Jeez Louise...

'The Outdated Professor' didn't even make it past the first round for Andromeda, even though the reader said it was a "nice idea, a very nice idea". Apparently the ending doesn't work – a comment I find rather curious and suspect might be a case of personal preference rather than objective criticism.

Seems there are worse things than getting to the third round. Hmph.

Onto another Aussie market, perhaps? Not that there are many to choose from. Maybe I'll have to take Borderlands off my blacklist.

Hack work

About a third of the way though making the final draft changes on Ghost Kiss. Roughly 40 pages done, about 1,500 words snipped – and I've nearly dipped below the all-important 90,000 word mark (about 90,500).

The plan was to get all my short stories in shape as well, but I think I'll need an editing break after this. I'm kinda over it. Perhaps I'll let my mind wander around for a new short story idea, then once I've written that, go back to the others. Or maybe writing the final passage of Blue Diamond Pool is the better option. A compromise between writing, editing and trying to get more stories out there.

Speaking of which, I got a nice enough rejection for Trouble With The Locals. It suggested in vague terms that my story had been "competitive" – an unusual way to refer to it, especially since it seemed to be a form rejection for all intents and purposes.

Time for change(s)

Despite numerous unavoidable drinking bouts (happens every June, too many birthdays) I have finished marking up Ghost Kiss. So now the real work begins. I plan to make all the changes after work and on weekends, to free up the days for any new composition that comes to mind. Not sure if I'll get it all done before the end of June, but that's the aim.

Flying Andromeda again

Last night I sent 'The Outdated Professor' to Andromeda. It's one of the shortest stories I've ever written, barely 1,300 words, but it's lean and succinct like 'Cut 'Em Down' – so hopefully it can emulate its success!

No braaaaains!

Copped an impersonal rejection from The Undead 2 today – I'm guessing 'Mere Symptoms of Living' had too many philosophical ideas and too few guns for the prescribed tone of their anthology. Time to find another zombie themed book! They seem to pop up fairly regularly.

Accidentally Struggle Street

Bringing the early pages of Ghost Kiss up to scratch is proving a laborious task. The prose in the first 50 pages is far streakier than it was in the latter hundred – every second sentence seems to have 'was' or telling instead of showing. Some pages look like a bad road accident with all the red pen cross-outs. It's more a rewrite than an edit. I've limped my way to page 22 and still have another 30 to go. I'm thinking it might be an idea to revise a very short story I wrote, about revisionist history in the future, and submit it to Andromeda, just to give myself a break from editing the novel and get back on the day-to-day stimulation of the submission wagon. To feel like I'm back in the hunt rather than cooped up and isolated at various desks tinkering and fiddling with no purpose.