Cacoethes Scribendi

Short one, today.

(The Evil entry is coming-- probably tomorrow-- I just don't have time tonight. Or the attention, really)

Today I sent out about 10 manuscripts. Which means I have, uh, 20 or 21 in circulation. With a couple more soon to be shoved from the nest. So I felt marginally productive.

Two rejections, today. One from the fantasy section of the Micro anthology; that one doesn't really sting. The editor liked it well enough, asked for more, suggested I send it to the horror section (which I did). It took 15 minutes to write; no biggie. That story's a little incident from the life of Marla, my character from "Haruspex" and the half-unfinished novel Ferocious Dreamers... she's a rich character.

The other rejection was for "Haruspex," interestingly enough. Bad day for Marla. Dave Cox at Darkling Plain had been holding this one, as you may recall. It made it to the final 15 of 400 manuscripts submitted. Length was an issue. "Haru" is just over 8,000 words (right up against DP's limit), and in the end David decided to use that space for a pair of shorter stories instead.

He was very encouraging; I'm sure he'll be receptive to my work in the future. Still. A bummer. I'd rather be celebrating than deciding which market to send "Haru" to next...

Guess I'd better get to writing. Selling the stuff can be a bitch, sometimes, but the writing's never bad.