May 21, 2003 --

Lately, I've been starting short stories, and not completing them.  I have the endings in mind... but I let myself get distracted with other things.  I'm not sure if my life would be considered busy compared with the average person, but it always feels busy to me.  For every thing that gets done, three things replace it.  Some things have to take priority over writing.
That's not to say that I haven't done anything with my stories.  I've submitted one short to a critique group (thanks to everyone at Milk of Medusa!), and I believe it's ready for submission to zines.  Another short story, Fiction, is also ready.  It was accepted at a zine earlier this year, but the editor is on a possibly permanent hiatus, and has given permission for me to shop the story to other zines.

Researching zines is a perilous activity.  I get caught up reading them, and never get around to submitting.  There are hundreds of zines on the internet, but only a handful print magazines that will publish scifi/fantasy short fiction.  Lots of great fiction out there from new or unknown authors.

Status on my novels:  Reader feedback has been coming in, and I'm very grateful for all of it.  Reactions to The Illusionist are good.  Suggestions and other factors have me rethinking a few details of the story.  It needs a bit more work before being submitted to the literary agency I have in mind.

Reactions to the first part of Yeresunsa have been beyond great.  To those who are currently reading it:  Your feedback is still welcome, of course!  I will take all suggestions into consideration.  You are invited to be brutally honest.  Please!
So why haven't I submitted it anywhere?  Because Parts II and III need work.  I've barely gone over them.  Yes, they are three separate books, but something tells me that I should have all three finished, just in case I'm amazingly lucky and land an editor who is willing to combine them into a single volume, as I had originally intended.

I doubt anyone really reads these updates, or cares what I'm babbling about, but it's good therapy for me.  If you want to laugh... I've been working on a horror story that has me so scared, I can't work on it while I'm home alone.  Every time Larry walks past my computer, I jump about two feet.

In other news:  It's hot here in California.  Even I start complaining when it's 100F.