This month I’ve felt surprisingly productive. My brain is clearer, thanks to a change in medication, and I feel I have more stamina. I hope this lasts. It feels good to be firing on more cylinders.

The Autobiography of M

I sent off the manuscript of my horror novel The Autobiography of M to my editor. After reading the first chapter, he told me it had “good legs”, but I’m afraid that the peculiar structure of the book might sour his opinion.

It’s a problem I have. I’m confident about a piece of work and send it off. And within hours, I see all its faults, some real, some imagined. I’ve been fretting about this manuscript ever since I hit SEND. If this novel doesn’t work out, I’m planning to take a break from long fiction and focus on honing the craft with short stories.

Short Stories

I recently put down Behind the Short Story, the textbook I mentioned last month, after working my way steadily through it. I’ve learned so many new things that have revolutionized how I write, but a burst of inspiration and the idea for a new story caused me to take a break from the exercises.

The story is called “A Clarion in the Dark”. I made a silly remark to my mother that I hoped she wasn’t hearing ghosts in her hearing aids. Seconds later, I realized I had a story idea. Rather than pantsing, I outlined it and profiled the characters (which the textbook recommends), building a strong base to support it.

For some reason, it was slow going at first, between 400 and 900 words a day, before gaining momentum. Still, it shaped up nicely at 4,600 words, and I hope to start editing it next week.

Submissions

As I mentioned earlier in the month, my story “The Last Earth Day” was accepted! I’ve been riding high ever since, and the confidence I felt motivated me as I wrote the story I mentioned above. The anthology should be out by the end of October.

I also received a rejection. “Ink” is my best story in my opinion (though not my favorite). This was the third time I’ve submitted it and the third time it was rejected. The subject matter, I think, hinders it. There are a few disturbing scenes. Still, I plan to keep sending it out as I truly believe in this story.

—

I realized last month that I had reached my 150th post on this blog. Add it all together and you have a novel’s worth of entries. Here’s to another 150 more.

Tchau,

Zé