Saturday, September 8, 2012

Doing ten things at once

I haven't meant to neglect my blog, honest! Here in northeast US, however, Summer is wrapping up, school has just started and all that busy fun stuff that goes along with it. My tomatoes have all ripened at the same time, leaving me with a cardboard box full (time to do something with them!). I've canned some hot peppers, because I've also got tons of those. I'm really looking forward to the cooler, drier fall weather, because it seems like this Summer has been exceptionally hot and humid. And for me, hot + humid = little to no motivation.

My writing? I've still been bouncing around working on different projects, depending on  my mood. I'm thinking I might start pitching my shorter works, and have begun researching possible markets. Honestly, I hate querying work, though. A lot. That's probably why I haven't bothered doing anything with my shorts.

Researching markets is a job in itself. I usually start with a database like Duotrope.com, but once I find a market that sounds interesting, I check out their site. If it's for book length fiction, I'll also check out availability + number of reviews on places like Amazon, as well as Absolute Write to see if there are any threads on that particular publisher. So what I'm trying to say, is it's time consuming!  This is what I do when I don't feel like writing.

So I've been pitching my novel, and as the rejections have started rolling in, I've gotten to thinking. I had structured the novel so that it alternates between two different story lines, because one is supernaturally themed and the other isn't, and there's a whole long story behind why I decided that (won't get into it now). ANYWAY, I'm thinking of switching back to the chronological version. I wrote a prologue that would set the story up as if the main character is telling the story posthumously, which I think would eliminate any reservations I had about tying the whole thing together. This was actually something I toyed with a while ago, but set aside. We'll see where that goes!  

Wow, what a rambling, random post! I suppose I should get some cleaning done so I can relax and get to writing without feeling guilty. Since the kids are with their dad, I have no excuse! Have a great weekend, everyone...and I will try not to be a stranger! Now, where to start...