Work in Progress Wednesday #8
July 1, 2009
I feel like the past week has been one of my busiest in a while, and in a good way! I also can't believe I've already been doing WIP Wednesdays for about two months. Time really does fly and I'm still very glad to have this small level of accountability for my writing life. Another thing that's been helping me stay motivated is the great #writegoal crew over on Twitter.
Exsanguination
I have to mention again, because I'm still so thrilled, that my flash piece Exsanguination was published by Flashes in the Dark last Friday! :D
In Your Dreams
This is now in the hands of my critique group and I'll get to hear and read everyone's critiques on the 18th. Yay! And also eek! :)
I've realized the worst thing they (or anyone else) could possibly tell me is that my story/characters/setting/etc. is/are not believable. If I've failed to capture a reader's suspension of disbelief, then I've failed as a storyteller. I really don't think they'll feel that way, but if any of them do I'll have some major rethinking to do for that novel. I'm maintaining a nice level of optimism though.
I also wrote up a query letter for In Your Dreams that I feel pretty good about. I got a little brave and submitted it to the Query Shark to see if I can get a bite.
I'm holding off on doing a synopsis until I go through the post-critique edits, just in case.
Working Stiffs
Is done! It came out as a 7k word short, which, unfortunately, makes the markets I can submit it to more limited than if it were 2k shorter. It's being read over by my beta readers right now and hopefully they'll have some constructive feedback for me soon so I can make edits where appropriate.
I'm more in love with this story that I am with You Are What You Eat. I think I've got a real winner and I'm pretty sure it's the best thing I've written to date.
Clearly zombies like me as much as I like them!
ValorQuest
Has to go on the backburner right now so I can focus on Rogue Wolf, but I did manage to work on it a smidge more.
Rogue Wolf
This is the little novella that could. I'm really enjoying writing this so far and I'm getting a kick out of my muses revealing really weird things about one of my alien races as I write. I'm half seat-of-the-pantsing this one and half outlining. That's my traditional way of getting a story out and I'm making speedy work of this one (I think). 7k since Friday isn't so bad :)
Since the anthology I want to submit it to has a deadline of August 10th, I really need to just keep writing and writing until I can't write anymore. I'll also have to do a synopsis (ack!) for the submission packet, so I want to leave myself plenty of time to get the story and everything else together before the deadline actually gets here.
For more info about the wonderful WIP Wednesday phenomenon please check out Kate Karyus Quinn's blog.
Tags: critique, in your dreams, novel, query, query shark, process, writing, exsanguination, wip wednesdays, space opera, gay romance, working stiffs, valorquest, rogue wolf.
2 comments
Kate Karyus Quinn
Wed, 1 Jul 2009
Why does your spam filter always make me multiply? I guess it is good to keep those tables fresh, but some days it really strains my brain. Congrats on the flash fiction, and everything else you have going on! I don't know how you keep it all straight you always have so many irons in the fire!
Violet
Wed, 1 Jul 2009
I admit that sometimes I have to pull up my calculator for it ;)
Thank you! And I have no idea how I do it either. I think my brain would break if I tried to pause and figure it out!