July, 2008

I’m currently in a panic about the fact that the only story I have out has been out for 26 days on a market that, according to Duotrope, takes 33 on average to reject something (and that’s down! I swear a week ago it said 34 or 36 or some even number greater than 33) and I haven’t not had a single story out in ohhhh a year and a half, maybe? I don’t know for sure, I just know it’s been a long time and if the rejection arrives before I get the gumption to send out the two things that were rejected on 8 July and 24 June that are still hanging around for no good reason then I will have broken this streak however pathetic of always having something out and that seems terrible.

I realize that in the scheme of things, this is a stupid thing to be in a panic about. Panic’s not listening to my well-reasoned explanations.

Over the weekend I organized all the stories I have written that I could have out in markets if only I would fix them and send them and it came to 11 stories (well one is unfinished, so let’s make it 10, but another I just realized isn’t included and should be…how weird, I didn’t have hardcopy for it, though I think there must be hardcopy somewhere and I wonder where…so back up to 11 and oh…hardcopy missing on several things, I see that now that I think about it and check the hard drive — note to self for later: Adding to Naught, Easier Next Time, and the Would Be Super are not accounted for — well, let’s just say it’s 13) and that doesn’t count the story tentatively called “Mi Buenos Aires Querido” if that’s not going to impinge on Gardel too much or perhaps it will end up called after some line of Borges poetry if I can figure out which one in the next five days or so. Said story is in a separate pile on account of needing to be all expedited and out of here soon soon (so that total is something like 14…is that possible?)! And it also doesn’t count the trunked stories which I am not even looking at to rewrite because of the enormity of their suck, and there’s four of those, five if you count Hindsight which was the brave experiment in submissions now retired. So apparently I need to do some editing because this situation is a bit ridiculous and yet notice how even faced with this ridiculousness I’m still not editing.

Though when I do decide to edit, I’ll start with the one marked urgent.

And when my brain is doing this kind of breathless tallying and accounting is when I realize I’m in a panic.

I have no idea whether I’m making this post as procrastination or accountability. I’ll let you know later, if and when I manage to send the two stories waiting in the wings out to their prospective markets (which I have already picked! I know! It’s crazy! But I still have to steel myself to send things out and it’s not even related to the inevitable rejection though of course that counts too). If and when I manage to edit that story that needs to be out the door this week.

Also, as a tangential worry, why is it that when I go back and re-read these stories for editing they sound so utilitarian? Do I no longer have access to any beautiful words, images, moments? Blech.

You know, there’s a small bit of good news on the writing front. I sold a story, specifically my Bradbury/Alfonsina Storni homage. But shhh. Because the last time I sold something and told you about it, IT NEVER CAME OUT. So just…shhh. I’ll let you know if it’s ever published. Yeah, I know, crazy superstitious talk, but see above re:panic. Also, I dunno why I bother to file the serial numbers off if I’m just going to recite them to you here. Some student in some far flung parallel universe is currently looking right at this to support their thesis that the main character in that story is meant to be Alfonsina Storni with an eyebrow ring.

BTW, tally so far on the lyrics game is 2 points Sunjunkie and 2 points Jerm. Yes, it’s like basketball. You get two points every time you score. You can’t win if you don’t play, as they say.

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So, new game. In the past I have often used lyrics for post titles, because I love music, and I love how just a few sung words can so fully express thoughts and feelings. I have been inconsistent about whether I put quotes around the lyrics or not, and lately I’ve usually dispensed with the quotes, so it wasn’t always apparent I was using lyrics.

A few posts back I used a Sisters Of Mercy lyric:”Down the river there’s a ship will carry the dream” from the song Flood and the album Floodland. Which is a wonderful album, that I love deeply and rarely listen to anymore.

So, when I posted the SoM lyrics, Sunjunkie commented with the next line, which I thought was so cool that I’m turning it into a going forward game. Starting now, I’m awarding two points to anyone who comments with the next line of a song I use as a post title, or with the artist and song. Now I know you can all use google, and it would be very sad and unsporting if you used google to get your two points, but if you must, so be it. Also, I do not consider it cheating to look at my Last.Fm page, and that will often give you a good clue. My tastes are pretty wideranging, and I’ll try not to stick to a certain musical ghetto, so everyone will get chances to guess. BTW, sunjunkie gets two points starting out, so the rest of you are behind! Chop chop!

At some point I’ll add a tally to the sidebar to keep track of this.

At the end of the year, whomever has the most points will get…something. Not sure what. But it will be wonderful and extraordinary. Really!

In other musical news, today I went down to the basement in search of a CD to rip but failed to find it and ended up ripping: Throwing Muses, Poe, Pixies, Skinny Puppy, Red Delicious, A3, Curve, Supreme Beings of Leisure, Revolting Cocks, The The and Bel Canto. Hmmm, you think it’s summer? All of these contain much loved blaring from the car summer music, some of it going back more than 15 years. I guess I’m compressing all my previous summers down into this summer, by use of music. Hope it will be a good one.

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