Where Am I Going? How Will I Get There?

Nothing big going on, just wanted to drop in and say hi. I started writing down ideas today, not stories, but just anything that would get me writing. Besides story ideas, I’m toying with all sorts of ideas on where to go next with the distribution of my writing, meaning the regular mags I’ve been submitting to all along, oddball mags and sites that don’t pay but get the story in front of someone’s eyes, more stuff on my website (which I haven’t updated for the better part of a year, shame on me), or something rather punk and subversive which I won’t go into. A lot of the decision making process depends on whether I’m currently looking for money or exposure. Wouldn’t both be nice?

51

Number fifty-one is in the can. It’s A Girl in Crisis and it’s on its way to an editor as you read this, assuming, of course, that you’re reading this as it’s on its way to an editor. Next up is Process Five which I’m hoping will become number fifty-two by about this time next week.

I’ve found some motivation, suddenly, because my wife wants to stick a ridiculously large addition onto the house. An addition that I can’t afford to pay someone else to build, and therefore must build myself. I don’t like to build things. If I did, I’d already be building them instead of doing what I am doing, which is not building things. Then it hit me: if I could make a reasonably steady income by writing, maybe I could farm some of this work out. I’m not looking for huge amounts of money, just some. Some is more than I’m getting now. So I’ve spent more time with my keyboard this past week than I have in a while and I’m hoping to keep that trend going.

From the incredibly nifty department, I have to recommend Connie, Maybe, a January podcast of a story written by Paul E. Martens on Escape Pod. Not only is it a good story, but it’s read by the wonderfully voiced Wichita Rutherford. It’s a joy just to bask in the synergy that these two gentlemen have created. I’m done here, so check it out now.

GIGO

I bought two books on Sunday. The Best American Short Stories of the Century edited by John Updike and The Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Year’s Best Science Fiction edited by Gardner Dozois. I plan to read these books cover to cover and glean what I can from them. If you’re going to design a car do you want to study a Dodge Dart or a Ferrari? I have a theory that you can pick up writing ability better by reading lots of good stuff than by reading lots of how-to articles and books. It’s like learning through osmosis. My writer sister disagrees. But everyone believes in GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out), right? So why not GIGO (Greatness IN, Greatness Out)? Exactly. So from now on instead of thinking GIGO, think GIGO. And go read some good stuff.