Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Flip Sides of the Coin

From the Speakers: WASTING AWAY by Tonight Alive
Just Read: HOCUS POCUS by Kurt Vonnegut--Fantastic! Loved the voice, and it was really hilarious the whole time. A few times I cracked up alone in my living room, haha! Shout out to Blaise for the recommendation.
Reading Now: THE MANY ASPECTS OF MOBILE HOME LIVING by Martin Clark

Spent the past two weeks or so poring over a novelette I wrote almost a year ago. I mentioned it in a previous blog post--I had a few friends give me their opinion on it, then set to work editing it, mainly to cut it down. It was 18,600 words when they read it, and I wanted to get it below 17,000 for submission to a contest.

Talk about hard work! I think Michael Crichton said that stories aren't written--they're rewritten. How true!

After a once over, it was pretty straightforward to cut out about 800-1000 words. That left 600 to go before it met the submission requirements. Those 600 words took me SIX HOURS to find early one morning last week!

It's a stronger story for it, though.

But as far as my W1S1 requirements, it didn't count because all I did was edit it. So I had to hurry and put together a flash that I thought I would submit to DSF . . . but then I got a note from them saying the story they were already reviewing had passed the first round of slush piles! So that was a big lift after so much work, feeling like I wasn't getting anywhere. Just going to have to find another venue for this new one, I guess.

And, FINALLY, that novelette is submitted. Keep your fingers crossed for me--I'll need every bit of luck I can get.

5 comments:

  1. Best of luck with DSF and that novelette. You're right, it's all about the rewriting.

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  2. Thanks man! And yeah, it's a lot of work but it's always worth it in the end. The tighter the story, the better.

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  3. "It's a stronger story for it, though." I'd have to say the same about almost every one of my rewrites. Good luck on the DSF sub, and way to go on meeting and beating your September W1S1 goals!

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  4. Thanks man, keep your fingers crossed for me!

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  5. Awesome work on the novelette. I agree with the rewriting as well. Good luck with the submission!

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