Pixeltown Graffiti

Days late with this, I know, but it’s been an insanely busy week, and it ain’t over yet.  I’m just filing this to keep up appearances.

Someday, the whirlwind will stop.  I hope.  Then I might be able to offer something more substantive.

Right.  So that’s the rewrite of From Earth I Have Arisen completed and sent back into the world.  Hope and apprehension are doing a fast rumba in my stomach.

Or something like that.

Hey, it ain’t easy being a writer, and constantly having to dream up brilliant imagery.  Those previous two paragraphs took me half an hour.

I only wish I was joking.

Anyway, as I mentioned last week, a couple of different rewrite projects beckon, one a novel, the other a short story (actually a novelette, to be boringly pedantic about it).  Not sure at this point which way I’ll go.  I’m sure the suspense is killing you, but you’ll just have to wait to see how it all comes out.

Sorry.  Them’s the rules.

No updates for Write Club.

Till next time . . .

Last week’s travels wreaked the usual havoc on my writing schedule, but I did manage to get some good work done on the From Earth I Have Arisen rewrite.  I suppose finishing it was a trifle starry-eyed of me.

Yeah.  What else is new?

Anyway, I should have it wrapped in the next day or two.  Then I have to jump into the rewrite of either Apocalypse Pictures Presents or “The Winter Palace.”  The original plan had been to work on the former, but that project is, well, a bit daunting.  My main protagonist needs to be redone with a flamethrower, and I don’t know what that will do to the rest of the story.  Meanwhile—news flash!—it’s nearly May.  I really don’t want to lose weeks of potential writing time to a lot of navel-gazing.

Not that I’m knocking navel-gazing, mind you.  I’m a world champion navel-gazer.  But some things I would rather not be good at.

No updates for Write Club.

I’m out.

As I’m on the road, I will be brief.

After much consideration, contemplation, cogitation, and perhaps a bit of consternation, I finally got started on the latest rewrite of From Earth I Have Arisen.  While this draft will be nowhere near as involved as the last one, it nonetheless presents its own difficulties.  The big pieces are in place by now, and the rest is largely a matter of fine tuning.  Finesse.  Subtlety.

And y’all know what sensitive, subtle fellow I am.

Anyway, the first two chapters are done, and I’m encouraged by that.

Also had a good time at Constellation last weekend, taking care of some biz, enjoying a Star Wars musical, and discussing matters both literary and geeky.  Much fun.

On deck:  more From Earth rewrite goodness.

No updates for Write Club.

Signing off . . .

Finished my read-through of Apocalypse Pictures Presents, and have compiled a laundry list of things to fix.  Have a look:

1.  My main protagonist all wrong, too bland and too whiny.  He has to be much more charismatic and out there in order for the story to work.  Or the story will have to be something completely different.  At this point, I’m not even sure I can pull him off as a viewpoint character.

2. There’s a major plot hole in the second half of the novel that really, really, really needs fixing.  And I’m not sure how to do it.

3.  In chapter 5, I’ll need to retcon in a critical plot point.

4.  One of the principal antagonists’ master plan is kinda stupid.  Needs to be thought through.

5.  And of course, the omnipresent line edits, including distressingly numerous repetitions of certain turns of phrase that I am clearly too fond of.

Item 1 is the biggie.  It appears that I have a substantial rewrite ahead of me, possibly the most ambitious one that I’ve attempted at this length.  It’s not so much my protagonist’s actions that need to change; it’s his personality.  I think I chickened out in the first draft, going for safe, comfortable choices, which has robbed the story of the necessary tension.  Time to get real.

So:  I’m a bit intimidated by the scope of the job ahead of me, but excited by the possibilities if I can do this right.  Already, the hamster wheels are turning.

First, though, I still owe a rewrite of From Earth I Have Arisen.  Then the real fun begins.

Write Club update:  A tier two bounce from an anthology.  Response time, thirteen days.

And with that, I leave you.  For now.

Almost halfway done with my read-through of Apocalypse Pictures Presents, diligently scribbling notes and line edits as I go.  As always, I find some stuff that works better than I remembered, and plenty of things that need attention.  There’s even a chapter I think I can remove entirely, save for a few bits that can be worked into other scenes.

Seriously, an entire chapter.  Just imagine my surprise.  Such are the hazards of pantsing it, I guess.

Need to finish up this read-through, and then I owe another draft of From Earth I Have Arisen, which I hope to knock out in short order.  After that, I’ll be able to get into the rewrite proper for Apocalypse Pictures.

