So, while I wait for the novel brain to recover, I’m playing with short stories. That sounds like I don’t appreciate my short stories for who they are, but I do, really *pets them and hopes they don’t get offended and walk off in a huff*
I’ve always felt that short story writing and novel writing complement, even feed into each other. It’s like short stories is yoga and novel writing is jogging but they both contribute to a healthy back? (yeah, I have back-health on the brain at the moment). Anyway, at the moment I’m using these short stories to experiment with tenses. I have a story originally written in first person present, but now we’re trying past tense on for size, then comparing the two, and seeing what works. It’s really interesting to see what a difference it makes to the voice, and even the way it seems to change what the story is trying to say.
Yesterday we were playing with POV. And in between we have been writing new words in a story about rain… kinda.
Anyway, I think this post is starting to make me sound a little crazy, so I’m going to go back to my pot of jasmine tea.
My copy of ASIM #44 arrived the other day. Due to an unfortunate post office incident it looked like it had travelled all around the country, and the envelope gained stamps and scribbles every step of the way. But, apart from being bent and shoved into my mail box, the actual mag came through its little adventure in pretty good nick.
So yay for that. Breathtaker looks very nice in print, as does Kathleen’s artwork.
I’m actually very excited about this. If you can’t tell then it’s probably due to a lack of sleep. I have that feeling like there’s a film of something in front of my eyes and everything’s a little blury to look at and even harder to think about. I blame the bloke coming at the crack of dawn for the past three days to repair the balcony. Yes, I’m missing out on my sleep ins, but next time it rains we won’t get leaks coming through to the downstairs loungeroom. And that’s a good thing. The cats, who have been locked in a downstairs bedroom for the past three days, are NOT impressed. Not at all. Which is why I don’t have a photo of Navi with the issue of ASIM. I just don’t trust her…
So, apart from the builders (and their LOUD sport-related radio), and ASIM, I’ve been working on a few short stories. Revising one, scribbling ideas for another couple. They might be good ideas, or I might just be too tired. Who knows?
Scott Pilgrim tomorrow. Should be good 
A very exciting package arrived this morning. It was Worlds Next Door! The book looks absolutely amazing, and I’m thrilled to have my story Graffiti in it. My husband, Gaston, has artwork in it too.
Navi was way too sleepy to bless this one, unfortunately. She did kinda lean away from it though, so I’ll take that as a good sign.
Worlds Next Door is absolutely FULL of fantastic SFF stories for young adults (seriously, lots of stories! Lots!) Do yourself (and your kids) a favour, and grab a copy!
Good for knotted backs, and knotted plot problems.
Unbound
Well, that’s it. First draft done.
I’m not 100% sure about the ending, and I have a few pages worth of notes to start revision with, but I think (hope?) that most of it is in pretty good nick. What did I learn from his novel? Well, the most important thing is that if I know June is going to be a busy month at work, I shouldn’t plan to finish writing a novel during that month. Because guess what, it didn’t happen. *headdesk*
Right now I’m going to do something completely different. For a little while, at least.
My wonderful writing buddy Rabia has a story up at Flash Me magazine at the moment. She’s a great writer who I admire a lot, so I totally recommend popping over there and having a read! It’s short and… well… not that sweet actually. Kinda dark. But we like it that way, don’t we.
*evil laugh*
(seriously though, check it out!)
