Thursday, November 19, 2009

Beginnings and Endings

A good day yesterday.

Got a story accepted by the U of Montana's lit magazine "Camas: The Nature of the West." I haven't had alotta luck getting published in academic circles. Perhaps because I use words like "alotta." So, a nice acceptance to get. It's print, not web, so I can't throw you a link. I think it comes out in January.

Also finished the novel, and rather well. Wrote about 1500 words in the last two days. Some of them words I've had in my head for nearly a year. I'm happy with the last few chapters. Now, of course, I have to go back and rewrite, and likely a third draft after that. Plus, pull down the LMP database, find some agents who might fit the material, compose a query letter and a one paragraph synopsis (which I hate doing). So that's another six months of work staring me in the face.

Still, I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel a great deal of satisfaction about it. A year of hard, focused, nearly daily work.




The gravy on my plate: the old house closes next week. All significant deadlines have passed, so nothing other than acts of God can get in the way of it now. After six months of paying two mortgages, several thousand dollars will be dropping into our bank account like freshly fallen snow.

Thanksgiving indeed.

9 comments:

Wanderlust Scarlett said...

It's looking like a very good Christmas for you and the family. YAY!!!!

Very excited for you! Very proud of you, too. Great job on getting published! I'm pitching that Harrison Ford story this week.
I got a shot of him with the R2D2 unit that belongs to the 501st. SO fun!


A very Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. :D


Scarlett & Viaggiatore

ArtSparker said...

Ah, these are precious the moments in life when we reach the plateaus and get to take some satisfaction in how far we've come. If you ever send out drafts of things in progress, let me know - I love to read and comment on manuscripts.

Eric said...

Heaps of congratulations, Clownster. If I come across anyone who sounds like they'd fit your project I'll let you know, but admittedly my agent-feelers are thin right now, because I'm not doing much hunting.

Have you thought about submitting to Amazon's contest, like I did?

Anonymous said...

Congratulations again :) What a wonderful way to start off the holiday season. I know you have a lot of work ahead of you, but it's quite a feat to have finished, and you deserve a little time to bask.

My da published a fantasy-style novel a while back. It's probably been close to a decade, but I can certainly see if he still speaks to anyone who helped him with that project, and see if that gets any responses.

Hilary said...

Glad to hear it all. I'm happy for you. :)

Anonymous said...

It is certainly interesting for me to read this article. Thanks for it. I like such topics and everything connected to this matter. I would like to read a bit more soon.

willwood said...

I can only guess at the self discipline required to do serious writing after a long day, and the girls are in bed: when all the body wants to do is relax with a beer. You have my utmost respect and admiration..

Clowncar said...

Hey, Scarlett! It's been happy so far. I saw a pic of Mr. Ford and Ms. Flockhart in the post this weekend. Was that your work?

Art, it does feel good. I'm trying to keep the number of cooks in the kitchen pretty low on this one, but I'm always looking for feedback on other stuff. I'll gladly keep you in mind.

Eric, thanks for reminding me of the Amazon thing. I'll definitely submit. The first bit is even pretty commercial, in its own weird genre way.

Bliss, consider yourself asked. Lemmevknow who your Dad submitted to, I'll put en on the short list. Ddid he have an "in" or was it s cold send?

Thanks Hil. It's been a good week.

Thanks for such heartfelt congratulations, Anon.

Mr. Wood, the promise of that beer after I'm done writing for the day keeps me working fast. Screw the adjective, jump to the noun, Avalanche Ale awaits.

Wanderlust Scarlett said...

No, mine hasn't been published yet. Mine is being submitted to flight magazines.

It was pretty cool, though!


Scarlett & Viaggiatore