Yup, it’s that time of year again. Set your phasers to navel gazing!
This time last year, there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth and feeling like all things writerly were taking a plunge into the abyss of despair. But 2010? I kind of love you, 2010. You proved to me why it’s important to keep plugging away in the face of mountainous piles of suck. Because you never know when a streak of awesomeness will suddenly strike.
My Big Fat Epic Fantasy Novel
In last year’s writerly recap, I wrote: “Moving into 2010, I think I’m going to put short stories on hold for a bit and concentrate on finishing the novel rewrite.” Hee hee. I said “finishing the novel rewrite.” That’s hysterical. Excuse me while I fall on the floor and laugh until I cry. A lot.
My novel progress during 2010 actually went something like this:
- January – July: Rewrote chapters 8-14 and half of chapter 15, putting me close to the 50K mark on what will probably be about 120K total.
- July: Had chapters 1-5 critiqued at TNEO and realized I had some issues I needed to go back and fix.
- August: Took a break to work on a short story while the critiques simmered on the back burner.
- September: Rewrote chapter 1. Again. For like the gazillionth time.
- October – December: Excruciatingly slow rewrite of chapter 2. Seriously, three months on one chapter and I’m still not done. The I-have-to-laugh-or-else-I-will-cry part is that I originally thought chapter 2 wasn’t going to need as much work as chapter 1.
So, um, yeah. I didn’t get nearly as far as I would have liked. But the revisions are good revisions (at least I think they are), so that’s gotta count for something. With my Ye Olde Day Job shift to working from home part-time starting in January, hopefully I’ll have more than 20 minutes on the train each morning to get some novel rewrite time in. Train rides are great for first drafts, but they haven’t been proving overly friendly to my revision process.
My Not-So-Epic Short Stories
I did a major rewrite of one story in August. By major, I mean taking a 1,200 word piece in search of a plot and turning it into a 2,900 word story with the same basic concept but a totally different POV character. And a plot.
Other than tweaking a few others, that was pretty much it for short stories this year. I’d really like to write more than one short story this coming year (for those of who read my last entry, the town where dying is forbidden idea is in the lead, with the My Big Fat Epic Fantasy Novel spin-off story right behind and the 1920s murder mystery dinner idea in a respectable third). Short stories are fun. And I have more ideas than I have time to write them. And my inventory is getting low, which brings us to…
2010 Sales: The Year Made of Epic Win
I’ve got no whining to do this year. I don’t know what I did to deserve it, but 2010 was rather darn nice to me, so I’m going to enjoy the awesome while it lasts.
Acceptances in 2010 (in no particular order)
- “Mortis Persona” to Fantasy Magazine and subsequently selected for Wilde Stories 2011: The Year’s Best Gay Speculative Fiction
- “The Wounded House” to Black Static
- “God’s Gift to Women” and “A Song Never Tasted” to Daily Science Fiction
- “The Deepening” to Aoife’s Kiss
- “The Name of Trust” to Alternative Coordinates
- “The Sins of the Living” to Dark Recesses
- “The Perfect Instrument” to Rockets, Swords, and Rainbows
Published in 2010
- “The Wounded House” – Black Static, issue 20, Dec 2010-Jan 2011
- “Mortis Persona” – Fantasy Magazine, Nov 15, 2010
- “The Name of Trust” – Alternative Coordinates, issue 5, Spring 2010
- “The Sins of the Living” – Dark Recesses, Feb 22, 2010
- “Love Spells” (reprint) – Voices in Today’s Magazines, Writer’s Institute Publications, Feb 2010
- “Monkey Love” (reprint) – The Best of Every Day Fiction Two, Jan 2010
And on that note: Happy New Year, folks!
Barbara A. Barnett 