No updates for Write Club.

Onward.

So it’s April Fools’ Day, which means that anything I post on my blog will be viewed with some suspicion.  But all of what I’m about to tell you is absolutely true.  Promise.

I really did get a few novel queries out.  I also really did begin my read-through of Apocalypse Pictures Presents, the first step in the revision process.  And interestingly enough, I thought the first chapter held up pretty well.

Really.  I’m as surprised as you are.

I heard back from my editors on the rewrite of From Earth I Have Arisen, and they seem to like the changes I made.  They’d like a few other fixes, but nothing near as major as the last draft.  So things are looking good there.

Really.

Tempering the good news was a bit of bad, to wit:

Write Club updates:  Eighty days to an encouraging rejection from Tor.com, and 78 days to a bounce from Crowded.

And this just in:  I’ve been hired as a staff writer for HBO’s Game of Thrones.  So I suppose that’s kinda cool.

See?  Every word true.

Mostly.

Later.

As expected, day job stuff ate most of my writing time last week.  The less said about that, the better.  Moving on.

I did manage some overdue database updates and got a story in the mail.  So that was good.  I might shove out one or two more manuscripts this week, and then finally begin the rewrite process of Apocalypse Pictures Presents.  I suspect I have a good story in there somewhere, but I also suspect that a great deal of work will be needed to uncover it.  And since no one else seems to be volunteering, it looks like a job for me.

Fine.  I see how y’all are.

No updates for Write Club.

See you ingrates later.

One of the coolest things about being a writer and having a lot of writer friends is the opportunity to read and critique great stories long before they ever sell to publishers.  Stories like David Walton’s Quintessence, just released from Tor Books.

I got to read and critique this novel a few years back.  I was not the least bit surprised when David later announced that it had sold to Tor.  It seriously rocks.

Here’s the jacket blurb:

Imagine an Age of Exploration full of alchemy, human dissection, sea monsters, betrayal, torture, religious controversy, and magic. In Europe, the magic is thin, but at the edge of the world, where the stars reach down close to the Earth, wonders abound. This drives the bravest explorers to the alluring Western Ocean. Christopher Sinclair is an alchemist who cares only about one thing: quintessence, a substance he believes will grant magical powers and immortality. And he has a ship.

This is a wondrously imaginative world David has created.  Do check it out.

Shipped From Earth I Have Arisen back to my editors, along with my hopes.  I’ve had pretty good luck with requested rewrites; I’m usually able to deliver what the editor has asked for.  But this one was a bit more extensive than most, and it’s always possible that they won’t like my changes.

Well, I’ve done what I can, and if it isn’t good enough, I guess I can take some comfort from the wisdom of James Ingram.

While I was at it last week, I shoved another manuscript back into the wild.  Best of luck, little story.

The rewrite of Apocalypse Pictures Presents looms, but a day job project has to take priority for the nonce.  We’ll see what I can get done this week, but don’t be surprised if the answer is, “Not much.”

Write Club update:  Tier one bounce from Buzzy Mag.  Response time, 47 days.

And on that note . . .

Launch Pad is now accepting applications for the 2013 workshop.

What is Launch Pad, you ask?  Here, I’ll let founder Mike Brotherton explain it:

Launch Pad is a workshop for established writers held in beautiful high-altitude Laramie, Wyoming. Launch Pad aims to provide a “crash course” for the attendees in modern astronomy science through guest lectures, and observation through the University of Wyoming’s professional telescopes.  (In the past the workshop had NASA and NSF support and was free, but is now $500 for the week, which includes lodging and meals except for dinner.  Thanks to a wonderful and generous patron, we can offer a scholarship for travel and tuition for one attendee from the United Kingdom, European Union, Norway, or Iceland.)

I attended Launch Pad last year, and I have to tell you, folks:  even at $500, it’s a bargain.  Expanded mind?  Check.  Telescope time?  Check.  Scenic beauty?  Check.  A hella good time on top of it all?  Double check.

Apply here.  The application deadline is April 15th.

Go.  Now.

And with that, I’m done with the laundry list of revisions on From Earth I Have Arisen, and believe I might have myself a draft.  Just for the hell of it, here’s Magic Meter to mark the occasion:

I still need to make one more pass through the ms to tidy up any loose threads that might remain, but after that, back to my editors it goes, with fingers crossed.  Which, I must say, makes it hard to type.  But I’m getting better with practice.

