The problem with summertime (besides the sadness) is that I have no schedule. And when I have no schedule, I watch way too many Kung-Fu movies and not much else. I don’t find anything inherently wrong in watching back-to-back-to-back Kung-Fu, but it does hinder my writing output.
Despite my insatiable desire to watch Dragon with Donnie Yen for the fifth time, I have miraculously managed to completely revise, finish, and submit one of the short stories I wrote for the Speculative Fiction Writing Workshop earlier in June. Yesterday, I sent “Soul Candy” to the editor at Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, Sheila Williams, so I should hear back in about five weeks whether she wants to buy it or pass on it. Cross your “finters and goes” that my story gets picked up!!
What does it feel like to finish a manuscript?
In the words of Don Roff, “Writers often torture themselves trying to get the words right. Sometimes you must lower your expectations and just finish it.” YES, the torture is over!!!
What does it feel like to submit to a professional SFF magazine?
In the words of Sorcerer’s Apprentice, “I don’t know what you’re into, Dave…but whatever it is, you’re definitely PARTICIPATING!”
I’m in it to win it, folks, so now it’s time to move on to the next manuscript. I hope to clean up and send out my other two stories from the workshop before school starts in August – “Remnant” and “The Heart That Blooms” – because I still want to finish revising my novel (yeah, remember that thing?) and find a literary agent before I die of old age. Plus, I must squeeze in my marathon of Kung-Fu while I still can. I have yet to watch Butterfly and Sword, The Bride with White Hair, and The Legend of the Drunken Master….among so, so many others!
The Untold Story 