January 15, 2004
After a lot of consideration,
After a lot of consideration, I trunked "The Weird Sisters". I hate doing that, especially when it's a story I really like and am proud of, but there was just too much similarity between it and the opening of Pratchett's Wyrd Sisters for me to be comfortable about submitting it. It bugs me a little that I only have two stories out circulating at the moment, but I just don't think in terms of short stories so much. Conventional wisdom says that short stories are the only way to get your foot in the door, but are they really? Is there no other path? Looks like I may find out, unless my unconscious spits a few more ideas my way.
Research for False Light is going swimmingly. My notebook and notecards are filling up with ideas, and the picture is starting to form in my head. I'm working by instinct a lot lately, instead of by a sense of obligation. There's a little voice in the back of my head that tells me I should be focusing a lot more on rewriting Exile's Daughter, but for now I'm trusting wherever my brain wants to focus. This makes me feel a little bit undisciplined and guilty, but I'm trying to ignore that. I'm not sure which approach is better: to rein my mind in and try to make it follow a specific track, or let it roam where it wants, as long as something is getting accomplished. I dunno, but for now, I'm letting it roam.
Research and writing
Countdown to Apocalypse by Paul Halpern has some really interesting things to say about the end of the world. It's a little fluffy in places, and I'm certain the science is watered-down (enough so that I can go "hey, I get that!"), but he's covering all the bases, from Christian apocalypse to natural disaster to ecological crisis to cosmic disaster. Interestingly enough, he's very soothing about it all. "Here's a list of everything that could kill us all, and why it's a possibility. But everything's going to be okay!"
If nothing else, I've gotten shreds of plot out of this and a pile of world building ideas--and I'm only halfway through the book. Granted, I doubt the upcoming sections on nuclear war are going to be of much use to me but...
