Not an Auspicious Start

This morning did start well. I woke up early and worked out. Read some blogs and email. Put a load of laundry in the washing machine and got things organized to start writing. Then the glug. The dreaded glug. The glug that means my drain in the basement is backing up. Sigh.

So the guy from Doc's Drain Cleaning is here. He thinks he's got it all, but is going to run the washing machine just to make sure that it isn't the floor drain. Then he's out of here and so is about $150 bucks. One of those things you just have to do when you own a home with mature trees around it. Making a note to myself to call them in September next year so maybe we can avoid the glug.

Then it's off to Target to pick up a couple things I forgot yesterday on my rush back home after dropping my sister off at the airport. Yay! And back to start the turkey (I'm eating elsewhere tomorrow but still want my own leftovers) and write. Dammit.

Deeps breaths. Better to get the glug out of the way the day before Thanksgiving than ON Thanksgiving.

Update to Intrusions

What did I tell you?

I sent my acceptances and rejections out. Almost immediately, one of the guys I rejected came back and said that he'd be happy to revise but he didn't understand my comment that the story was spotty. Did I mean uneven? And if so, he needed clarification. This is a person who has supposedly--I didn't take the time to Google him--been nominated for a couple Edgars. Right.

I now know why agents and editors can be so terse in their rejection letters. They are saying, "No, thank you." That's it. Once you throw in the "Your writing has promise" or "Maybe with a little work", you as the editor are screwed. Because they just keep coming back. I have taken the line with "please keep submitting" out of the rejection letter. It is now simply, your story doesn't work for us. Period.

The other response I got to a rejection was another story. Immediately. Okay, let's get this straight. You sent me your best work two weeks ago. I have sent a rejection to that work and your second (or third or fourth) best work is going to impress me? I did read it. Two typos and 3 POV shifts in the first 6 paragraphs. It doesn't get any better.

So to quote the much missed Miss Snark, "No means no."

The good part of this is that I am now SO ready to start working on my own stuff. And reading things from the Pirates. You guys don't know how good you are.

Intrusions

I'm a big one for lecturing people on not letting too much intrude on their writing time. Looks like I need to sit down and have a heart to heart with myself.

This is always a pretty slow week for me at work. We've done all the mid-month stuff and it's not yet time to gear up for end of month. So what to do today except, oh I don't know, write?

Except I have some other commitments to see to. So I've been reading submissions for Apollo's Lyre and responding. I am definitely seeing a trend. People submit, are accepted and immediately submit something else. Not a bad thing if second submission is as good or better than first (and that means you, Frank!), but if the first acceptance was pretty much because we had to have something to publish and said author's didn't exactly suck, well....the next one is never better, let me tell ya. I believe this is a similar phenomenon to the people who are rejected and immediately send in a different story with all the same flaws. Frustrating. And tiring.

And then I had some clean-up work to do for PPW. Submit my volunteer hours. Have a Sweet Success story published on the web because, somehow, it didn't get included in the November print edition. Apologize to person who achieved the success, profusely. Send out a reminder of the deadline for the January issue. And think about what my editorial will be for January. Should probably write a draft. Ain't gonna happen today.

I've said before, and I'll say again, the editing is rewarding work. We do put out some really useful information in the PPW NewsMagazine. And when I get a so-so submission to AL and give feedback to the author who then turns it into a great piece of short fiction, what a high! And I love when an awesome piece shows up out of nowhere. But editing is not my passion. That's my writing. And I need to remember to protect my passion.

I'll be finished with the other stuff in less than an hour (mainly because I'm not writing my editorial right now). That leaves two hours to work on Vesta before I go home. And, if I tape Chuck and Heroes, I'll have a couple more hours tonight.

Okay, I feel better now. I did my have-tos and can still get some want-tos done.

Lecture over.