After I get From Earth out the door, it’s time to begin the rewrite of Apocalypse Pictures Presents.  I’m guessing that will take about three months or so.  I hope.  Then I’ll start a new novel, assuming I have one figured out by then.

A last snippet for ya:

God still has a plan for you.

Kathleen’s words had seemed hollow at the time, but they resonated now, sonorous as a gong.  His pulse quickened.  In her final extremity, she’d seen something he’d been blind to.

His gaze lighted on a dusty bookshelf in the corner, near the fireplace.  He knew the volumes there by heart.  By far the thickest of them, well worn and beloved, was his copy of Don Quixote.

Everyone wanted to be the hero, even in these debased times.  And that was what Nowata needed, even more than recon data.  Something transcendent, larger than life.  Heroism.  Inspiration.  Hope.

Jaime and Esteban were looking at him, their expressions mirror images of expectation.  Maybe they’d seen something in his face.

He’d pushed himself out of his easy chair, stood.  “You boys are welcome to stay here for the night, if you’d like.”

“We would,” Jaime had said.  “Thank you so much.”

“I’m going to bed.  Give the fire a poke every now and then.”  He had headed toward the stairs, paused, looked back.  “You said you were looking for work?”

“Yes.”

“Could be that I have some for you.  We’ll talk in the morning.”

No updates for Write Club.

Movin’ on . . .

The March 2013 issue of Penumbra is now available, featuring “Light Chimes” by yours truly.

The theme of the issue is Space Opera.  Check out the table of contents:

Wendell, Custodian of the Galaxy by Brian Griggs

The truth is simple. In space, no one can hear you clean.

The Spaces Between the Stars by Julia Nolan

The price of freedom requires a sacrifice. But can Petra make that choice?

Homecoming by Beth Cato

Poetry for the soul. Coming home may not be the best thing for humanity.

Playing to Win by Nathaniel Lee

Kyr verses the computer. Sometimes the best way to win the game is to lose.

Light Chimes by Matthew S. Rotundo

Does Rosa have the right to take one life to save another?

Hal and Dave Revisited by Bruce Golden

Some space odysseys don’t go quite as planned.

And here’s a taste of “Light Chimes:”

It was a pretty place for him to die, Rosa supposed.

A white sun blazed in a inky black sky, casting the gray-brown walls of the canyon in sharp relief. Dotting the cliffs’ stone faces were thousands of what appeared to be crystalline mineral outcroppings. They glittered in the glare, sending prismatic coruscations—reds and oranges, yellows and greens, blues and violets—cascading down the rock walls, waterfalls of color showering upon the lander half-buried in rubble on the valley floor. The rain of multi-hued light extended the length of the canyon, transforming this airless, radiation-blasted chunk of nickel and iron into a place of enchantment, a magical land where great gems lay scattered as if spilled from a giant’s jewelry box.

Light chimes, Sam had called them.

Enjoy.

Still working through the laundry list of remaining issues on From Earth I Have Arisen.  I had hoped to be done with the draft by now, but you know.  I am, after all, still me.

On the plus side, I fixed a moderately large plot hole that my editors had noticed, which was a huge relief.  It’s been nagging at me for weeks, ever since they pointed it out.  A critically important deduction by my protagonist hinged on it, and I had no idea how to fix it.  Then it came to me, and it was perfect.  The muse bailed me out of another one, there.

So, OK.  I’m gonna finish this thing this week, and then get to work on the rewrite of Apocalypse Pictures Presents.  For realz.  I hope.

No updates for Write Club.

I’m out.

Another 2K on that new scene for From Earth I Have Arisen brings Magic Meter here:

So that’s the most major part of this rewrite completed.  Hooray!

Now I have to address a host of smaller problems, including one that was not suggested by my editors.  Yes, I’m making more work for myself, but it was something that’s been bugging me, so I’m going to fix it.

One of these days, I’m gonna get this story right.

And hey, I neglected to include a snippet last week.  My apologies.  Here:

He was some fifteen miles out of Nowata when his grief overtook him.  He didn’t bother pulling over; the road was deserted but for him.  He just stopped the truck and gripped the steering wheel as violent shudders wracked him.  A flood of tears obliterated his vision.  Sounds came out of him that he could not recognize as human.  The pain in his chest squeezed so hard that his breath came only in gasps.  He tasted bitterness and salt.

