Hello, dreamers. December has officially begun. I hope you’ve enjoyed your Thanksgiving leftovers, and your holiday shopping is going well. Here in Cincinnati, it’s been unseasonably cold so far this month. That’s bad for exercise, but great for writing. And I have been busy.

With several editing projects underway, notably with my work-in-progress, I still haven’t decided exactly where I’m going with my writing this month. For the time being, I’m trying to do something I have trouble with: get comfortable with ambiguity. However, I have decisions to make in the coming week. That said, here’s what I’ll be working on:

Aquarius 1

At present, I still have several chapters to go in this editing pass through Aquarius 1. However, it’s still going well. I’ve been tightening things up, trying to move away from overused words and phrases, and keeping an eye out for continuity errors. So far, so good.

I do still feel close to this story; close enough that I’d like to continue writing it and see how it goes. However, I’ve also been working on a new short fic with my daily sketches the past three mornings, and that also seems to be going well. For now, I’m pressing on with editing. We’ll see how that goes.

Short Fiction

As I said above, I have in fact begun working on a new short fic. It’s loose so far, but going well. If nothing else, it’s giving me some actual writing to do while immersed in editing. For the moment, however, editing is occupying the bulk of my time. The theme of last week, and likely this one as well, has been the most pressing task I face at the end of every year: tying up loose ends. Among those loose ends is my current raft of short fiction manuscripts.

At present, I have nine active short fiction manuscripts. Even though several of them have already been rejected by the biggest sci-fi markets, that’s still the most I’ve had since my first round of submissions, way back in 2017. Needless to say, the overall quality of these pieces is far higher than my earliest, feeble attempts. However, there’s always room for improvement.

As I’ve said in previous posts, it’s considered good practice to revise manuscripts after rejections. That goes not only for querying novels but for short fiction submissions, too. And it’s a practice that I, much to my shame, have gotten away from over the years. Now that I have an awesome critique group, it’s also a practice I’m trying to get back into.

My goal in short fic this month is to get all of my active manuscripts edited, critiqued, and through my beta group before the January submission window opens. As of this writing, I still have four to go, and with query prep looming on the horizon, this may be ambitious. But if I can get through those manuscripts, I’m hoping to revisit “Saints of Armageddon”, which I shelved some time ago in hopes of a partial rewrite. If all goes well, I could have a full ten manuscripts read for January subs.

Even then, I’m still hoping to write some short fic this month. If nothing else, while I’m busy editing Aquarius 1 and my existing short fic manuscripts and delving into query prep, it’ll give me some actual writing to do. So far, writing a story a few paragraphs at a time each morning has gone surprisingly well.

Querying Seven Days on Samarkand

It’s coming; I’m now less than a month away from my return to the trenches. Though I remain focused on editing my WIP and short fic manuscripts, I’d be lying if I said Seven Days on Samarkand hasn’t been on my mind.

My query “post mortem” back in October left me with some fresh ideas and vital questions to answer, and the time to answer them is fast approaching. By the middle of this month, I’ll need to decide on my new query strategy, and whether or not to make major changes to the manuscript as it currently stands. Given the feedback I received during my first round, the temptation is there to effectively “stand pat”, as I’ve been putting it: make minor tweaks to the query letter and sample pages, but leave the rest largely unaltered.

However, there’s still that part of me that wants to find a way to trim and compress things sufficiently to rejoin the two halves of the novel. Doing so would require serious work, and may hamper my ability to continue editing short fic, to say nothing of writing anything new.

Upcoming Content

I’ve been considering several changes to this site. All would be relatively minor, however; mostly related to expanding on my current projects and streamlining my visual appeal. That said, here’s what you can expect on this site through the week ahead:

Wednesday: “WIP Wednesday”

My weekly “WIP Wednesday” will update readers on my editing pass, which by then will likely be nearing completion. From there, I’ll be assessing the path ahead, and determining whether to forge ahead or set this story aside for a time.

Friday: “On Writing: Following the Words”

In this month’s “On Writing” post, I’ll be discussing the value of “following the words”: knowing when to set a project aside and try something new.

Sunday: “Short Fiction Sunday”

No matter what I’m working on, I devote every Sunday to short fiction. This week, I’ll be reflecting on my short fiction journey, and the value of starting small.

It’s going to be another big week. So read on, and dare to dream. – MK