Fall weekend
Oct. 3rd, 2010 10:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ksmithYesterday was cloudy and rainy. Fall bluster. I have yet to wander into the basement to check for leaks. I may have another cup of coffee first.
Got an invitation to contribute to an anthology, which I accepted. No guarantees, but I really would like to come through with this one. I have had to turn down so many invitations over the years, or ignore the open calls, because I was working on a book. Some folks can multitask, write a story in a week, a few days. Maybe the stories gestate in their backbrains while they work on other things. Maybe they hyperfocus and pull it together all at once. I need to ponder, start and restart and focus, just as I do with a novel, and most times I just can't justify the effort. But as I said, I want to do this, so. Already pondering the premise, and the opening scenes. It needs to be on the short side, and that will be a challenge as well. For me, a novella counts as short. Short stories are like sketches, gesture drawings. Zip zip and done. I often feel rushed when I write them, as if I am explaining something to someone as they interrupt and cut me off. I love a well-done short story. I love the idea of writing shorts. They're just not my natural length. So I expect a grapple. I just hope I wind up with something salable at the end.
Baked banana bread yesterday. My usual recipe, but with a 12-oz bag of semisweet chips added just because. I also added cinnamon and a teaspoon of espresso powder to punch up the chocolate flavor. Not that it needed punching up, mind. I had a piece last night and my, but it's rich. I should probably freeze half the thing so it doesn't go stale because a small piece goes a hella long way.
Sunny today, but chilly. I need to check the bell peppers to see how they're doing. I've 8 of them, all about 3 inches across. I want to leave them to ripen as long as possible--we're supposed to wander back up into the 70s this week, so that will be good. I want to see a little red in the peppers before I pick them, since that's supposed to be the sign that the bitterness is gone. Let summer drag on just a little bit longer.
Vacuum. Laundry. London broil for dinner. Off to it.
Got an invitation to contribute to an anthology, which I accepted. No guarantees, but I really would like to come through with this one. I have had to turn down so many invitations over the years, or ignore the open calls, because I was working on a book. Some folks can multitask, write a story in a week, a few days. Maybe the stories gestate in their backbrains while they work on other things. Maybe they hyperfocus and pull it together all at once. I need to ponder, start and restart and focus, just as I do with a novel, and most times I just can't justify the effort. But as I said, I want to do this, so. Already pondering the premise, and the opening scenes. It needs to be on the short side, and that will be a challenge as well. For me, a novella counts as short. Short stories are like sketches, gesture drawings. Zip zip and done. I often feel rushed when I write them, as if I am explaining something to someone as they interrupt and cut me off. I love a well-done short story. I love the idea of writing shorts. They're just not my natural length. So I expect a grapple. I just hope I wind up with something salable at the end.
Baked banana bread yesterday. My usual recipe, but with a 12-oz bag of semisweet chips added just because. I also added cinnamon and a teaspoon of espresso powder to punch up the chocolate flavor. Not that it needed punching up, mind. I had a piece last night and my, but it's rich. I should probably freeze half the thing so it doesn't go stale because a small piece goes a hella long way.
Sunny today, but chilly. I need to check the bell peppers to see how they're doing. I've 8 of them, all about 3 inches across. I want to leave them to ripen as long as possible--we're supposed to wander back up into the 70s this week, so that will be good. I want to see a little red in the peppers before I pick them, since that's supposed to be the sign that the bitterness is gone. Let summer drag on just a little bit longer.
Vacuum. Laundry. London broil for dinner. Off to it.
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no subject
Date: 2010-10-04 09:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-05 12:55 am (UTC)I doubt there will be a Jani novel anytime soon. I think I'd have a hard time selling it, and it would take too long to write--I do have outstanding commitments, including sekrit projects. I would need a huge wodge of free time. A year, judging from past performance.
That said, there's another novella-type story rattling around my head. Still pondering how Niall acquired his scar. And given how so many writers are selling subscriptions to novels on their websites or taking hard-to-sell stuff straight to e-format and bypassing traditional publishing...I think it's possible to keep writing formerly unmarketable work and make it worthwhile artistically and financially.
So I'm thinking of Jani off and on. But so far, only the novella storyline is talking to me.