Now Playing: WORK by Jimmy Eat World
Just Read: THE BREACH by Patrick Lee--Very enjoyable. A fast-paced thriller full of cool science fiction. Definitely the kind of book I'd love to write.
Reading Now: THE EYE OF THE WORLD by Robert Jordan
The world will never be the same! My son was born earlier this month, and it's been a whirlwind ride getting him home from the hospital and taking care of him here. Forgive me if my fiction in the near future is all about being a new dad--I'm obsessed!
Somehow, though, in my spare time while he's napping during the day or while I'm rocking him in the middle of the night, I managed to peck out a few words and submit some stories. My last few rejection letters have actually contained some really positive feedback, which is very encouraging.
I've also had some time to do some reading this week, while my son is snoozing or while he's eating. I started reading The Wheel of Time novels at the hospital. I thought there was some symbolism there, I don't know. Like I was starting a long and life-changing journey as a father, and at the same time starting a long epic journey in literature. Maybe if he's really inconsolable, I'll read a few chapters aloud to him. Give him a break from Dr. Seuss books (which I've recently rediscovered, and are even more amazing than I remember).
Perhaps I'm being foolishly optimistic, but I'm still going to shoot for at least one new story per month. I've written 8 stories so far in 2020, and July's is underway. I'm planning for it to be a flash piece--seems like a more manageable project with an infant. Also, I submitted my quarterly story for the Writers of the Future contest, am still waiting for last quarter's result, and have this quarter's submission ready for editing, so that I'll still be able to meet my goal of submitting every quarter.
I hope one day I'll be able to tell my son that I wrote such-and-such story/novel while juggling feeding him, changing him, playing with him, reading to him. It would be really cool to pick up a novel I wrote and had published and remember how old he was and what he was doing while I wrote it. The future is bright for all of us!
