Short Post, Busy Life

I'm writing a short post literally just so I can say that I wrote a short post, and posted, well, something.

Life has been crazy, recently, and I know they say that it just gets crazier the older you get, but for the sake of my sanity, I hope it doesn't get too much crazier. Leastways crazier in a not good way. Crazier in an awesome way would be just fine. And even though some of the crazy stuff that's been going on has been not good, it's been way less not-good than it could have been. Things can always get worse, so for that, I'm super grateful that the not good stuff has actually been as super awesome as not great stuff like it can be. And yes, I know, I'm not really making a lot of sense but I'm very superstitious (hey, my Great Nona collected fingernail clippings and hair trimmings so the gypsies wouldn't get them and put spells on the kids) and some things I just can't hardly talk about, either aloud or in writing, for fear of jinxing the good, or invoking the bad. Suffice to say, a family member has been dealing with something many women find themselves dealing with, but *so far* the treatment has gone very well, and the prognosis is awesome. *so far* So, pray or cross your fingers, or however you send good juju, for me and mine that this continues to go well!

In brighter, much more easily talked about news, I'm considering shelving Catskin (formerly titled Gone Missing Girl). Not forever, but for now. I've been thinking about it A LOT recently, while all of these not great things have been going on, and it's gotten to that place where each rejection is affecting me more than it should. The business is subjective. Rejections aren't something I should take personally. But I'm starting to be injured by them where Catskin is concerned. Mostly, I think this is related to being in a very stressful situation emotionally that has nothing at all to do with writing. But some of it relates directly to Catskin. Primarily, the fact that both I and my closest critique partner agree that the ms is at a point where needlessly fiddling with it will be a major screw-up in the making. Am I opening to revisions on Catskin? TOTALLY. But I need guidance from inside the publishing machine before making changes. Otherwise, I'll just be blundering along changing shit for the sake of changing it, with no direction or vision of what the end result should be. Definitely something I don't want to do. So until I get feedback/revision suggestions from an agent, or editor,  it's going to stay as it is.

That said, I do have the ms with both an agent (one whom I love!) and an editor (!!!) Which is not to say that anyone has requested the ms, these were just resubs, and while they make me hopeful and excited, I'm trying to brace for rejection. I think I've got the fortitude for two last blows before backing away from Catskin for a while and retreating to the writing den to work on the next submission-worthy project (code name Silver Cage) which I hope I can get written over the winter.

I also intend to maybe go back and dally with Evernow, which while I have no immediate plan to try and peddle (dystopia is still dead, after all) I still love and find refuge in.

Also, I've managed to collect half a bucket of pohickery nuts, which I plan on cracking (they're very tricky, and I've never tried it) and which always puts me in the mood to play with the few period pieces I've started, because they involved Appalachia and, well, there's just no place like home :)

I've Been Bad...

Okay, not that bad. But I did promise that I would get some more posts up about Sirens and my Colorado adventures... and, well, I've been revising instead...

I've finally 'finished' the revisions on Evernow. I've successfully (I think) added in another character, Lena, and although she doesn't show up until much later in the book, I think events are more believable with her as their vector. I also had some angst about Evernow herself coming across as too Mary Sue, even though I've never had a prospective agent, or beta reader make a peep about Mary Sueness... With the arrival of Lena, some of the pressure to save the day is off of Evernow, and yet Ever is able to maintain the stubborn indomitableness that is so much a part of her character.

Now I'm reading through everything yet one more time, trying to prepare to send off queries to a few select agents. For the first time, I'm having some Sicilian hair-rending attacks over the idea of these queries. It's hard to articulate why, since I've got an entire bowl full of rejections, but I think it's a combination of things. The fact is, I LOVE these agents and their presence in the literary world... rejections from them will be scarring. Not so much because I'll have failed to secure an agent, but because I'll have 'lost' the chance to show them I'm worth their time and effort. Another factor is that after a year of querying Evernow, I'm feeling as though perhaps I've been clinging to a star I 'thought' was going to fall... meanwhile other stories, or stars, were passing me by because of the time I spent on Evernow. I won't give up on Evernow, but I feel as though I may be facing a time when I'll be forced to set it aside. Then there's the fact that I feel like I'm not getting any younger. Rome wasn't built in a day, I'm aware, and I'm hardly old. But considering that it could be years from the time an agent offers to rep me, to the day I get an ARC of my book, I'm feeling the pressure to get an agent already...

And on that note... I'll stop procrastinating... and get back to my read through... and The Great Pumpkin...