Saturday, January 17, 2009

the Moment of Truth

Or at least the Moment of Commitment.

So I'm sure I was one of the last to submit to Firebrand, but I did it. At first I was trying to cram in 20 full pages, and then realized that a 20 page chapter in a boy's tweener book just wouldn't fit. If I can't convince them in 9 pages, or even 5, then the story has bigger problems not solved by length.

The same sample is what I'm going to use for Big Sur. It's both a relief and a fire to have submitted. A relief because I can stop sweating. A fire because that's what's now lit under my ass to make everything as good and exciting as it is when there's a deadline.

I even used a few lines for the Westside Schmooze "First Pages" night which was great. Lee and Rita really had fun, and the format of the evening (mixing published/famous/unknown writings together) was also great. I think last year I did a lot of writing in a vacuum, and the Schmoozes give me a sense of community that I was missing. Hats off to the Westside Schmooze; it's a good group.

All that writing took it out of me, though. I've been off my blogs for over a week. And tomorrow I'm taking some time off for the MLK Holiday/Inauguration Build-up. I'll see you all reliably again in a week.

Now get back to those books!