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somewhere a red pen holds my soul captive
Feb. 22nd, 2008 03:46 pmCrap I have to do this weekend:
--more ID terms for Russian history
--pgs. 277-364 in Russian history reader
--read chapter 11 of Russian history textbook
--re-read Danica's short story and type up critique
--re-read Sonja's short story and type up critique
--finish writing tutor application
--choose short story #2 to submit for Clarion
--submit Clarion application
--submit poetry to Berkeley Poetry Review
--start brainstorming Chaucer paper topics
--read Hamlet again
It'll be nice to get the Clarion stuff done. I still have no idea what story I'm submitting along with "Fire and Ice." I've gotten so many mixed messages. Before I had other people read my stuff I was so sure it would be "Potential Energy," but then no one else liked it as much as I did and Shanna sent it back to me with a really great critique that pointed out to me all the ways in which I could make it work so much better -- which is a nice way of saying she told me all the ways it wasn't working, and I know enough about writing to know her points were valid.
Then I pretty much have ruled out "The Free Way" simply because it's way ungainly at the moment and I don't have the heart to put it through a massive rewrite, especially when I'm not sure that's what it needs at all, at least not now. At least, not for this. Also I'm not sure I can do that in 6,000 words (though I probably could if I had to).
The technical aspects of "Staring into Space" make me dislike it for a few reasons (not to mention the fact that it feels too young to me, which is understandable since it's the first short story I ever wrote) but I recently revised it and it was at least feeling a little fresher. At the same time, though, it's also slightly cliched in places. It's more of a traditional sf piece. At the moment that's the largest thing it's got going for it.
My father thinks I should send them "Cold War, Cold World" but I have a few issues with that, too (not the least of which being that it's also set somewhere extremely cold and obviously I can write things that are not set in the Arctic, thankyouverymuch, but I'd like that to show). Dad thinks it's a strong showing because it demonstrates that I can do traditional sf. I think it shows that I shy away from the elements of traditional sf that really matter -- the exact nature of the mysterious chemical, the action sequence when the hostages are rescued. I like what might be termed the "trickiness" of the ending, but I don't know if that's enough to justify it as an inclusion.
I hate not knowing these things and having no way to judge them on my own. I was hoping that a pattern would emerge from people's answers. Well, a pattern did emerge -- Fire and Ice is really great and nothing else that you put next to it will look half as good. Never in so many words but that's completely how it feels to me right now. (And partly that scares me because I wrote "Fire and Ice" two and a half years ago, and I don't want that to have been my peak!)
Well. I guess this means I'll just go along doing other things on the list until that's the only one I'm left with. Usually this is a good idea. I just hope that it will be this time.
--more ID terms for Russian history
--pgs. 277-364 in Russian history reader
--read chapter 11 of Russian history textbook
--re-read Danica's short story and type up critique
--re-read Sonja's short story and type up critique
--finish writing tutor application
--choose short story #2 to submit for Clarion
--submit Clarion application
--submit poetry to Berkeley Poetry Review
--start brainstorming Chaucer paper topics
--read Hamlet again
It'll be nice to get the Clarion stuff done. I still have no idea what story I'm submitting along with "Fire and Ice." I've gotten so many mixed messages. Before I had other people read my stuff I was so sure it would be "Potential Energy," but then no one else liked it as much as I did and Shanna sent it back to me with a really great critique that pointed out to me all the ways in which I could make it work so much better -- which is a nice way of saying she told me all the ways it wasn't working, and I know enough about writing to know her points were valid.
Then I pretty much have ruled out "The Free Way" simply because it's way ungainly at the moment and I don't have the heart to put it through a massive rewrite, especially when I'm not sure that's what it needs at all, at least not now. At least, not for this. Also I'm not sure I can do that in 6,000 words (though I probably could if I had to).
The technical aspects of "Staring into Space" make me dislike it for a few reasons (not to mention the fact that it feels too young to me, which is understandable since it's the first short story I ever wrote) but I recently revised it and it was at least feeling a little fresher. At the same time, though, it's also slightly cliched in places. It's more of a traditional sf piece. At the moment that's the largest thing it's got going for it.
My father thinks I should send them "Cold War, Cold World" but I have a few issues with that, too (not the least of which being that it's also set somewhere extremely cold and obviously I can write things that are not set in the Arctic, thankyouverymuch, but I'd like that to show). Dad thinks it's a strong showing because it demonstrates that I can do traditional sf. I think it shows that I shy away from the elements of traditional sf that really matter -- the exact nature of the mysterious chemical, the action sequence when the hostages are rescued. I like what might be termed the "trickiness" of the ending, but I don't know if that's enough to justify it as an inclusion.
I hate not knowing these things and having no way to judge them on my own. I was hoping that a pattern would emerge from people's answers. Well, a pattern did emerge -- Fire and Ice is really great and nothing else that you put next to it will look half as good. Never in so many words but that's completely how it feels to me right now. (And partly that scares me because I wrote "Fire and Ice" two and a half years ago, and I don't want that to have been my peak!)
Well. I guess this means I'll just go along doing other things on the list until that's the only one I'm left with. Usually this is a good idea. I just hope that it will be this time.
