elanya

WTF Tennassee >:|

argh.

I *was* all happy because I got my package from hazel, with my awesome snazzy cuffs (to be pictured once I can put together a suitable outfit), and Jola's dog sweater (which fits...ish), plus SNAKS.

However when I checked my actual mail box, there was also a rejection letter from OnSpec for Keep off the Grass. At least with OnSpec there is usually some sort of editorial comment to show why something was rejected. This one, they apparently agreed (which suggests more than one person at elst read it?) seemed like more of a fragment of something longer, and didn't work for them.

Of course, it didn't seem that way to me, but I lack perspective. I could have seen if they'd said the ending was ambiguous, or similar...

I don't know. I really don't. the only other story I have out at the moment is Shadow of a Place to Apex, but that is a long shot. An especially long shot, even, as I submitted it for a science-fiction-y special edition. I do have some other stuff on the go, writing wise, but this makes it really hard to try and find the time to work on any of it, over and above my other commitments and general lack of time.

Fail fail fail! It does not help that I am already having a crap day, and am over tired but too strung out to nap. I just feel like I'm fumbling blindly through all parts of my life, and I'm never going to make it anywhere in anything.

But there's no one here to stop me, is there! :V

I was having a chat with the ever lovely curtana tonight, abut writing and so forth. Among more self-indulgent bits that even I have had the sense to remove from these rambles, she made me think about some stuff.

I really like writing. I have a lot of cool ideas for stories. I don't have a lot of time to write. In fact lately, I have pretty much none, and/or no energy when I do. I have a couple of notebooks with works-in-progress that I carry around, but with prelims coming up, even the five minutes here and there that I used to steal while waiting for the bus are being used for reading. I do a fair mix of writing things that are publishable and things that aren't marketable, mostly because they are fan works of some flavour, and/or are serials.

I don't always take the time to polish my fan stuff as much as I do my publishable stuff. I'll scan it for typos and miss half of them, and throw it out there pretty much as son as it's all typed (or written, if it isn't from a notebook). This is not really the best way to approach it - even if I were writing fan stuff with a wider appeal (stuff that wasn't say.... based on whatever games I'm playing at the moment, or using my own characters inside a more established world), the fan writing communities out there - at least the parts worth engaging with, have some really high standards. I wonder if I could get more out of that stuff if I did treat it a little more seriously... Am I doing myself a disservice? I don't know. It might matter more if I did write stuff with a wider appeal... But that doesn't generally inspire me. It would probably be good for me to do anyway - you know, when I have time :p