I haven’t written anything new in the days since I got back from NECON. That’s not to say that I’ve been completely idle, but I look forward to getting back to churning out new material. I skipped my Monday morning session because I was so sleep-deprived, but I’ve had ass-in-chair every morning since then. I submitted a story to a market I’ve never had access before, sent off a story that was requested as a reprint after a light editing pass, and finished edits for “Sturm und Drang.” I also polished off my interview with Tabitha King for Accent Literary Review and sent it in for the August-ish issue. I have about six book reviews in various stages of completeness for that issue, too. Four of them are essentially finished, one needs a tad of polish and one more is coming together.
I also haven’t read much since getting back. I picked up a copy of PostScripts #5 at NECON and am working my way through it. The lead story is “Bobby Conroy Comes Back From The Dead” by Stoker award winning author Joe Hill, and if you like the tales in his collection Twentieth Century Ghosts, you’ll love this one. It’s about a guy who meets up with his high school girlfriend while working as a zombie extra during the filming of the original Dawn of the Dead. Of course, being a Hill story, it’s about much more than that—primarily about missed opportunities and second chances. Tom Savini and George Romero have “cameo roles” in the story. It’s a “true” story, by which I mean it is full of fundamental truths.
My goal right now is to get my desk clear of little tasks (book reviews, primarily) and get back to the novel in progress, which is pouting on the pull-out writing tray on my desk. It doesn’t like being ignored. I have a couple of story guidelines on the same tray, but I don’t feel compelled right now to address any of them. If something occurs to me, all well and good. If I miss the deadline, I won’t be devastated. By the middle of this coming weekend, I’d like to be back at the novel again, though I know there will be another multi-day break in writing coming up shortly.
C’est la vie!
