Tuesday, August 26, 2008

five days to go?

Progress report:

The story’s as good as it’s going to be. I still think that it’s too simplistic, or too quiet, or too something, but Mom, my sounding board, has insisted that it’s fabulous the way it is. Since that means I don’t have to bother with any more revision, that’s fine with me.

My cover letter so far is: a choice of seven opening sentences. (Or, to be more accurate, the second halves of seven opening sentences. No idea what that first clause should be. Somehow Publish this! sounds a little too strong. Even with a please tacked onto the end.) And then I have another sentence for the next paragraph. Oh, and my closing tag: “Sincerely.” Classic, brief, and it gets the job done. So that’s the letter.

The trickiest bit is determining where the story should go. I’ve narrowed down my list: forty, then to thirteen, and now to four. That’s the main thing I have to work on: studying their styles and deciding which is the best fit for my story.

Important though all this is, it reminds me again and again that I’m not really a literary short story writer at heart. I love my little story, I really do. I know I want to publish it. But sitting at my desk and reading the tiny print in the Writer’s Market guide makes me want to scrape my brain out with a spoon.

Meanwhile, my novel’s characters go outside to play badminton, and my protagonist is spouting brilliant lines by the dozen—lines it takes me hours to think of for her. And now she’s coming up with plenty, all by herself. But if I go nearer to my window to listen (maybe with pad and pen to take notes, since she’s saying really funny stuff, I mean, laugh-til-you-can’t-breathe funny), my short story gets anxious, and drags me back to my desk and my lists, my decisions, my fragmented cover letter, and alllllllllll that tiny print.—jl

Posted by Jenn Langefeld on 08/26 at 07:26 PM
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