What Now?

As I said before, I do intend to revise/fix/rewrite The Long Road, this year's NaNo novel. Just… not right now. I think we need some time apart. It's not you, it's definitely me. I'm the one without a proper plot.

So we're going to put that on the back burner for the time being. Let it stew a little. Marinate, even. We want it to be tender when we tear it apart. So then the question becomes: what are we doing now?

Well, usually around this time of year, I remember that one of my almae matres puts out a literary publication every year, and the deadline is the end of January. And then I'll hammer out a short story in a week or two and submit it. If you haven't been around since the beginning of the blog, that's what initially started the whole thing. I had just made my first submission. It didn't get published, but it was a step in the right direction. I was making the effort.

I just need to write a short story of less than 5,000 words in the next month and a half. Easy cake oven. But what should it be about? Hmm, now there's the question.

The successful submissions seem to be more on the literary end of things. They're about people doing banal things, and nothing much happens. It's not the place for murder. I don't know if I can write like that.

And maybe I shouldn't. Maybe I should pack up my death and destruction and submit my stories somewhere else. But if I can't get published in a low-key community college publication, what hope is there for me out in the world? What chance do I have at something like Clarkesworld Magazine? Not much. I figure I have to start small.

But regardless of where I choose to submit a story, I still need to come up with something to write. Otherwise, what would I blog about? And yes, if I was going to for-sure submit something to whatever magazine, I should tailor my story to what they want. I know this. But right now, I just want to write.

I don't know what genre or style I want to go with. Should I try something new, or do a genre I've already tried? I think I'm going to have to make lists or something, maybe a spreadsheet of some kind, to analyze tried and untried genres. That sounds like fun. I do love a good spreadsheet.

I'll see you Tuesday, when hopefully I'll have moved on to the next big thing.