Saturday,
March 8, 2008

Huh.

Woke up from an interesting dream where I'd gone back to college and was trying to find my classes in a somewhat industrial-looking building. I poked my head into a room, and the professor (middle-aged man, British, dark hair, not exactly attractive but very dynamic) howled at me to come IN already and close the bloody door, class was about to start. So I did, and had a rip-roaring good time deconstructing As You Like It.

I think my subconscious is trying to tell me something.

It's nice to be appreciated

As you know (Bob), I sold a short story to a YA fantasy anthology called Enchantment Place last year. Since the wheels of publishing grind rather slowly, it's just now going to production, and I got my page proofs yesterday. Page proofs are the typeset version of the story, complete with printer's marks -- since various wrenches can get thrown in the works between submission of the story and it being typeset, the writer is requested to go over page proofs and check for any last-minute spelling goofs, grammar problems, etc.

So I was perusing the story and laughing occasionally, which is a good thing, when Lyndon came in and asked what I was doing. I explained, and he said the nicest thing: "You really show a lot of dedication to writing. I know it must be tough when you don't know if you're going to get any return on a story, and you go through slow or bad patches sometimes, but you just keep plowing ahead anyway."

It's nice to hear this, because every so often I get hit by what Laura Underwood terms the IMPoster. Basically, it's the rather unpleasant part of your brain telling you that you're a fraud/hack/failure and everyone's going to find this out eventually so you should just give up now and save yourself the embarrassment. You'd be surprised how many successful, bestselling writers have an IMPoster of their own -- we're not what you would call the most well-adjusted bunch to begin with, and working in a field where success is often determined by current tastes and sheer dumb luck...well, deep down very few of us think we're All That when it comes to writing.

Granted, it would be lovely to be so well-adjusted that I never had a moment's worry about my writing...but then again I wouldn't be me if I didn't fret. So it's nice to get some outside confirmation that yeah, I'm not just fooling myself or spinning my wheels. I am making forward progress.

Even if it seems ungodly slow at times.

Speaking of writing

So I'm struggling to find the funny in this 50's classic SF spacemen homage/satire I'm working on, and suddenly the Muse appears, drops a comedy bomb on my head and heads back to Bali to soak up some more mojitos.

Which she's welcome to do, as long as she gifts me with plot gems like this. I think I scared the cats with my cackling. And if done subtly enough, no one will ever sue!

And now, back to work...

<< Back  |  Email  |  Home  |  About  |  Forward >>