Writing News, January 1-13 2001

michaeljasper.net

"Another Wrecked Web Site"

January 13, 2001

Post office, here I come...

Today's Quote:

The sun shone high over the streets of Chicago, warming the late May morning with heat that hadn't been felt in years. An old man wearing a red hunting hat walked down the street with a pouch around his waist and a bag of cans in his hands. His head was up, nodding at the pedestrians and cars passing him, and his gray and white beard flopped on his chest as he strode through Chicago's streets. He passed an electronic bank sign that flashed the temperature - a balmy eighty-six degrees.

Hey - what do you think of the changes I made to the links part of the website? I changed them around a bit to better organize my stories and novels by genre. It was time for a change, I guess.
I finally, finally finished the edits to my novella version of "Last of the Hand." Holy crap - it's taken over 8 years to get that bad boy into shape, but it's there now. I'm getting ready to print it off and mail it out. At last.
And I'm pleased about how it's turned out. A lot has been added, more has been cut, and just about every word has been revised in some way, shape, or form. I finished up with the Epilogue section this morning, and all the pieces, I hope, have finally come together.
I'm sending that one out today, along with "Working the Game." I need to stop at the PO on my way to my booksigning at B. Dalton - what a joke. Hopefully I won't have to hang out there too long. In any case, I feel confident about both of my stories going out today. If only the editors would reply back in a week! Waiting is the worst, but I've got plenty of things to do until then.
Like write some more stories, for one. I've decided to try and write one story a month this year, in addition to my work on expanding "Last of the Hand" into a novel (already got an outline going, and a couple new characters, including Jersey's replacement who goes by the name of ... Orleans!). I have the story about the Black Angel to write this month, then the story about future earth next month, and maybe my beauty and the beast retelling in March. And there's always work to do on the horror novel, depending on where my friend Greg and I stand on that.
But for now I'm going to baske in the hard work I've put into this novella and say thanks again to everyone -- Elizabeth, Chris B., Leslie, Mark, Paul -- who's read that monster and given me such great feedback. I couldn't have done it without ya. I'll let you know in a few months what happens.
mjj

January 10, 2001

Back on that horse, sonny.

Today's Quote:

"I've got him," Azure said. His eyes blazed an angry green color that streaked the air. His face was beet red and streaked with sweat. He was past Jersey in a heartbeat. "Stay here and watch them," the bald man said on his way out the door. "I've got him this time."

The outer door slammed and Azure was gone. The stink of ozone and sulphur filled the control room. Jersey had never seen his boss like that before.

He never wanted to see him like that again, but he had a feeling he would, at least one more time.

Ya'll were probably wondering what happened to me, huh? I had the hardest time getting up the past few days, but I finally got some time tonight, while Elizabeth is at her class, to do more finetuning to "Last of the Hand." It's getting closer, I can tell you. Very close. I'm thinking by Saturday around noon, this bad boy will be in the mail, on its way to some unsuspecting editor...
I think part of the reason I've been a little worn out is that I've been exercising a lot more, jogging and lifting weights to try and get my sorry butt into shape. It's been a while, I tell you, way too long. I've been enjoying it though, even if it's been wearing me out a bit. Also, work has been getting a bit stressful, and I can't goof off as much as I used to. Oh well, it was inevitable, I guess. And I'd prefer to be busy - makes the day pass much quicker, and I can leave the office feeling good about what I've accomplished there.
In any case, I'm quite happy to have gotten the chance to revise some more. The scary thing is that the more I reread this novella, the more spots I find that I want to expand and tweak. I could very easily be doing this the rest of my life! Sometime you just have to stop, once you have the story and the characters down, and everything is firing on all cylinders.
Last night Lizzie read the first 50 pages or so, and she had some great comments for me, things nobody else had even noticed, like the deal with the jackhammers on the wooden floors (huh?) and the problem with calling the Doppler the Doppler (I changed it to the Cloud Engines, which I'm still not sure about - any ideas???). She also found some typos for me, which I'm always glad to fix. She brings a really good perspective to the story - she is very detail-oriented and logical, and I'm not always that way when I write. So I owe her big-time for her help. I hope she'll read more, when it's ready... (hint, hint).
In other news, I've been enjoying the journal and the fiction of Tim Pratt. Check out his website when you get a chance. We swapped stories recently, and I enjoyed his story about gods and avatars, "Meranhu's Gifts." Critiquing the work of others really sharpens my own editing skills and improves my own writing.
Plus it's fun to read the stuff written by people I know. That's why I'm looking forward to reading Tim Power's new novel, Declare. I'd say his book Last Call was the best book I read last year, hands down. And getting to know him at the Writers of the Future workshop was a real treat. That's one of the things I really like about the SF/F genre - it's like a family, once you get to know people. And everyone knows each other, too. Tim Powers knows Toby, and Toby knows Tim Pratt. And I know all three folks. Crazy, huh? See ya.
mjj

