Pounding Words Into Submission

So, what's new? Well, I've hit 2,000 views, so that's pretty cool. And yes, that's over the course of basically an entire year, but it's still exciting to me. Let me have my moment!

The other thing is that I've finished a story to my liking and sent it off to be considered for publication. The deadline is today, and I excel at waiting until the last second. I finally managed to write a story that's not entirely dialogue. It's two and a bit pages long, and I think there are eight lines of dialogue. I actually set out to write something with no dialogue, and this is what I ended up with.

The story is also written in present tense, which is something I've never done before. Admittedly, that happened because I had one line that ended up around the middle that was in present tense, and it just wouldn't have been the same in past tense. Present tense has a sort of urgency, like all this is happening right now. And that's what this story needed.

I should know in a few months if it was accepted or not. If not, I'll post it here. If it's accepted, I'll post a link to their online edition when it's available. I don't really know the rules about blogging published works. I'll probably just contact the publication and ask.

Writing for actual, immediate publication is incredibly stressful. You worry about every single word, wondering if it's really the best word for the job. Usually, when I anticipate an actual audience, my narration gets very dry, like I drain all the personality out of it. I have no idea why that is. It’s like I'm afraid to be myself around other people. Which is dumb, because I write all of this nonsense for other people to read, and it gets plenty of personality.

But I managed to leave some life in this story, finally. I think I just stopped thinking so much about making it perfect. Instead of worrying about what everyone else would want to read, I just tried to write something I would want to read. I mean, I am my own harshest critic.

Maybe I can do this writer thing after all.

In other news, the blog's one-year anniversary is on the 2nd, but we'll be, uh, "celebrating" it on the 3rd, since that's our regularly scheduled post. Be sure to stop by for that. It'll be something cool… hopefully.