Home, briefly

I'm home from Ling's wedding, but about to dash off again out of town. During the time I was gone, The Leading Edge got back to me with rewrite notes on a story, that I still hope to sell to them, and Niteblade sent their contract for a the story I did sell to them.

I also got a request for my manuscript from an agent while gone, so today I did a last spellcheck before sending it. Those are always nervewracking as you think to yourself, "This is it. It's got to be the best you can make it." I'm always paranoid that there's a typo right on the first page (there was on the first LDS novel I sold, and I went over that stupid thing so many times!!!)

After spellchecking, I went back to writing my next LDS novel - which I'd like to stay rolling on. It's easy to get knocked out of the groove, and I don't want that to happen. It's about half its word count, which means absolutely nothing because I rip out and rewrite and rearrange a lot, so sometimes after a good day's work, the word count will be less than it was when I began. This one is in three sections that I need to patch together, with big breaks in between. Working from beginning to end is just not my thing, I guess.

At this same time I'm blocking out a rewrite of the story for Leading Edge. It's a very short story, so editing these is a delicate business. One of my writer's group mates refers to it as trying to stuff a cat into a Coke bottle without breaking bones, an all to descriptive image.

Oh, and I also got the news that my story Coyote Discovers Mars, which appeared in Coyote Wild, received an honorable mention in the Year's Best Fantasy and Horror. Definitely good news! (Thanks YBF&H editors!)