January 6, 2001

Another burst of revision.

Today's Quote:

"Wait," he said, stopping the burst of energy before it poured out of his hands and into the boys sitting in front of him. The memories of Moammar and Ishi had filled him with rage, making him weak when he needed to be strong. But they had also made him remember something. Something the boy with the broken nose had said. "What did you boys say about an old man?"

A quick entry here before we go grab something to eat tonight (it's Saturday). I got a ton of work done on my fantasy novel, "Last of the Hand," after a crazy week of jotting down ideas for the miscellaneous stories that entered my brain recently. It's reassuring to know that I can focus on the task at hand, whichever task that may be.
First I tweaked a couple things in my future Raleigh story, "Working the Game," thanks to some incisive comments from my Critiquer, Chris B. I didn't have as many changes to make as I'd feared, so that didn't take long. Mostly had to figure out how to make the wings that the "wall-jumpers" used work in a logical way. I think it works much better now.
And then I jumped back into my tale of magic in Chicago. I totally changed the point of view of one section, jumping from Jersey to Dr. Azure, and I think it works great. I may need to add on to the flashback to Moammar and Ishi, but it's close. So now I'm down to the last 20 pages or so, and each page is going to be tough. But if I keep at it, like I did today, I think that by this time next week I'll be very, very close to sending the novella out. And then I'm taking a week or two off to write those stories, then it's on to part two of "Last of the Hand" - the novel! Woo hoo. See ya.
mjj

January 5, 2001

Revising and doing some imagining on the road...

Before I go into this morning's recap, just wanted to add that I scribbled out more of my outline for the story I was talking about yesterday, and even wrote a page or two of intro last night. Had to get it all down before I forgot it. I'm liking how it's taking shape; now I just need to do some more research and figure out the true identity of one of the characters. And keep thinking about what happens on my evening commutes. I think this is going to be one of those stories along the lines of "Natural Order," where I write it pretty quickly after a lot of thought ahead of time. And I really like how that story turned out.
Check out the cool graphic I found on the web related to my story - it's from the Black Angel in Iowa City.
The Black Angel, in Iowa City's Oakland Cemetery
I wish the graphic were bigger and more clear, but that's the best I could do on short notice. I found a ton of research about the nine-foot-tall statue on the Net yesterday during my lunch break - I can't believe how easy research is thanks to good ol' cyberspace. It definitely got me jumpstarted on my story.
So I was messing with that last night for a little bit instead of reading. Got up this morning and jumped back into "Last of the Hand." I feel like a ping-pong ball, going from one task to another (though not as hollow, I hope, and definitely not as light!). I'm over 2/3 of the way through, but like I said earlier, I'm in the hard part now. I have at least 6 scenes that need major work, and one that needs to be written altogether. But I'm keeping on schedule. I added a little bit to the scene where Kelley blows herself up, and tidied up the basketball game with the gangmembers.
I have the first 50 pages for sure if I want to send it to a publisher later this year as a novel. I think the submission will end with the scene of Kelley in her apartment, turning it into an inferno. Nice cliffhanger, I think. Tomorrow I hope to fix up the scene with Azure and give him a flashback - got to tell the reader what happened to those wild and crazy dudes, Moammar and Ishi! Have a good weekend!
mjj

January 4, 2001

Ideas? We've got ideas galore...

