Goals:
- Spend at least half an hour every day on writing or editing, an hour on weekends
- Finish rewrite of Dragons at Dawn
- Post to my blog on the ROW80 update days (Sunday and Wednesday)
- Read at least one of my books on writing every week
I have continued working on my short story about how my lead in Finding Valhalla became a Valkyrie. It is turning out fairly well, although if I put everything into it that I have been thinking about it will end up to be either a really long short story or a novella. It is certainly working as a writing exercise though. I have figured out a lot about her powers and history by doing this. It should make the novel shine a lot brighter once I work them into my revisions.
I am still reading Writing the Short Story, by Jack M Bickham. I’m up to Chapter 8 (of 18), but so far I’m not finding it very useful. Most of the advice in it seems to be general writing advice, and what I need is something specific to writing shorts. My main issue with short fiction is that I want to put so much into the story (to make sure that it’s good) that the story grows beyond the bounds of the word count. What I need help with is figuring out how to keep my ideas simple enough to fit into 5,000 words and still be worth reading.
Lastly, I finally received word about my submission to the Writing Workshop at WisCon. The author moderating my group is going to be Cassie Alexander, a registered nurse whose debut series will be published January 2012. I had requested Margaret Ronald as a moderator, so I am a little disappointed, but I should at least be able to meet her at the convention. There is only one other person (beside the moderator) in my group. I thought it would be bigger. But I suppose it is better this way. Definitely more time for one-on-one advice.
That’s it for today. See you back here on Wednesday!
Author in Progress 
I also had length issues with short stories. Then I just started writing them with the #fridayflash folks on Twitter. I quickly realized my problem was not in the writing -but in the editing. How to distill the story down to it’s essense. It’s a skill I’m still working to perfect. Best of luck next week!
Wow! Your goals are way bigger than mine. I’m envious and impressed. I’m lucky to get a word count set and met for the week.
Good to hear you’re learning more about your lead! Hope that makes revisions all the more pleasant. 😀 Good luck for next week.
I tried writing a short story and it turned out long and the first of a series!!! have got the hang now but it is a difficult thing to write – so best of luck and keep smiling