Wednesday, 17 September 2003

I took my laptop in to the office and did some writing over lunch. I also got some done this evening, pushing through one hard bit. I've got almost 2500 words. There's just two scenes left to write, I think. I skipped ahead and sketched out the end of the story. A few bits of the end are echos of the next scene I have to write, and I thought it might be easier to put the echos in first and then write the lines that they echo from. It probably didn't make much difference.

I've been getting lots of new ideas for stories. When that happens, I sometimes have trouble finishing things--I want to rush on to the next idea. So far, though, I'm being disciplined.

From time to time I have an irrational urge to write a holiday story.

It's irrational for two reasons: First, by all reports holiday stories don't sell well these days. Second, why constrain myself to a holiday theme, rather than just writing the best story I can manage, whatever the theme might be?

And yet, I have this urge. Maybe I'll compromise. "Holiday story" is sometimes used to mean "Christmas story," but there are lots of other holidays. Maybe a story written around some other holiday would be a somewhat easier sell. It also leaves the theme pretty much wide open, at least until I pick a holiday.

Got a rejection from F&SF Monday. I haven't turned it around yet--I was too busy every evening so far this week. But I'll get to it right away; there are still several potential markets for this story.