An unknown time later, the storm receded.  His hands ached, hooked into stiff claws on the steering wheel.  Relaxing his grip took real effort.

He looked out his dusty windshield.  The sun hung low in the western sky, nearing the horizon.  For all he knew, his Kathleen was already gone, the last thing he cared about in the world, and he was alone.

He put the truck back into gear and headed home, to await whatever would come next.

Write Club update:  A personalized rejection from Waylines.  Response time, 11 days.

Right.  Time to finish this thing up.

Last year at this time, I proffered the opinion that 2011 was a crap year for movies.  I’m happy to report that 2012 provided us with a much better slate.  I haven’t seen all the nominated films, but I’ve seen a goodly percentage of them.  In particular, I found Argo, Silver Linings Playbook, and Lincoln to be the kinds of movies that give me hope for the future of cinema.  And tonight’s Oscar ceremony should also feature a bit of history being made (see Best Actor, below), which will be exciting.  Well, it will be for me, anyway.

Anyway, on with the picks.  As always, I never let my ignorance get in the way, as the following should make clear:

Best Picture

CNN is trying to convince people that this year’s Oscar race is wildly unpredictable.  CNN is obviously trolling for mouse clicks.  (You’re welcome, CNN.)  This category isn’t even close.  The top prize goes to Argo, in a walk.  Now, it’s true that when the nominations were first announced, the omission of Ben Affleck from the Best Director category made me immediately dismiss Argo’s chances of winning Best Picture.  But then the guild awards started coming in.  SAG.  PGA.  DGA.  WGA.  All of them gave their top nods to Argo.  And as I’ve said repeatedly in the past, these guilds’ memberships have a lot of overlap with the Academy.

Argo isn’t going to sweep the Oscars like, say, The Lord of the Rings:  The Return of the King did, but it will win this category.  And I’m OK with that.  Affleck and his crew did a fine job of making an historical event, of which we all knew the outcome, compelling and suspenseful.  Good on ya, Argo.

Best Director

The aforementioned omission of Ben Affleck from this category means that we will have one of those rare splits between Best Picture and Best Director.  This, too, I’m usually OK with, as I’ve never bought too heavily into auteur theory.  That said, I do think the Affleck snub is pretty damned inexcusable.

Anyway, the safe money is on Steven Speilberg, for Lincoln.  It did garner the most nominations this year, and it’s one of his best films.  Many have complained that it’s too talky, but hey, I’m a writer.  I like dialogue.

Ang Lee is a potential spoiler here, for Life of Pi.  The fact that Speilberg already has two directing Oscars could work against him.  But I don’t think so.  I’m sticking with Steve.

Best Actress

Jennifer Lawrence took the SAG award for Silver Linings Playbook, and I think she’ll do the same at the Oscars.  Here’s the part where I remind everyone that actors make up the biggest voting bloc in the Academy.  This year, we have both the youngest and oldest nominees ever in this category—Quvenzhane Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild) and Emmanuelle Riva (Amour), respectively—but neither of them will win.

And just by the way, how great must it be to be Jennifer Lawrence these days?  Two Academy Award nominations to date, lead role in the Hunger Games franchise, and soon to have an Oscar on the mantelpiece.  Not bad for a 22-year-old.

Best Actor

Daniel Day-Lewis makes history tonight for his performance as our 16th president in Lincoln.  He will become the first person ever to win the Best Actor Oscar three times.  He’s currently tied with a host of others, including Tom Hanks, Spencer Tracy, Marlon Brando, and Dustin Hoffman.  Tonight, he outstrips them all.  The quiet, unassuming dignity he brings to the role is truly a joy to behold.  If you’re going to bet the farm on anything, bet on this one.

Best Supporting Actress

If Anne Hathaway is smart, she already has some shelf space cleared for her Oscar.  Her unforgettable performance of “I Dreamed a Dream” in Les Misérables simply blows away all other comers in this category.

Best Supporting Actor

Here’s the toughest of the acting categories to pick.  The SAG went to Tommy Lee Jones, for his portrayal of Thaddeus Stevens in Lincoln.  Now, I don’t know if it was really that strong of a performance, but it was certainly more memorable than his role in The Fugitive, for which he won his previous Oscar.  That said, SAG isn’t always a perfect predictor of the Oscars (e.g., Meryl Streep’s Oscar win last year), and Jones has some stiff competition this year.  Robert De Niro (Silver Linings Playbook) could be a sentimental favorite, and Alan Arkin (Argo) has the advantage of starring in this year’s Best Picture winner.  So I wouldn’t be surprised to see an upset in this category.  But I’m sticking with Jones.