This is a new thing for me, so I thought I'd take a moment and comment on it. In the past few days, I've gone from working on just one thing for about two months - the fantasy novella/novel - to having about 5 things on my plate, each of which I feel really good about. The ideas for stories and revisions have just kept on coming. This is rare for me. I can remember scrambling for ideas by the fourth week of Clarion years ago, slapping anything together just to say I'd written that week. Now I look at all the time I had there to write and wish I had a mini time travel unit.
I guess I know now how my friend Toby feels, and all those other "youngsters" who seem to be busting out a new story every other day (or at least that's how it appears to me!). It's a rush. And for a change, I'm not letting it overwhelm me. I know if the stories are strong enough, they'll be there waiting for me when I have the time and energy to write them. Of course, two of the story ideas I have are for anthologies that will probably fill quickly, so I can't wait too long. But I think by the end of next weekend, by mid-month, I'll be ready to start hacking out a couple first drafts.
The story I came up with yesterday on my drive home and finetuned a bit last night has me the most excited. All I want to say is that it takes place at night, and two innocent people are caught up in what appears to be an epic battle between two supernatural forces. I've got it almost all plotted in my head already. Is it time for my lunch break yet?
mjj

January 3, 2001

Still revisin' away...

Today's Quote:

Dr. Azure stepped in front of Jersey. He wore a dark green suit that Jersey had thought was black at first glance, and his bald head caught the reflected glow of the multiple monitors spread around the room. Azure was not a short man, nor was he especially tall, but his fierce blue eyes demanded all of Jersey's attention.

It's weird how I'll get a notion in my head and not be able to do anything else until I take care of that notion. My latest notion was to send in a story submission to Wizards of the Coast to see if they'd want me to write one of their shared-world books. This is something I'd never have even dreamed of doing before meeting Kevin J. Anderson and Dean Wesley Smith last year at the Writers of the Future workshop. But I think it would be fun to write a novel in a world that's already been created. Sort of like when I was a 12-year-old, creating adventures in the Dungeons and Dragons world. Call me crazy. But I put together a package for them that included the first 10 pages of "Last of the Hand" and a long cover letter with my publication history and my credentials, and I'm putting it in the mail. We'll see what happens. Got to forget about that for a while - they take 12-18 weeks to reply.
Along with that envelope, I'm also taking another submission copy of "Natural Order" to the PO. I wasn't even disappointed by this most recent rejection. It was actually a wonderful, hope-inspiring rejection (I know, that sounds like an oxymoron).
But my positive rejection was from a prominent editor who sounded like she really wanted to buy the story, so she held onto it for a couple weeks, but couldn't quite fit it into her magazine's style or schedule. It made my day, though - she said she's excited to get more stories from me. So now, of course, I'm flying high and wanting to write more stories. I'm almost out of SF/F stories to send out. That's a good thing, as they're all getting published. Just have to write some more, right?
As for my other writing, after revising "Last of the Hand" for an hour or so last night (the first 10 pages), I got up and did some more tweaking. Worked on Jersey's character, and took out his hiding of the "power spike report" that was just adding to the confusion about his character. It's coming together nicely, though I'm coming up on the sections in the latter half of the novella were things need more and more work. Cringe. But as long as I do it bit by bit, as I did today, I'll be fine. I think I covered about 7 pages, with a lot of jumping back and forth to fix nitpicky things like the passing of time and stuff like that. It's going well. Maybe by next weekend I'll be ready to send it away.
mjj

