I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Rejection, the kidney stone of the soul

Heard back from the editors over at Shimmer on A History of Lightning. They felt the story opened too slowly. Fair cop. But, hey, personal rejection letter. One that told me they had read the story to the end, so score! Thanks, Shimmer, and let me say I'm glad to see you're back to accepting submissions. I know I submitted to their Pirate Issue, and I think I had submitted once before, I also met some of them at World Fantasy in Saratoga Springs and they're very nice people.

After a quick search, A History of Lightning is back out to ABYSS & APEX. I've had some good luck there with personal rejection letters. Maybe this one will be the charm. Good luck little story.

Today I restarted the novel. I worked on the next chapter (11, chapter 10 is still being put together, but I wanted to restart fresh). About 1000 words of prime suckatude came out. That's okay, I can fix suck later. I can't fix a blank page. I'm starting to get confused about places and names, so I'll need to review the notes I've been keeping. This is the chapter at the end of Act I, where you find out that someone who was thought to be out of it is really in the thick of it, and some of the big picture is figured out.

So here's to getting more out that sucks less. And then even more that sucks even less.

2 comments:

Jarrett Rush said...

This is going to sound odd, but this post was inspiring. Your bit at the end about being able to fix suck was just what I needed to hear.

Thanks.

Steve Buchheit said...

Jarrett, that's why I try to be as honest as I can be about the writing process. I've had the help of a lot of other writers and paying it forward is a big part of their careers. So I'm returning the favor.

And that quote is a take on someone else (trying to remember who). They said that they can fix a broken page, but they can't fix a blank page. And it's true. Get the writing out, you can fix it later. That's what rewrite is all about.