Forgot to mention that my haiku "Journey" was rejected by Ideomancer. Ms. Jaime Voss, Poetry Editor, said while nicely done it just didn't work for her. Fair cop. So now it's over to Electric Velocipede. Let's see if they can use it.
My other poem, "Rag-a-Bag" is still at Andromeda Spaceways even though we are past the three-month exclusive deadline they asked for. I'm taking this as a good sign.
The past two nights I've wanted to do rewrites to "My Favorite War Stories." I open the file and just stare at the screen. Last night I got some words down, tonight I wasn't as lucky. I know what I need to write, know where I want to go, the words just won't come out. This is something that needs to be ended. Is this writer's block? It feels more like trying to move a wheeled cart that has sat way too long in one place. The axel doesn't want to turn, the wheels are stuck to the surface. I need some more energy to get it all moving again.
In other writer news, I need to buy my membership for Confusion for January, also need to reserve the room. I also just got a postcard from Marcon. I've been wavering between going back to Marcon (the nice person at World Fantasy registration, who is some one involved with Marcon, said they're shifting the focus back toward writing after having gone in a different direction for a few years) or going to WisCon as they're both on Memorial Day Weekend. Well, Steven Brust is toastmaster at Marcon this year. That's a ringer for me. I need to register and reserve a room for that.
Also, I'm halfway through "20th Century Ghosts." Joe Hill is one of my favorite new writers. I think I've explained this before, there are some writers that are excellent and I love their stuff, but they leave my mind and empty slate when it comes to my own writing. John Scalzi and Tobias Buckell are in this category. Then there are writers that leave my mind a cornucopia of ideas (not releated to what I'm reading, just ideas) like Neil Gaiman, Ray Bradbury, and now Joe Hill.
2 comments:
Staring at the screen; yeah, that sucks. For me, I have about fifty different projects going at the same time and I just keep opening them until one of them feels like it wants to be added to. Of course, by using this method I rarely get any one item finished, I just have 50 unfinished stories in a big stinky pile on my hard drive.
I like Joe Hill too. Haven't read Ghosts yet but it's on my todo list. I did read Heart Shaped Box and liked it. King is really the only author I read whose books always seem to get my mind working in different directions. For the most part, the fiction just represents itself when I read, but there are rare books: Oryx and Crake was one that got my mind stirring, although none of Atwood's other books did the same.
Matt, I also have several shorts I work on (and the novel, which I need to make a priority). I don't have 50, but without taking a pole I'd say there's around 15-20 that are "active." The starting at the screen continues. Something is blocking me (I think I know what it is, guilt about doing something I haven't given much time to lately).
Once I read Hill's "My Father's Mask" I went from a skeptic (he's King's son) to a believer. Man that guy can write, sometimes even better than his Dad (sorry, Mr. King, but I hope you're proud of the boy).
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