January 2, 2001

Yep, it's another new year. Amazing, huh? It's off to a pretty good start, though getting up for work today was painful.
I didn't get up and write, but I did go in to work early so I could work out at our company's gym and that's helped my sore arms and back immensely. I need to keep that up. I feel great right now, as the day draws to a close (yeah, I'm at work).
As for writing, I've got a bunch of ideas fluttering around in my head. I'm in revision for a lot of things all of a sudden - the fantasy novel, the short story about the overweight folks at the 2-week retreat, and now the horror novel I'm co-writing. I had a good chat with my friend Greg, who I'm co-writing the horror novel with, and he's replotting some chapters while I take a look at some of the later chapters. I'm not quite ready to do too much there yet, but after skimming and re-reading most of the novel yesterday, I must say I'm excited about what we have. It's not near as messy as I'd thought it was gonna be. That's a relief, and a nice surprise. But for now I'm still sort of mulling things over with that, and not ready to really write yet.
I think what I really need to do is give my fantasy novella, "Last of the Hand," one last week or two of attention before I send that out to publishers. I've got a rough, rough outline down for the next section of the novelization of it, and I may just keep out the problematic characters (the detectives and the other old man they mistake for Archie). I'd love to get myself set up to draft part two while I'm revising "Autumn's Fall."
My biggest problem is that I have a couple stories I want to write as well, for a couple anthologies. I may just have to put those ideas on the shelf for now. I don't want to overdo it. Maybe by mid-January I'll have some things cleared off my plate and I can try to do more. No sense in spreading myself too thin.
And finally, I saw a blurb in the latest SFWA Bulletin about Wizards of the Coast looking for writers. What I think I'm going to do tomorrow morning is try and transplant the first 10 pages of "Last of the Hand" into their Forgotten Realms setting and send it to them - they are looking for high fantasy and sword and sorcery type of stuff, a la Dungeons and Dragons. It could be fun, just as an experiment. And to be honest, from the chapter excerpts I skimmed on their website, I know I can write just as well as their authors. All I'd have to do is bone up on some D&D stuff and look at some Forgotten Realms maps. Fun research. I think my writing is more in tune with the Forgotten Realms worlds. We'll see. I'm probably just wasting time and energy, but it seems like a fun thing to try...

