First off, I have to say how much you all rock! Really! A thousand times thank you for all the shared enthusiam on my first yes.
Special thanks to Alex J. Cavanaugh for the shoutout on his blog about it over the weekend.
So yes, I got my first yes. Which leaked out on Friday. It was supposed to post today, but I suspect the war between my printer and Windows 7 got in the way and blogger did not get the 'scheduled at' message before HP rebooted my computer. :-O I won't go into how idiotic a reboot is when you are in the middle of the help instructions for resolving an issue. Yeah, if the computer reboots, the instructions disappear. Really HP! Did you test your instructions? I don't think so.
Anyway, The Tumbas will be published in an anthology. I will certainly let you know when it comes out and all the other gory details as soon as I know them. You can find out more about the story here: http://www.mpaxauthor.com/biblio.php?storyid=37
Just so I wouldn't go getting a swelled head, the universe sent me a rejection a few hours later. No matter. I keep at it. Another yes will creep in somewhere. Eventually. Never surrender, never give up. Otherwise, you'll never get that occassional yes. And they are wonderful.
I read Recycled on Sunday at open mic. A nice contrast. Recycled is the shortest story I ever wrote and The Tumbas is the longest. The crowd was bigger than usual, about 80 people and I had an off day. I was more nervous than usual for some reason. I got through it. Got a few nice words from folks afterward. Said they thought my writing was beautiful. We all have off days. You just keep going. And I still got applause and a few friends in the audience. So, it wasn't bad. Just not as good as I've done.
Got my short story submitted yesterday for a local contest, titled A Calling Home. It's basically my love letter to Central Oregon. I imagined being back in Portland and yearning to return here. If we move, I will be grieving for this place. Still have no idea about that. Limbo sucks.
My new time management schedule is going pretty well -- until I hit the glitch with the printer drivers on Friday. I did not schedule in 'computer frustration from hell'. Yet I hit my goal for revisions on novel#2 last week. So setting goals is working out. This week I am reworking the start of the first novel and continuing with revisions on the second novel. Hope my head doesn't explode. So far, so good. I set a 2 hour time limit for one then switch. 2 hours for the second. Then I have to get onto other things. Like queries and cyberspace and research and feedback. I like to sneak a workout in, too.
How's your week shaping up? Discover any secret weapons for managing a busy life? Writing career?
There was clamor for a party on Friday. Any suggestions?
