This month started as a jog and ended as a sprint. I was hoping to announce that I had finished the rough draft of my collection Stories From the Infinite City. I had timed it perfectly—or so I thought. This week, I received a laundry list of edits for my recently accepted story “The Installation.”

Normally, edits wouldn’t bother me. They’re probably my favorite part of the writing process. But knowing that the changes would be final, that what I write will appear IN PRINT, has me fretting to no end. I’m normally a perfectionist, but this is taking my neurosis to a whole new level. Add a short deadline to that and you can see how I’m panicking.

UPDATE: Stories From the Infinite City

I did accomplish a fair amount before receiving my story edits. In fact, I only have one story left to write (which will be the longest). The outline is even written. (Given the length, I decided an outline was in order, compared to my usual rough notes.) I thought I’d share with you what I did write:

“People of the Worm” – This is by far the most violent story I’ve ever written. I hope it would make the Splatterpunks proud. However, the ending doesn’t fit the tone of the rest of the story, so I’ll have to fix that.

“The Infinite City” – I am a novice at writing epistolary fiction, but this will be the second story in this collection that I’ve used that style, this time as journal entries. I know I’ll have to cut some stories out in the end, but it won’t be this one.

“The Endless Dream” – While shorter than the others, I think this story has the best “mood” of the collection.

“The Sunless Sky” – I came up with this story when I wanted to write a horror scenario without the sense of sight. I realize that’s been done before, but I wanted to try it out on my own. It was a great exercise if nothing else.

Submissions

My New Year’s resolution was to submit 5+ stories for publication. Well, it’s only January and I’ve already submitted 2. I’ve noticed the process gets easier each time.

To be honest, my chances aren’t great. I submitted “Slime is a Dish Best Served Cold” to a publication with an estimated 1000+ submissions, while “Ink” went to an anthology that might not be right for it. Still, my chances are higher than if I didn’t submit them at all.

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That’s it for this month. Hopefully, I’ll have finished the rough draft of my collection when I see you next!

Tchau,

Zé