Of the pieces I've started and completed:
A SHORT LONG JOURNEY NORTH (Started in August 2009, completed in September of 2016)
LOVE IN A TIME OF ALIEN INVASION (Started in February of 2013, and still far from complete)
MARTIAN HOLIDAY (Started in February of 2009, and still far from complete)
THE RECONSTRUCTION OF MAI LI HASTINGS (Started in March of 2009, completed in January 2013)
These still exist in my blog archives, just blocked from public view. I also wrote two others (at least) which I was able to delete:
THREAT OF MAGIC (Started in July of 2008, completed in August of 2009)
THIRTEEN SQUARE MILES (Started in May of 2008, completed in July of 2009)
I also don't recall if I wrote HEIRS OF THE SHATTERED SPHERES: EMERALD OF EARTH here or not. I vaguely remember the trip up the space elevator being posted, but it was taken down a long time ago. I have a cover letter from 2010, so the book was done by then. Prior to that, I'm not sure.
I've also tried a few manuscripts for picture books as well.
The net sum of the ones I've lifted from POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAYS and actually polished enough for submission, at this point, is ZERO. I DID try one of the picture books, "Yung Lo, the Emperor's Goldfish". Sent it to my agent at Red Fox Literary...and she hated it. (That was the end of my attempts to write picture books.)
The point of the exercise above is to look at how I'm spending my writing time. It's already limited because I'm NOT a full-time writer and usually have OTOGU to deal with (use of this minor god is stolen from Bruce Bethke, one of my heroes and the Executive Editor (shared with his wife) of Stupefying Stories (see the link button to the right). Read about this capricious imp here: http://stupefyingstories.blogspot.com/2013/01/2012-year-in-review-part-3.html
If you don't want to read the full thing, just the legend at the very beginning is all that's necessary!
So, the upshot of this is that I'm suspending my Fiction on Thursdays for the time being until I can figure out what to do with it. It's NOT doing the job I intended for it, which was to write books in full view of the world and hope for critiques and ideas as well as to "force" me to keep creating novels.
I might add that the probability of taking them out and completing the process at any time in the future is low. Part of the problem is that I'm a better writer now and I recognize that the books weren't...um...great and would require substantial work to get them to submission quality.
The other part is that I want to make sure I've got some credibility -- and maybe even an agent -- to start sending out my YA/MG science fiction. It's not exactly a thing now...
For now, my Fiction of Thursday is going to end. Sorry if you were following either MARTIAN HOLIDAY or LOVE IN A TIME OF ALIEN INVASION. The possibility of me finishing THOSE is much, much better!
Guy
Image: https://66.media.tumblr.com/3183c0ab16a0196f2d49141bd1d49a45/tumblr_mh58cff6wJ1qz6f4bo1_500.gif
No comments:
Post a Comment