Saturday, April 12, 2008

A Funny and an Update

"The essential part of creativity is not being afraid to fail." — Edwin H. Land

Oh man, I swiped this from Pub Rants because I thought it was such a hoot! You know all those musicals where everyone seems to know the words and breaks into song spontaneously? Check this out:





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Writing. Well.

Yesterday I worked like a dog on "Kitchen Matches". I edited and changed and added scenes. I worked with BOTH rejection letters I'd gotten from two different editors at two different presses, and tightened (I hope!) and made things clearer and gave Micah some more onstage time.

I found out that Sacramento no longer has a stadium football team which REALLY messed me up (where the heck did the Gold Miners go??). I discovered that Chopin's first name was Frederic. All-in-all, I had a good time.

I also realized there was NO WAY in H-E-double-toothpicks I would be able to make this story 55,000 words. Well, I mean... if someone kidnapped my DD and told me I had a week to increase the word count, I could probably do it. But, realistically and kidnapping aside, it just wasn't going to happen.

I'm really happy with this story. I like this story. I sent this story off to my editor at Samhain. I hope she likes the story, too, because my opinion really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

So. Phew. That's done...and I'm really glad to have it in submission again.

::::fingers crossed::::

I also discovered that my article is about 500 words too short for WoW. Before I send it to the Samhellion, I may take one more look at it to see if there is a legitimate way to add those words. After all, WoW is a paying market with HUGE exposure. The Samhellion isn't anything to sneeze at, though, with a subscriber count of just under 1,000. Either way, it's win/win for me.

So, now: It's time to hunker down and work on the HQA. And, possibly a very short story (10,000 words or less).

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We thatched the lawn yesterday. Piles and piles and piles of dead grass clippings, holy cow!!! Put some in my garden, but couldn't use them all, so started a compost heap in the woods. Of course, I really hope I'm not living here long enough to make use of it...

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What Your City Walk Means




You are adventurous and easygoing. You love life, as long as you don't have to do anything hard.

You are generally confident and friendly with strangers. You are well mannered and sociable.

Money is very important to you. You like to have lots of nice things... and you don't care if you're being greedy.

You tend to be organized, logical, and methodical. You're so efficient, people often wonder how you get so much done.


8 comments:

Dru said...

That was a great clip. Thanks for the morning smile.

I'm so glad that you like your story and submitted "Kitchen Matches" with all your revisions. Crossing fingers that the editors like it.

Best wishes with HQA.

Wishing you luck on finding 500 words for your article.

What Your City Walk Means

You are optimistic and hopeful. Sometimes you do get disappointed by expecting too much.

You are generally confident and friendly with strangers. You are well mannered and sociable.

Money is not important to you at all. In fact, you tend to reject material concerns.

You tend to be organized, logical, and methodical. You're so efficient, people often wonder how you get so much done.

Diane Craver said...

That's wonderful you got your ms. revised and off to Samhain - good luck! I bet she'll love it.

Melissa McClone said...

I love that clip! So funny.

Good luck with the writing!

Anonymous said...

I discovered that Chopin's first name was Frederic

Hey, I knew that! Or at least I used to know that. I might not have been able to dredge it up if asked. *g*

Dena said...

Hi M, I hope Kitchen Matches is a success with your editor, you've worked so hard on it, so I'll keep my fingers crossed too.

Brandy said...

Glad you were able to work on Kitchen Matches and are happy with it. Good luck with the submission.
I can't remember is Sac had a staduim team when we lived there or not. I DID know Chopin's first name. Mozarts is my favorite though. *g*

Have fun with the compost heap, my Out-laws have one.
Have a nice Saturday!

Ceri Hebert said...

Never say never. I didn't think I'd take Dreamer's Sea past 55K. I ended it with 104K (pity me when it comes time to edit).

Good luck with KM!

jean said...

Kitchen Matches -- what a great title! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. And I'm glad to see you're able to finally get out and work in your gardens a bit. Spring break here. Plenty of rain today, and tomorrow... snow flurries. Did I mention I LOVE New York :-)