Best Original Screenplay

Zero Dark Thirty has been taking a pounding in the press lately, but it still managed to win the WGA award.  The Best Screenplay Oscar is often a kind of consolation prize for a film that misses in some of the higher-profile categories, and I think that’s what will happen here, which is good news for screenwriter Mark Boal.  Possible upsets:  Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola, for Moonrise Kingdom, or Quentin Tarantino, for Django Unchained.

Best Adapted Screenplay

This year’s Best Picture front-runner just won the WGA award for its script.  That tells me that Chris Terrio will win for Argo. Terrio does face some stiff competition in Tony Kushner, a well respected writer who turned in a dynamite script for Lincoln (have I mentioned my fondness for dialogue?).  But I have to figure that most Academy voters who are going to pick Argo for Best Picture will also pick it for Best Screenplay.  Certainly all the writers will.

Best Animated Feature

Brave.  Never pick against Pixar.

Best Foreign Language Film

This is usually the most unpredictable Oscar category, but this year, all signs point to Amour.  Historically, movies that are nominated for both Best Picture and Best Foreign Language Film lose the former and win the latter.

Best Costume Design

Period pieces dominate this category, and Anna Karenina took home the Costume Designers Guild award for period costumes.

Best Makeup & Hairstyling

Um . . . Les Misérables, I guess.

Best Original Song

Can you believe that in all the years of the James Bond franchise, not one Bond song has won an Oscar?  Not “Live and Let Die.”  Not “Nobody Does It Better.”  Not Shirley Bassey’s brilliant “Goldfinger.”  Well, that gets rectified tonight.  Adele adds to her already impressive trophy shelf with a win for “Skyfall,” and deservedly so.

Best Original Score

Here’s a pretty wide open category.  I’m going with Mychael Danna, for his work on Life of Pi.  John Williams (Lincoln) appears to be the strongest competitor, but the guy already has five Oscars.

Best Documentary

Remember all those guild awards that Argo has racked up?  Well, Searching for Sugar Man has picked up Best Documentary awards from the DGA, PGA, and WGA.  Add the Oscars to that list, and let’s move on.

Best Documentary (Short)

The trend in this category over the past few years has been toward uplifting stories of white people helping out less fortunate third world folks (Smile Pinki, Saving Face).  This year, Open Heart fits the bill, so that’s my pick.  Mondays at Racine could surprise, though.

Best Production Design

The Art Directors Guild gave its top awards to Anna Karenina and Life of Pi.  I’m going with the latter.

Best Film Editing

This one often goes to the Best Picture winner, and Argo did win the American Cinema Editors award.

Best Cinematography

As I did last year, I’m picking against the precursor guild award winner.  The American Society of Cinematographers honored Roger Deakins for his work on Skyfall.  True, Deakins is something of a rock star among cinematographers, and he has never won an Oscar.  But his fine work on Skyfall is nowhere near as flashy as Claudio Miranda’s breathtaking cinematography in Life of Pi.  Last year’s award went to a gorgeous 3-D film (Hugo), and I’m betting this year will follow suit.

Best Sound Editing

Another tough category.  The Motion Picture Sound Editors liked the ADR in Life of Pi, and the sound effect and Foley work Skyfall.  Loud movies tend to do well here, so I’ll go with Skyfall.

Best Sound Mixing

Gotta go with Les Misérables here.  All the singing was recorded live, on set.

Best Visual Effects

Life of Pi.  The tiger was entirely CGI.

Best Short Film (Animated)

Yes, Maggie Simpson in The Longest Daycare certainly has name recognition, but that rarely matters in this category.  Head over Heels, on the other hand, features the Aardman-like clay animation the Academy seems to love, so that’s the way I’m leaning.

Best Short Film (Live Action)

I’ve read that Curfew is amusing but kind of lightweight.  It occurs to me that 2010′s God of Love could be described the same way, and it won an Oscar.  Curfew it is, then.  What the hell.

And there you have it.  On with the show.

Tax guy has come and gone.  I was pretty well prepared this time around, though of course it was a mad scramble to get everything ready.  Still, I have to say that after doing this for <mumble> years, I have a pretty decent system for it.  Not perfect, by any means, but pretty decent.

