Now: June 2019
I can’t believe it’s been three months since I last did one of these. Where does the time go? Where I last left you I had some work published and I sent in some more submissions and was rejected. But! I did have my first published work, Only The Dead, in the TL;DR press Kindred anthology! In the last few months I have been reading a lot and steadily working on The Thaw. In this post I’m going to do a couple of mini-essays on the books I’ve read because I’ve enjoyed them all quite a lot. Let’s do it!
Manuscripts
I finally got off the island in The Thaw! I’m at 28,600 words typed up with about 15-20 pages written in longhand, so probably at around 30,000 words now. I feel much better now that the story has moved along past the starting area, and I’ve had a chapter in a small town not far from the colony and one back on the island where it has now started snowing. I’ve started to think more about the characters’ long game, and developing their arcs further toward the middle and the end of the story. I think at this point my protagonist needs a little more development, as the antagonist and some of the side characters are a little more fleshed out. I had a similar problem in Bottom Feeders, so I will do some exercises and research to figure this out!
Speaking of my other novel, I’ve done no editing work on it since last time. I find myself always lacking when it comes to finding motivation to edit my work. I know that motivation shouldn’t really come into it, that I need to just get it done. It is much more satisfying to just write new work! I will take a break from The Thaw soon to work on editing Bottom Feeders and try and make some real progress on it.
Submissions
I’ve made one submission since last time. I sent in a short story to this year’s literary taxidermy competition, in which you must use the first and last line of a novel and create a short story from that. This year it was Ray Bradbury’s Farenheit 451, and I used it to write a sci-fi short story. I had a lot of fun doing it, and I should hear about it in September this year. Last year I submitted I was not accepted, you can read my story Unrepentant. The first and last words of Farenheit 451 are:
START: It was a pleasure to burn.
END: When we reach the city.
My epistolary horror submission was rejected. I will post it on here soon for all to see! I don’t really have anything else in my sights to submit to at the moment, though I will keep an eye out, and likely submit to the next TL;DR press call for submissions whatever that may be.
What I’m Reading
I’ve read a lot over the past few months. I had started The Grapes of Wrath the last time I wrote a post, and I since have finished it, along with 11/22/63, Holes, Good Omens, and about half of Christine. I couldn’t finish Christine, because as much as I love King, he dropped the ball on this one. I just found it boring and it took way too long to get to the point. I don’t often stop reading books but I had to with this one. The other books I read, however, were fantastic!
- Steinbeck, John – The Grapes of Wrath
- King, Stephen – 11/22/63
- Sachar, Lewis – Holes
- Gaiman, Neil, and Pratchett, Terry – Good Omens
At the moment, I have started reading Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander novels. I’ll likely read one, then some other books, then move onto the next one. That’s it for this month. In my next update I should have some more progress to share about Bottom Feeders and The Thaw. Until next time!
Scrolls referencing this scroll
This scroll stands alone. It was one of precious few brought across the sea when the dawnfolk fled the heretics in Revana. Treasure it.