Miscellaneous Writing Stuff

I =am= writing.  Really.

 

The missing Chapter Four of the YA SF piece turned up, so I had to retype that, and then, since it's been a couple years, I ran all the sample chapters through the rewrite machine again.  One character was a little bland, so I fixed that.  I added a bit of tech that I realized was missing.  I corrected a bit of my world's history, since the chapters were originally written pre-gas crash.  And then it went off to Ye Agente to see what she thinks of it.

 

Meanwhile, I was waiting for tonight's Untitled Writers Group meeting to see what they would think of the latest chapter of the book about Morrigan.  Everyone liked it very much, actually, which surprised me.  The UWG is notoriously difficult to please, and getting a full round of praise is extremely rare.  People found a few typos and had some word choices quibbles, but that was pretty much it.  (!)  So I'll do one more rewrite on that and send it off, too.  Ye poor Agente is being flooded!

 

I do this a lot, actually.  I go through phases where I send her nothing, and then WHAM!  I have a double-handful of stuff for her to see.  I was on the phone with her yesterday, and she asked, "So what else =are= you working on?" And I did the most horrible job of describing things.  I'm a good public speaker (it's my day job, after all), but when someone asks me to describe a writing project, I stammer and stutter.  It's annoying.  I always have to prepare a canned mini-speech about my current writing, and I didn't have one when Ye Agente asked.  So I stammered and stuttered, and as a result the projects didn't come across very well.  Thank gods I wasn't talking to an editor.

 

Next up I'm working on a thriller and on another piece which is very hard to describe right now (stammer stammer stutter), so I won't try.  :)

 

I don't have any contracts at the moment, which makes me nervous, and when I get nervous, I start cranking out the synopses and sample chapters.  It's like serial dating, and I don't enjoy it much.  I jump from project to project, having to put each on hold just as it gets interesting.  I end each set of sample chapters in a cliffhanger designed to make the editor whimper, "But . . . but I want more!"  (TIP TO BEGINNING WRITERS: Always end your final sample chapter in some kind of cliffhanger.)  Except this has the unintended side-effect of making =me= want to continue.  There's no point in doing so, though, until someone has bought the book, so I make myself move on to something else.

 

And now back to regular life.

Untitled Writers Group Seeking Members

The Untitled Writers Group is short a member, and we're looking for someone to fill the seat.  We're a group of eight writers (currently seven) from all areas of the publishing spectrum, from people who haven't been published yet to full-time pros.

The UWG has been in continuous existence for fifteen years now, and several of our current and former members have won or been finalists for a host of writing awards, including the Nebula.  We critique all genres of fiction, though we lean a bit toward fantasy and science fiction.  The group doesn't critique poetry.  Our mission is to help our group members write the best fiction they can and get it published.  We meet every other Monday evening in the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area.

Being published is not a requirement for membership.

I'm the new member liaison.  If you or someone you know is interested in joining the UWG, e-mail me at spiziks-at-sff-dot-net, and I'll be happy to answer questions or send more details.  Pass the word!