Wednesday through a black hole

The better part of my Wednesday was spent trying to cure my computer of what appeared to be a virus.  I am one of those dinosaurs that uses McAfee for virus protection and when I tried to scan for said virus, I was informed that McAfee was one of the programs it had infected and that, because it was calling in sick as a result, McAfee could not scan.

So, finally giving up FOR GOOD on McAfee, I uninstalled the program and am now using Avast, which I have heard good things about.

Wow.  Did I seriously just spend that long talking about computer woes?

Yes.  Yes I did.  And that is because there is nothing on the writing front to discuss.  Due to the computer malady, I got nothing done yesterday.  As June rolls to a close, I fear that my Oz story will go unfinished and that July will be spent in a frenzy to finish editing Darklights.

Anyway, I’m going to shut up for now.  Yesterday’s journey through the black hole of computer crap set me slightly behind in work.  So off I go….

Friday? Already?

This week flew by.  Tons of work and looming anthology deadlines will do that to you, I suppose.

My goals for the weekend are to finish my Oz story, tentatively titled “Aluminum Hearts” and finally knock out the final edits for Broken Skies.  Also, in the interim, I currently have queries out for Broken Skies and my collection Debris.  My submissions have been lagging lately.  I think I only have seven pieces out right now and I typically try to keep at least a dozen in limbo at all times.

Also, there’s a new post up over at Blood Routes (after about a month’s absence).

Anyway, I woke up this morning stressed about work and Broken Skies.  Here is what I’ve been listening to to sort of calm the nerves a bit.

Adjusting and maladjusted

These last two weeks have been pretty hectic for me.  I am trying to figure out how to balance my work, writing and keep an eye on our now-11 week old son.  Needless to say, the writing has taken a back seat.

In the last week, I have managed to stretch my Oz story out to 2,500 words and it’s looking to be a 4,000 worder or so.  I hope to wrap it up by the end of the week.

I have also managed to write rough drafts of the final 2 chapters of Broken Skies which inches me even closer to finally finishing it.  I’ve also edited about 80 whole pages of Darklights but, in the flurry of everything that has been these past 2 weeks, have no real recollection of doing so.

I am also working out a few poems for a poetry anthology I was invited to contribute to.  I’ve mentioned this project before, but the editor wants it to remain top secret for now.  Which makes being involved in it pretty cool, obviously.

Speaking of poetry, I received word yesterday that my poem “Autopsy” has made it to the shortlist at A Cappella Zoo.  I should get a final response by the end of the month.

Also, be sure to check out my latest work-related rants in my latest guest-post over at Freelance Writerville.

Now I’m back to work.  I’ll blog again when I have time to resurface.

Cover me

So as I continue working on giving Darklights: Hell On Earth, Book 1 a facelift, one of the issues I am wrestling with is the cover art.  Last time, I threw something together and was happy with it.  This time however I actually took my time and also enlisted the help of a co-worker of sorts.

So, while the rewrites and other surgical procedures to the story are only about 40 pages in, the cover is coming along nicely.  It may even be done.  I have two versions of it as of right now and would appreciate everyone’s feedback.

Here is the primary design.

And here is the same design inverted and without the “light” effects and the orbs.

I can’t decide which route I like better. Thoughts?  Opinions?

Also, in holding my promise to myself (and the publisher) to better promote the book when it is released (or maybe it would be re-released if edited to this extent, I’m not sure), I think I’ll also be dropping indications as to what the story is about from time to time.  For now, if you’re at all curious, you can check out the horrid MySpace page I made for it in 2007.  You can see it here.

Revised and Terrorized

This morning, I got to the computer early. I sipped nervously from my coffee and spent about 40 minutes putting the final edits to The Bleeding Room.  The entire process has taken about two months (and keep in mind this was the second time I edited it as a “final draft”) and has been rather enjoyable.  I was hoping to knock a few thousands words out of it and managed to do just that (though not as many as I would like).

Quickly, here’s the story of how we have come to this point.

I spent 2 years writing this novel and another year editing the hell out of it and trying to convince myself that it was ready for publication.  Satisfied with the draft, I sent it off to three agencies and Tor.  It took about six months but they all passed.  One agency did, however, say that they enjoyed the 50 pages I had sent in but that my narrative was a bit wordy.  (Who, me?  Wordy?)

So I did another edit.  I sent it to another agency and within two days gto a “No.  We do horror, but not stuff this dark.”  Perhaps my synopsis in the query packet was misleading?

I also sent it to two smaller publishing houses.  One of them got back to me within a few months stating that they had a full line up through 2010 but, if I wanted, they’d like to hold on to it based on the 3 sample chapters I sent them.  I said “sure”.  Then, several months later (it was very close to a year for this response), I got an e-mail from the 2nd publisher stating (this is not verbatim, mind you), “I really enjoyed this.  I passed it along to another writer who also liked it.  If you are cool with working with him on edits, I’d like you to submit the entire manuscript to me.”

As for another non-verbatim quote, this one from the amazing writer that has been helping me out: “I strongly feel that if the story keeps up this pace for the rest of the chapters (after having read 8 chapters), there is a very good chance that XXX will publish this.”

