The aftermath

I contemplated taking this morning off from writing to celebrate the completion of the first draft of The Silent Desert yesterday, but old habits die hard. I sent the manuscript, warts and all, completely unrevised, to my agent yesterday for his first appraisal to see if he thinks it’s worth pursuing. I did the same thing with Missing Persons in much the same condition, and he was very encouraging about it even at that stage. He wrote back later to say that he’s really swamped with work right now, but if I’m this excited about a project he wants to read it and had already printed out the first 200 pages.

I feel very invested in this book, even though I’ve only spent 5 weeks writing it so far. I really hope he likes it because I can’t wait to get back to working on it again after the next round of MP revisions.

So, when I got up this morning, I started work on a new short story, one that I plan to submit to an MWA member anthology edited by Michael Connelly. There are only a handful of slots available to open submissions, so I’ll have a fair amount of competition, but I think I have a catchy and unique take on the anthology’s theme. The deadline is in about five weeks, so I need to get this thing cranked out soon so I’ll have some time to revise and polish it. Six blind copies go to a set of impartial judges who separate out the chaff and pass a few morsels of wheat along to Mr. Connelly for his final selection. I wrote about 1300 words this morning after a slow start. I’d love to finish the first draft this weekend, but whether I can remains to be seen.

I forgot to mention this earlier. Creeping Hemlock Design, a graphics design company associated with the publishers of the Corpse Blossoms anthology, did a complete overhaul of my web site. It’s clean and slick, easy to navigate and I like the look a lot. Less is more, I’m coming to realize. In writing, in web sites, perhaps in life in general.

Currently reading: The Sinner by Tess Gerritsen. Next up: The Lighthouse by PD James.