Home

mjj

	michaeljasper.net *"Another Wrecked Web Site"*
January 13, 2001 Post office, here I come... *Today's Quote:* The sun shone high over the streets of Chicago, warming the late May morning with heat that hadn't been felt in years. An old man wearing a red hunting hat walked down the street with a pouch around his waist and a bag of cans in his hands. His head was up, nodding at the pedestrians and cars passing him, and his gray and white beard flopped on his chest as he strode through Chicago's streets. He passed an electronic bank sign that flashed the temperature - a balmy eighty-six degrees.	Hey - what do you think of the changes I made to the links part of the website? I changed them around a bit to better organize my stories and novels by genre. It was time for a change, I guess. I finally, finally finished the edits to my novella version of "Last of the Hand." Holy crap - it's taken over 8 years to get that bad boy into shape, but it's there now. I'm getting ready to print it off and mail it out. At last. And I'm pleased about how it's turned out. A lot has been added, more has been cut, and just about every word has been revised in some way, shape, or form. I finished up with the Epilogue section this morning, and all the pieces, I hope, have finally come together. I'm sending that one out today, along with "Working the Game." I need to stop at the PO on my way to my booksigning at B. Dalton - what a joke. Hopefully I won't have to hang out there too long. In any case, I feel confident about both of my stories going out today. If only the editors would reply back in a week! Waiting is the worst, but I've got plenty of things to do until then. Like write some more stories, for one. I've decided to try and write one story a month this year, in addition to my work on expanding "Last of the Hand" into a novel (already got an outline going, and a couple new characters, including Jersey's replacement who goes by the name of ... Orleans!). I have the story about the Black Angel to write this month, then the story about future earth next month, and maybe my beauty and the beast retelling in March. And there's always work to do on the horror novel, depending on where my friend Greg and I stand on that. But for now I'm going to baske in the hard work I've put into this novella and say thanks again to everyone -- Elizabeth, Chris B., Leslie, Mark, Paul -- who's read that monster and given me such great feedback. I couldn't have done it without ya. I'll let you know in a few months what happens. mjj
January 10, 2001 Back on that horse, sonny. *Today's Quote:* "I've got him," Azure said. His eyes blazed an angry green color that streaked the air. His face was beet red and streaked with sweat. He was past Jersey in a heartbeat. "Stay here and watch them," the bald man said on his way out the door. "I've got him this time." The outer door slammed and Azure was gone. The stink of ozone and sulphur filled the control room. Jersey had never seen his boss like that before. He never wanted to see him like that again, but he had a feeling he would, at least one more time.	Ya'll were probably wondering what happened to me, huh? I had the hardest time getting up the past few days, but I finally got some time tonight, while Elizabeth is at her class, to do more finetuning to "Last of the Hand." It's getting closer, I can tell you. Very close. I'm thinking by Saturday around noon, this bad boy will be in the mail, on its way to some unsuspecting editor... I think part of the reason I've been a little worn out is that I've been exercising a lot more, jogging and lifting weights to try and get my sorry butt into shape. It's been a while, I tell you, way too long. I've been enjoying it though, even if it's been wearing me out a bit. Also, work has been getting a bit stressful, and I can't goof off as much as I used to. Oh well, it was inevitable, I guess. And I'd prefer to be busy - makes the day pass much quicker, and I can leave the office feeling good about what I've accomplished there. In any case, I'm quite happy to have gotten the chance to revise some more. The scary thing is that the more I reread this novella, the more spots I find that I want to expand and tweak. I could very easily be doing this the rest of my life! Sometime you just have to stop, once you have the story and the characters down, and everything is firing on all cylinders. Last night Lizzie read the first 50 pages or so, and she had some great comments for me, things nobody else had even noticed, like the deal with the jackhammers on the wooden floors (huh?) and the problem with calling the Doppler the Doppler (I changed it to the Cloud Engines, which I'm still not sure about - any ideas???). She also found some typos for me, which I'm always glad to fix. She brings a really good perspective to the story - she is very detail-oriented and logical, and I'm not always that way when I write. So I owe her big-time for her help. I hope she'll read more, when it's ready... (hint, hint). In other news, I've been enjoying the journal and the fiction of Tim Pratt. Check out his website when you get a chance. We swapped stories recently, and I enjoyed his story about gods and avatars, "Meranhu's Gifts." Critiquing the work of others really sharpens my own editing skills and improves my own writing. Plus it's fun to read the stuff written by people I know. That's why I'm looking forward to reading Tim Power's new novel, Declare. I'd say his book Last Call was the best book I read last year, hands down. And getting to know him at the Writers of the Future workshop was a real treat. That's one of the things I really like about the SF/F genre - it's like a family, once you get to know people. And everyone knows each other, too. Tim Powers knows Toby, and Toby knows Tim Pratt. And I know all three folks. Crazy, huh? See ya. mjj
