The Waiting Game

I think the most frustrating thing for an unknown writer is waiting. Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine has by far the best slush process I have seen of any short fiction magazine in the world, but even its system can't completely overcome frustation. They assign your story a number and then you can watch it as it moves through the three-round slush process ... but in this case, they are five days behind - so I haven't even been assigned a number yet. Nevertheless, Andromeda is far and away the primary place I would like to see my work appear. Far better than the pretentious Aurealis which seems to come out whenever the editors can be bothered doing it. My story 'Portal of the Rich and Famous' made the third round for Andromeda last year and I have pretty high hopes for 'Time Trial' once it gets before readers.

I'm also thinking that I need to get more stories out there at once, which means devoting more time to the process. I don't think that would go down too well with my girlfriend, but as many have observed, writing is a selfish excercise.

Got back into the swing of things with Truck Me this morning. I've been writing blind so far, but the thematics became clear in my head this morning and I'm more motivated than ever to kick on. Four pages written to this point.

The Fearless Writer