So, as I finished it up this morning, I was/am pretty nervous and excited.  After a quick spell/grammar check and a re-read of 3 particular sections, I’ll be sending it back of the the Publisher That Shall Not Be Named Until A Decsion Has Been Made.

Also, prior to this edit: 128,321 words

After this edit: 124,771 words

Pretty long by some standards, but I am of the opinion that it’s okay for novels to break that 100,000 word mark that so many agencies and houses have deemed “the limit”.

Anyway.  Wish me luck.  Within about two hours, the FULL final draft of The Bleeding Room will be on its way to be properly judged for the first time.

Okay, maybe THIS weekend

Maybe this weekend I’ll finally get a chance to knock out about 10,000 words or more. I don’t even care on what project. I just need to write!

Granted, I have spent the majority of my writing time on edits for The Bleeding Room; I broke the halfway point earlier this week and continue to grow more and more excited.  Even if they decide to pass on it (which my “Big Brother” they assigned to me doubts), it will be a much stronger manuscript.

Oh, and that story for the Vermin anthology I was so excited about…yeah, it currently stands at a whopping one paragraph (of 108 words).  The past day, however, has also given me an idea for the Shadows of the Emerald City/ Wizard of Oz anthology.  And I need to hurry up and write that one because when the idea came to me, I seriously considered calling a psychiatrist to see what in the hell is wrong with me.  It’s going to be one of those stories.

In closing, here’s an exciting bit of news.  Bound For Evil, the anthology that contains my first ever published work “A Collection of True Evils” has been nominated for a Shirley Jackson Award.

And now to finish out Friday and continue to hum “Everybody’s Working for the Weekend…”

Decisions, decisions

Somewhere between Saturday night and Tuesday morning, I ended up making a pretty gut-wrenching decision.  I spent a bit of time tinkering with Broken Skies and realized that the ending needed to be changed in order to make the whole book work.  The problem with that is that I like the ending and the idea of changing it irritates me.  So, instead of changing the ending, I have decided that an extensive re-write needs to be undertaken for a 175 page chunk of the book.

The thing of it is that I have too many projects currently going.  Most important among them is the editing process to the final-final draft of The Bleeding Room.  On the tails of that is getting a first draft of the Untitled first book of my little paranormal-to-be series.  And then there is the 2nd issue of Birdwatching From Mars (the new artist is supposed to be sending along new character sketches any day now).  And, of course, there are the 8 or so short stories that are begging to be written.

So Broken Skies is going to be sitting dormant for a while.  To me, it was the right decision to make.  It just depresses me that this book was like an obsession for me for a period of 5 or 6 months.  Anyone out there ever have to make a wretched decision like this before?

Anyway, on to writing news.

I know I suck about keeping secrets, but there is another one waiting in the wings.  A week or so after being approached to contribute a story to the debut of The New Bedlam Project, I received another e-mail, asking to work on something for a future edition of XXXXXX (that’s the secret!).  So I am working on that, as well.  With those two requests for material, I was feeling pretty great.

Then comes the rejection from Comet Press this morning.  They passed on my short horror tale “Lunatic Mile” for their upcoming anthology.  I have yet to decide if their comment of “if it is any consolation, your story made it to the short-short list” is encouraging or not.  This poor little story has made it to three short lists and, in the end, has always gotten a “No.”  I can only imagine the sort of self-esteem issues it has.

So at some point today, it’s off to find a new home for “Lanatic Mile” and the newly edited “Mannerisms of Runners.”  A big thanks to Jamie Eyburg for acting as beta-reader for this story.

When a writer doesn’t write

You will never hear me complain that I have too much work.  To me, there is no such thing.  However, work is keeping me from writing and it is driving me crazy.  In the past four days, the most writing I have done has consisted of editing 36 pages of The Bleeding Room.  There is a short story that is begging to be finished and another one that I’d like to begin.  Then there is Book 1 to the series I started a month or so ago; the ideas for this one just keep coming and I fear some of them may slip away into the ether if they don’t get written soon.

I am also struggling with my flash (but was once a short story) story “The Mannerisms of Runners”.  Does it stay as is or do I covert it into poetry?  Decisions, decisions…

Oh, and speaking of poems, I received an e-mail from Rich Ristow, the brain behind Death In Common, in which he included yet another review/blurb for the upcoming horror poetry anthology.  This one is from Mike Allen and reads:

For the connoisseur of the morbid, opening Death in Common will be akin to sorting through a delightfully gore-soaked Whitman’s Sampler of sweetmeats, discovering wicked flavors with each new bite. From Rich Ristow’s fascinatingly ghoulish concept spills a full cornucopia of horrors, from Marge Simon’s dark elegance to the gruesome poetic justice of Wrath James White, from Kurt Newton’s blood-black comedy to Christopher Conlon’s unsettling poignancy, from Louise Bohmer’s sensual brutality to the beautiful despair of Barry Napier’s finale.

It looks as if Death In Common will be released sometime by Summer, so I hope you all get interested in this.  The premise was intriguing to me and, quite frankly, I’m excited that this is where my first accepted and paid-for poems (although “Abandoned Bridges” has since been posted at Everyday Weirdness) will be featured.

Okay, back to work so that I can perhaps convince the clock to cough up a few extra hours to write.

Oh, and check out this hilarious article over at The Onion.