Tax season is also the time when I appreciate anew the database I built lo these many years ago, which I use to track not only submissions, but also expenses and sales.  And damn, is it slick, able to retrieve the necessary data with just a few keystrokes, which can then be easily imported to Excel.

Not that tracking sales is normally a difficult task for me, you understand—especially last year.  But still . . . it’s a pretty slick database.  Y’all don’t mind if I pat myself on the back, do you?  Thanks.

Once I got taxes out of the way, I managed to bang out another thousand words of that new scene for From Earth I Have Arisen.  Again, my inability to multitask is apparent.  But hey, word count, is word count, so here’s Magic Meter:

It’s gonna be a bit longer than I had thought, looks like.  No surprise there.  And once I finish it, I have to figure out how to insert it into the body of the novella.  I might have to break it into a couple of pieces.

But those are concerns for later.  Taxes are done for another year, and I can get back to revising this thing, which I hope to have finished by the end of the month.

Write Club update:  Just over three months to a tier one reject from Night Terrors.

Nose, grindstone.  I believe you two are acquainted.

I kept waiting for that new scene I needed for From Earth I Have Arisen to write itself, but it stubbornly persisted in not doing so.  I mean, no matter how long I stared at the blank page and that blinking cursor, no words magically appeared.

So I suppose it falls to me to write it.  And just to punish this recalcitrant scene for making me work, here’s a new Magic Meter:

I’m guessing at the overall length, of course.  Should be pretty close, though.

Ye Olde Obligatory Snippet:

They had squeezed Kathleen into a cot in the corner of the basement, behind a set of washing machines.  An IV line attached to her arm kept her hydrated, but the hospital had no other medical equipment to spare.  Six other cots had been crammed into the basement, all occupied by patients in the throes of the Red Death.  Wayne thought the one nearest the door may have expired recently; the wasted body lay motionless on its cot, the skin gone gray where it hadn’t been mottled by the telltale rash.

The smell in the place was terrible—a sickening mixture of urine, feces, and rot.  The surgical mask he wore—provided for him when he’d brought Kathleen in two days previous—did nothing to screen it out.

Still, the corner behind the washing machines, though cramped, afforded them a modicum of privacy.  At least Kathleen wouldn’t have to see the other victims.  And the dim lighting made her own rashes seem somehow less severe.

This new bit will be pretty self-contained, so no major surgery should be needed to insert it.  Once I’m finished with that, I have a laundry list of other items to address, but most of those should be reasonably easy to handle.

Adding to the fun, the taxman cometh this weekend.  And I still don’t have my expenses organized.  Naturally.  Hey, I just wouldn’t be me if I didn’t put this stuff off until the last minute, would I?

Right.  I’ll figure it out.

No updates for Write Club.

Off to the word mines . . .

Made some notes on the From Earth I Have Arisen rewrite.  Looks like I’ll have to write a new scene or two.  Good thing I had cut so much out of this story in the previous draft.

Now I have to, you know, actually do the writing.

What’s that?  A writer’s supposed to write?  Jeez, it’s always something with this gig.

Well, whatever.  If that’s what it takes.  But don’t expect me to be happy about it.

Oh, and I also made an appointment with the tax guy.  I figured that, if nothing else, would motivate me to get my receipts in order.  And it will.  Eventually.

Write Club update:  A personalized rejection from Waylines.  Response time, three weeks.

Up next:  Productivity.  One hopes.

Later . . .

Blew the cobwebs off a story for that anthology project I mentioned last week, made some tweaks, adjustments, and updates, and sent it out.

I had my doubts about the wisdom of this.  It’s an older piece, and I found myself cringing at much in the opening pages.  It struck me as horribly amateurish.  I certainly wouldn’t write it today the way I did then.  But the ending still pays off in an unexpected way, so I figured it might be salvageable.  I went through it and tried to tidy up the first half without completely rewriting the thing, all the while telling myself that just because I write differently now doesn’t mean I should scrap the whole shebang.

Or is that another famous Rotundo Rationalization?  You decide.

Anyway, its out again, so I suppose I’ll know soon enough.

And while I was fiddling with that story, part of my brain was pondering the impending rewrite of From Earth I Have Arisen.  I think I’ve hit upon a key piece of character motivation that might be what I need to put this story over the top.  So that’s next on the agenda.

Well, that, and taxes.  No, I still haven’t gotten my expenses in order.  Sigh.

Write Club update:  One week to a bounce from F & SF.

Right.  Where are those receipts again . . . ?