January 6, 2001 Another burst of revision. *Today's Quote:* "Wait," he said, stopping the burst of energy before it poured out of his hands and into the boys sitting in front of him. The memories of Moammar and Ishi had filled him with rage, making him weak when he needed to be strong. But they had also made him remember something. Something the boy with the broken nose had said. "What did you boys say about an old man?"	A quick entry here before we go grab something to eat tonight (it's Saturday). I got a ton of work done on my fantasy novel, "Last of the Hand," after a crazy week of jotting down ideas for the miscellaneous stories that entered my brain recently. It's reassuring to know that I can focus on the task at hand, whichever task that may be. First I tweaked a couple things in my future Raleigh story, "Working the Game," thanks to some incisive comments from my Critiquer, Chris B. I didn't have as many changes to make as I'd feared, so that didn't take long. Mostly had to figure out how to make the wings that the "wall-jumpers" used work in a logical way. I think it works much better now. And then I jumped back into my tale of magic in Chicago. I totally changed the point of view of one section, jumping from Jersey to Dr. Azure, and I think it works great. I may need to add on to the flashback to Moammar and Ishi, but it's close. So now I'm down to the last 20 pages or so, and each page is going to be tough. But if I keep at it, like I did today, I think that by this time next week I'll be very, very close to sending the novella out. And then I'm taking a week or two off to write those stories, then it's on to part two of "Last of the Hand" - the novel! Woo hoo. See ya. mjj
January 5, 2001 Revising and doing some imagining on the road...	Before I go into this morning's recap, just wanted to add that I scribbled out more of my outline for the story I was talking about yesterday, and even wrote a page or two of intro last night. Had to get it all down before I forgot it. I'm liking how it's taking shape; now I just need to do some more research and figure out the true identity of one of the characters. And keep thinking about what happens on my evening commutes. I think this is going to be one of those stories along the lines of "Natural Order," where I write it pretty quickly after a lot of thought ahead of time. And I really like how that story turned out. Check out the cool graphic I found on the web related to my story - it's from the Black Angel in Iowa City. I wish the graphic were bigger and more clear, but that's the best I could do on short notice. I found a ton of research about the nine-foot-tall statue on the Net yesterday during my lunch break - I can't believe how easy research is thanks to good ol' cyberspace. It definitely got me jumpstarted on my story. So I was messing with that last night for a little bit instead of reading. Got up this morning and jumped back into "Last of the Hand." I feel like a ping-pong ball, going from one task to another (though not as hollow, I hope, and definitely not as light!). I'm over 2/3 of the way through, but like I said earlier, I'm in the hard part now. I have at least 6 scenes that need major work, and one that needs to be written altogether. But I'm keeping on schedule. I added a little bit to the scene where Kelley blows herself up, and tidied up the basketball game with the gangmembers. I have the first 50 pages for sure if I want to send it to a publisher later this year as a novel. I think the submission will end with the scene of Kelley in her apartment, turning it into an inferno. Nice cliffhanger, I think. Tomorrow I hope to fix up the scene with Azure and give him a flashback - got to tell the reader what happened to those wild and crazy dudes, Moammar and Ishi! Have a good weekend! mjj
January 4, 2001 Ideas? We've got ideas galore...	This is a new thing for me, so I thought I'd take a moment and comment on it. In the past few days, I've gone from working on just one thing for about two months - the fantasy novella/novel - to having about 5 things on my plate, each of which I feel really good about. The ideas for stories and revisions have just kept on coming. This is rare for me. I can remember scrambling for ideas by the fourth week of Clarion years ago, slapping anything together just to say I'd written that week. Now I look at all the time I had there to write and wish I had a mini time travel unit. I guess I know now how my friend Toby feels, and all those other "youngsters" who seem to be busting out a new story every other day (or at least that's how it appears to me!). It's a rush. And for a change, I'm not letting it overwhelm me. I know if the stories are strong enough, they'll be there waiting for me when I have the time and energy to write them. Of course, two of the story ideas I have are for anthologies that will probably fill quickly, so I can't wait too long. But I think by the end of next weekend, by mid-month, I'll be ready to start hacking out a couple first drafts. The story I came up with yesterday on my drive home and finetuned a bit last night has me the most excited. All I want to say is that it takes place at night, and two innocent people are caught up in what appears to be an epic battle between two supernatural forces. I've got it almost all plotted in my head already. Is it time for my lunch break yet? mjj
