Arrant Nonsense

Apparently this is the week of "Yes, I can do that." (Hat-tip to Kevin J. Anderson.)

Can you get these edits done in a week? Yes, I can do that.

Can you help me write this fight scene in a universe you adore? Yes, I can do that.

Can you write a blurb for this novella? Yes, I can do that.

Can you get me this novel outline by mid-July? Oh, God, I hope so. Yes, I can do that.

Can you write a story for this anthology? Yes, I can do that.

The last one, I have asked myself, not being actually invited. But I am doing some really interesting research for it, and I love weird westerns (I've written two, both of which have been published), and OMG lookit those anchor authors I want to be in this thing so freaking much yes please. Hubby and I hashed out the basic plot over dinner last night (and, had I thought about it, I would have saved that receipt for tax purposes, because that meal was totally writing-related even if it didn't start out that way). I can, most certainly, write a 3000-7000-word story by the end of September. The outline commences now.

In other news, we have sold the airplane. The kitten continues to be amusing, and she and Grace sniffed noses with no hissing this morning. And, in case you missed it, Far Fetched Fables is going to do an audio version of my cat-hoarding dragon story.

Good things happening.

So, Writing Excuses did a podcast awhile back on caper stories and what makes them tick. Their writing prompt at the end was "Your characters need to perform a reverse-heist, putting jewels into a safe without getting caught."

Well. I combined that prompt with something in my Plot Bunny Hutch (a dragon that collects something besides treasure: cats), and wrote a story in which a village has to pay tribute to the local dragon by leaving a cat in its cave once a year, and take something out as proof, without getting roasted. Oh, and, it's a competition.

This ended up being a 9000-word behemoth with four POV characters, one of whom is a damned talking cat. This is a ridiculously hard sell, but I love the story and refused to give up on it, especially when it garnered a personal "didn't quite work, nice writing" rejection from F&SF.

So while I was waiting for Tor to get back to me on something they had, I tossed it at Stupefying, because Bruce likes me and likes my stuff, and he got back to me the same day and said "I get hundreds of cute cat and dragon stories, but I like this one, so up to the second reader it goes." And he let me know today that they had apparently wanted it, but hadn't sent out the formal acceptance yet.

I don't know what issue it will be in; they have a publishing backlog right now because Bruce has had some personal challenges, but I have it on good authority that someone may be giving him a hand with it soon.

Everyone! Do the Dance of Joy with me!

And I love them all.

HUZZAH.

The Revelator is finished and off to the Salt City Steam Salty Dog Contest.

De-Wolfed Ben has garnered a bit of crit from the Hubby, but really nothing major. He liked that one a lot, and thought the end was good and didn't fizzle or come too abruptly.

I should be getting crit on Chambliss's Story from my Writing Buddy soon.

George and the Meerkats is just a fun little story. It's my fifth entry in my spaceship crew saga. I sent that one to my Writing Buddy this week.

The only one I have yet to look at is Cat-Hoarding Dragon, and I did sneak a peek at the ending just now. Eheehee. I am amused.

That one, however, is going to take a lot of work to beat into shape. It started in first person, and then I realized a few thousand words in that it wouldn't work in first and switched to third. It's got three POV characters and is already banging on 9000 words. Which means I've got a bare thousand words to play with if I want to send it to Beneath Ceaseless Skies. Considering the fact that I rarely write secondary-world fantasy, I really do want to send it to them.

Fortunately, the other three I have left won't actually take much to complete, I don't think. They're pretty solid as they sit, and I am well-pleased with the results of this NaNo round.

Where I have realized that the 1st person POV I started it in simply will not work. There is no way to make it work, and I should stop trying to do so.

Of course, now the question is: do I go back and fix 3600 words' worth of Wrong POV, or do I just go forward on the doc with the assumption that I've done so and then fix the beginning in post? How crazy will it drive me to do that? Survey says: "probably pretty crazy, as per experience."

However. I'll probably, at this point, just go forward like it's always been in 3rd person. I am woefully behind on wordcount, and fixing it Right This Minute will take time that I could spend, you know, writing.

Last time this happened to me, it was the opposite problem. I started in 3rd and the story needed to be told in 1st. That... was an easier fix than this. But at least this means I get to write the scene I wanted to write but was constrained by POV because the POV character was not on the stage when it happened.

*sigh* It's never easy, is it.