Much Ado About Much

I haven't updated much because at this point I am working a full-time job, raising two children, writing a novel, keeping chickens and keeping up three other blogs about the whole mess. I've been...distracted.

First, the Santa Cruz chapter of Nanowrimo made the local paper. You can read the article, complete with an interview with yours truly here.

Second, just because I'm writing a novel doesn't mean that I'm brain dead. One of the inevitable effects of writing a novel is that I end up with more story ideas than I can possibly manage. I currently have three or four, and they end up falling out of my ears. Here's one of the ways I ensure that I have story ideas that work: I don't write them down right away. The good ones are the ones that stay with me over several days or weeks, popping up in my psyche and demanding my attention. By the time I get around to writing them, they're much more powerful.

Third, just because you're done writing doesn't mean that you're done. A few months ago I went through an orgy of submissions. I do this every once in a while, sending out dozens of copies of work to dozens of markets hoping that something will stick somewhere. As of right now, I have one essay sold, a short story on an anthology's short list and a novel that might be delighting an agent as we speak. Call me a mercenary, but I'm doing this for money too.

I'm two-thirds done with this year's Nanovel, and I'm confident that in a year or so, it'll be just about ready for people to look at. But I'm just as confident that in the meantime, other little seeds I've planted will have sprouted and flowered.

Break Taken

Tuesday last, I woke sick as the proverbial dog. I stayed home from work and mostly slept, but did manage to get a few words down, seeing how it was the beginning of the month and all. Wednesday, more of the same, but I must say that I was feeling the pressure to get better, as my boss was leaving for three weeks and Thursday would be her last day. Thursday I dragged myself into the office, did a few ineffectual things, and then wrote some more when I got home. Friday, I worked from home and did a little writing in between emails.

What this all adds up to is that by the 4th, I was 40% of the way through Nano.

This, despite the fact that I have still not officially committed myself.

Which means that the fact that I was so sick on Saturday and Sunday that I did literally nothing but sleep and zone out in front of some DVDs makes me feel not one whit guilty.

No guilt. None whatsoever.

Okay. Maybe a little.

V-I-C-T-O-R-Y

As some of you may know, my first Nanovel, Mitos del Pueblo, garnered first place for novel at the 2004 East of Eden Writer's Conference. That was a wonderful perk and a great feeling, but it wasn't the end of that particular novel's journey. In fact, it turned out to be little more than a bump on the Road to Publication, which it's still barrelling down with no signs of ever coming to rest.

But I did write about that process, and the resulting essay "Putting the Suck in Success" was accepted by Rambler magazine for publication.

Well, it's a start.

Oh, Naughty Me

It's been months and months since my last post, and here it is the 3rd and I haven't said word one about Nanowrimo.

Honestly, there are two reasons for that:

1. I haven't had time. Since I last posted to this blog, I have been a writing and submitting f3wl, so it's not as though I've been entirely idle. Partially, but not entirely.

2. I still have not committed to actually *doing* Nano this year. Having said that, I must confess that as of last night, my word count is over 13,000. No, it wasn't a typo, it is the third day and I'm already a quarter of the way to completion. But the thing is this: I know that I can do it. You know that I can do it. It's just that I also have many, many other things I have to do this month, and therefore I don't want to begin by oversubscribing myself.

Although we all know, don't we, that I'm incapable of *under*subscribing myself.