January 3, 2001 Still revisin' away... Today's Quote: Dr. Azure stepped in front of Jersey. He wore a dark green suit that Jersey had thought was black at first glance, and his bald head caught the reflected glow of the multiple monitors spread around the room. Azure was not a short man, nor was he especially tall, but his fierce blue eyes demanded all of Jersey's attention.	It's weird how I'll get a notion in my head and not be able to do anything else until I take care of that notion. My latest notion was to send in a story submission to Wizards of the Coast to see if they'd want me to write one of their shared-world books. This is something I'd never have even dreamed of doing before meeting Kevin J. Anderson and Dean Wesley Smith last year at the Writers of the Future workshop. But I think it would be fun to write a novel in a world that's already been created. Sort of like when I was a 12-year-old, creating adventures in the Dungeons and Dragons world. Call me crazy. But I put together a package for them that included the first 10 pages of "Last of the Hand" and a long cover letter with my publication history and my credentials, and I'm putting it in the mail. We'll see what happens. Got to forget about that for a while - they take 12-18 weeks to reply. Along with that envelope, I'm also taking another submission copy of "Natural Order" to the PO. I wasn't even disappointed by this most recent rejection. It was actually a wonderful, hope-inspiring rejection (I know, that sounds like an oxymoron). But my positive rejection was from a prominent editor who sounded like she really wanted to buy the story, so she held onto it for a couple weeks, but couldn't quite fit it into her magazine's style or schedule. It made my day, though - she said she's excited to get more stories from me. So now, of course, I'm flying high and wanting to write more stories. I'm almost out of SF/F stories to send out. That's a good thing, as they're all getting published. Just have to write some more, right? As for my other writing, after revising "Last of the Hand" for an hour or so last night (the first 10 pages), I got up and did some more tweaking. Worked on Jersey's character, and took out his hiding of the "power spike report" that was just adding to the confusion about his character. It's coming together nicely, though I'm coming up on the sections in the latter half of the novella were things need more and more work. Cringe. But as long as I do it bit by bit, as I did today, I'll be fine. I think I covered about 7 pages, with a lot of jumping back and forth to fix nitpicky things like the passing of time and stuff like that. It's going well. Maybe by next weekend I'll be ready to send it away. mjj
January 2, 2001	Yep, it's another new year. Amazing, huh? It's off to a pretty good start, though getting up for work today was painful. I didn't get up and write, but I did go in to work early so I could work out at our company's gym and that's helped my sore arms and back immensely. I need to keep that up. I feel great right now, as the day draws to a close (yeah, I'm at work). As for writing, I've got a bunch of ideas fluttering around in my head. I'm in revision for a lot of things all of a sudden - the fantasy novel, the short story about the overweight folks at the 2-week retreat, and now the horror novel I'm co-writing. I had a good chat with my friend Greg, who I'm co-writing the horror novel with, and he's replotting some chapters while I take a look at some of the later chapters. I'm not quite ready to do too much there yet, but after skimming and re-reading most of the novel yesterday, I must say I'm excited about what we have. It's not near as messy as I'd thought it was gonna be. That's a relief, and a nice surprise. But for now I'm still sort of mulling things over with that, and not ready to really write yet. I think what I really need to do is give my fantasy novella, "Last of the Hand," one last week or two of attention before I send that out to publishers. I've got a rough, rough outline down for the next section of the novelization of it, and I may just keep out the problematic characters (the detectives and the other old man they mistake for Archie). I'd love to get myself set up to draft part two while I'm revising "Autumn's Fall." My biggest problem is that I have a couple stories I want to write as well, for a couple anthologies. I may just have to put those ideas on the shelf for now. I don't want to overdo it. Maybe by mid-January I'll have some things cleared off my plate and I can try to do more. No sense in spreading myself too thin. And finally, I saw a blurb in the latest SFWA Bulletin about Wizards of the Coast looking for writers. What I think I'm going to do tomorrow morning is try and transplant the first 10 pages of "Last of the Hand" into their Forgotten Realms setting and send it to them - they are looking for high fantasy and sword and sorcery type of stuff, a la Dungeons and Dragons. It could be fun, just as an experiment. And to be honest, from the chapter excerpts I skimmed on their website, I know I can write just as well as their authors. All I'd have to do is bone up on some D&D stuff and look at some Forgotten Realms maps. Fun research. I think my writing is more in tune with the Forgotten Realms worlds. We'll see. I'm probably just wasting time and energy, but it seems like a fun thing to try...
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