TBD, Redux

[handful_ofdust]

Hammering away on “Imaginary Beauties” again—I’ve just finished section number six, roughly 1,000 words’ worth of work (so if I can manage to hook up the next two sections sometime tonight, I’ll be right back on track for novel_in_90, after two days of doing crap-all). Tomorrow is Hell-day, which means it’s unlikely I’m going to be in any shape to write by 6:00 PM; it also means I need to get showered and go copy my course outlines at school, then double back here to meet Mom/agincourtgirl, in preparation of going out for dinner with theengineer. Still, last night I took inventory of my current “done” pile,--all the short(ish) pieces which might be sent out, have been sent out, or could make up a new collection. It now looks like this:

“The Jacaranda Smile” (5,938)
“The Speed of Pain” (6,760—rewrite, probably to 8,000)
“Marya Nox” (3,976)
“Landscape with Maps & Legends: Dead Voices On Air” (9,060)
“Heart’s Hole: Time, the Revelator Remix” (5,763)
“Spectral Evidence” (3,423)
“Jack-Knife” (6,176)
“Villa Locusta” (5,453)
“Every Angel” (7,721)
“Drone” (4,959)
Words Written Backwards (11,850)
Pen Umbra (21,028)
“Sown From Salt” (3,971)
“When I’m Armoring My Belly” (3,929)
“Fin De Siecle” (3,148)
“Loop” (881)
“The Anniversary” (837)
Roughly: 103,903 words’ worth of material; minus WWB and PU, 70,277. I’ll also point out that the two last entries are almost flash-fiction, and not all that great (IMNSHO)—but then, I get to say that, if not one else.;)

My current TBD list:
“Imaginary Beauties” (7,000?)
Lilim rewrite,
Last Things query package/first three chapters rewrite
“The Underneath” (5,000?—Lovecraft-inspired, now with extra non-Euclidean geometry)
“Strange Weight” (8,000?—Maccabee Roke “origin” story, now with extra ass-kicking nuns and Templars)
“History’s Crust” (7,000?—Euwphaim Glouwer and the Sidderstanes vs. the Druirs, Pt. One)
“Secret People” (4,000?—Growing up around Overdeere)
“Where Have You Been, My Long-Lost Love, These Seven Long Years and More?” (7,000?—Straight-up sequel to “Dead Voices on Air”)
“Under These Rocks and Stones” (8,000?—Euwphaim Glouwer and the Sidderstanes vs. the Druirs, Pt. Two, now with extra Jo Glouwer cameo and Glauce Druir POV)
“Helpless” (6,000?—Carraclough Devize vs. an ectoplasm golem)
“All On That Day” (4,000?—not-Frank White vs. ghost-junkies)
“Kerato-Oblation” (4,000?—Why it’s not a good idea to photograph an execution)
“Digging” (4,000?—Why it’s not a good idea to bury your boyfriend in the backyard)
“Dust-Bowl” (4,000?—not-Nile vs. the Duat/someone’s ka/each other)
“Mors Certans” (4,000?—Juleyan Roke “origin” story, now with extra English Civil War and plague)
“Hand-Woven” (4,000?—not-MR James and the case of the haunted carpet)
“Your Name Is Darkness” (4,000?—Those venomous fumes, like ghosts imitating angels)
“Host” (5,000?—Why it’s a bad idea to home-invade M. le Chevalier du Prendegrast’s current flop)
“Trouble Again” (5,000?—not-guys from Dog Soldiers working as werewolf bodyguards who can go through any metal detector, living together, mass hysteria)

Oh, and I also tripped over the single most hilarious textual note I’ve come across amongst my own papers for a while, now—apparently, I already worked out what I would call a prospective Sirenia Digest-style “project”: Liber A Me—“short shorts project, 500/1,000 each, like ‘The Black Alphabet‘”. Which just goes to show you, I obviously have absolutely no excuse for ragging on Steve and HIS awful puns.

Aaaand…now the laundry is done, so I must post and GTFO. But at least I know what I’ll be doing for the rest of this—decade, I guess.;) See yez.

Comments

[sarcobatus.livejournal.com]

Yay! You go, girl!

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Like I said, if I can just keep up some sort of consistent wordage (without too much time off here and there for porn)...

[baggyeyes]

I have in a photography book images from the hangings of the people accused of conspiring to assassinate Lincoln. They are chilling and strangely static in comparison to the imagery one gets these days.

It is said the one woman who was hanged haunts the apartments nearby where the hangings took place, and that she's driven many people close to suicide.

[baggyeyes]

In other words, I want to read your stories. :D

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

Well, given your financial situation, I could probably send you an early draft of one of the two Ben Foster ones, maybe.;) Email me again.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I'd originally wanted to base "Kerato-Oblation" on the Ruth Snyder death photo, but since a screenplay I'm working on involves the electric chair, maybe hanging would be better.

[baggyeyes]

Do you want me to scan the images? I can post them in the scrapbook, and email you the link.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

Sure! That'd be great.;)

[baggyeyes]

And here they are: the post ghosties: Conspirators

[sovay]

“Drone” (4,959)

You. "Drone" is awesome. It's one of the best and nastiest takes I have ever seen on the mythology and biology of dragons; I want to make all of my McCaffrey-fan friends read it. Tell me this new collection is not all theoretical.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

Dude! Thanks so much--I'm blushing and smiling. Yeah, I had a lot of fun writing that one, not least because (as ever) I'd originally had the idea years ago, then broken partway into it and gotten stuck. Thank God for the sound of Angelina Jolie's voice in the Beowulf trailer!

As for the collection...no, I cannot tell you that, for that would be a lie. But one of the things I absolutely need to do this year is to try and sell someone (not an asshat, preferably) on the idea of publishing a third collection, perhaps with some repeats from the first two--something which could serve as my "introduction" to a larger world. Because I seriously think I'm doing some of the best work I've ever done, these days.

[sovay]

Thank God for the sound of Angelina Jolie's voice in the Beowulf trailer!

Amen!

But one of the things I absolutely need to do this year is to try and sell someone (not an asshat, preferably) on the idea of publishing a third collection, perhaps with some repeats from the first two--something which could serve as my "introduction" to a larger world.

I fully support this plan. If there is anything I can do, seriously, please let me know. More people need to be reading you.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

Well, I realize this is a lot like the "where do I send poems?" question, but...can you recommend any publishers you know might be looking for a collection? Or might at least be persuadable, since so far as I know, nobody's really "looking" for collections, these days?

[sovay]

but...can you recommend any publishers you know might be looking for a collection? Or might at least be persuadable, since so far as I know, nobody's really "looking" for collections, these days?

I can't! I queried Subterranean Press myself last month: they already have a heavy lineup of collections for next year. Maybe Night Shade Books? I do not know many other short-story publishers.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I was under the impression (perhaps mistaken) that Night Shade only picks up stuff (preferably reprints) by "established" authors.

publishers

[baggyeyes]

There's Coach House, and Insomniac Press, although Insomniac says they are full up on Poetry for the next few years.

I only know about these two because of a couple of authors that were published through them.