Writing Review: July 2024

During a Zoom meeting on July 19, a friend of mine sent me a direct message. You look cute today.

I was a little startled and asked her if that direct message had actually been meant for me. Yes, she told me. The red [shirt I was wearing] looks good on you, and it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you smile like that.

That triggered a bit of self-reflection. Thanks, I answered a few minutes later. It feels good to be smiling again. I think I’m finally getting back on track.

Indeed, that does seem to have been the theme of the latter half of July for me. As I mentioned in my last post, I had had a family emergency in late June and early July; this had kept me from focusing on my writing in general, never mind putting together more blog posts. But that weekend’s meeting, which was part of a writing retreat, was re-energizing for nearly all of us involved, and I was no exception. My writing output had been steadily declining for several months thanks to personal and family issues, but I met my writing goal for the weekend on Saturday afternoon and then kept right on going. I’ve since met my word goal for July as well, and am on my way back to the goal of having a positive word count on at least five days every week.

Earlier in the month, the sponsors of SMucK-a-Palooza noted that they hadn’t had enough submissions to justify publishing Through the Years 3 (its official zine), and were therefore extending the submission deadline. I wasn’t the only one who was dismayed; several of us spread the word around encouraging more submissions. I was one of them, and in one of my posts I made a comment indicating I couldn’t submit again because I had already submitted a story back in March. The editors wrote back that they were accepting multiple submissions; and later that same day, confirmed that they’d gotten enough new material to justify publication after all.

That incident, combined with a slew of prompts that another fan fiction author had posted, sparked a brand-new fan fiction story, “Broken Dates,” which I primarily wrote during the writing retreat. My beta reader turned it around extremely quickly (thank you again!) which meant I was able to send it in to the zine editors on July 21st. In my cover email, I referenced the fact that I had submitted a different story, “Filling the Silence,” on March 29th.

It’s a good thing I mentioned that, because it turned out the editors couldn’t locate the earlier story. I sent it again, and this time it went through. A couple of days later, the editors responded: both stories were accepted with only minor edits. That, plus some complimentary feedback that was included in that email, left me floating for several days while I polished the drafts of two other stories, both written for a new shared universe anthology that is under development: “Fenestram Aperit” and “Legacy.” I submitted them on July 25th and 26th respectively, and have received acknowledgments for both.

Getting three writing projects done this month helped me keep the momentum going, and since the retreat I’ve only missed one day of writing. That said, despite the finishes, I still have plenty of works in progress. During the month of August, I will be working on:

• Standing in the Dark, which is a rewrite of my unfinished fan fiction story, “The Energy of Sun Rays.” It’s going to be my primary focus, as I’ve set a goal of being able to start posting it during the fourth quarter of this year and I’m only a few chapters in. I’ll need to keep up the rate I’m already at if I want to hit that self-imposed deadline; but if I can, I will make it.
• I’d like to get at least four more entries from Tales from Winter Camp rewritten and posted. That’s one per week.
• I also would like to create more “evergreen” posts for this blog, since I still don’t have enough for my own comfort. As of this writing, I have four; I’d like to have at least thirty. That said, I don’t want to hold off on re-starting the blog any longer. I may just have to start out at a slightly lower posting intensity than I’d intended.

There’s more where those three items came from, but right now I’m going to stick with those three since they’re more than enough for one month. While I’m “riding a high” right now, I know that won’t last forever and I don’t want to inadvertently set myself up for failure.

The good news, though, is that while I’m not taking any classes in August, Will is. I’m hoping this will lead me to writing more in the evenings after work, as well as writing in the mornings before work. I’ll find out in a month!