stuff in this one that makes me laugh. Also, frustratingly, this is the second one we've done where I finished up the short thing wishing I could write something longer with those characters -- knowing I could write something longer, and that it would be good. Maybe we'll be able to talk the editor into a full-length story once we get a few more shorts into their collections. Here's hoping.

The second deadline is trickier, as it's a revision deadline on The Book Project That Wouldn't Die. I'll confess that, as much as I love Vikous and The Dragon and Calliope, I am getting a little tired of working on this particular book. Two things that make it bearable -- I'm making this revision at the request of someone who seems genuinely interested in working with me on it, and... well, the changes are going to make the story better; there's absolutely no question about that, either. Hopefully, that will be enough to make the whole thing feel 'good in my heart' again.