I saw my first firefly of the year last night! There were tiny golden flashes coming from our Faerie circle in the backyard. Glowbugs don’t seem as commonplace down here as they were in the Midwest. I wonder if that’s actually the case, or if I simply don’t see them as much because I don’t spend as much time running around outside after dark as I did when I was a little girl.
Writing Stuff
Oof. Publishing karma giveth, and it smacketh me on the head.
Received:
26-day “enjoyed it but . . .” from Aeon with invite to submit again. Fooie. All the cool kids are getting published in Aeon; I wanna get published there too! *whine*
90-day pass from the McElderberry imprint of Simon & Schuster on my middle-grade novel. The novel rejects are hitting me harder and harder. The editor had nice things to say, but a “no” is feeling pretty much like a thwack in the gut, regardless of how nicely it’s phrased. Where did I put my skin thickener?
There’s still another week for this batch up at Critters and I am totally inundated by crits. I am very, very behind on my thank you notes, and I’m ready for the flood of feedback to stop so I can finish my rewrite. Gleep. An embarrassment of riches. But, on an up note, it’s been extremely well received.
New Words: 900
Short story ground to “the end,” and I’m supremely dissatisfied with it. It didn’t go where I thought it was going to, and for a dark tale of obsession, it’s downright subdued. Not to mention my speculative element fizzled into virtual non-existence. It’s coming in at 3K, so I’ve got plenty of room to grow it, but I’ve been spinning my wheels. I think it needs a really pivotal scene that it’s currently missing, but I don’t know what that scene might be. Matthew first readered it and his main comment was: “Err, what were you trying to do with this one?” Which pretty much confirms that it’s unfocused and I lost control of it in there . . . somewhere. So frustrating! Bad story. No biscuit.
500/day
56
Stupidhead publisher! *sigh* Yeah, I know how the novel rejects hurt. Have faith, though, Eugie. I *know* you’re going to get it published. You’re just too talented for it not to be.
~Maggie
Thanks, Maggie. I shall persevere! *thud* Well, I shall try to persevere . . .
Most Southerners call them “lightning bugs.”
But grits are yummy! If you get a good bowl.
As I have never experienced this alleged “good bowl” of the stuff, I remain supremely skeptical.
I bet you’ve only ever had them in a restaurant.
I can’t eat restaurant-grits either. Gotta try homemade someday!
Cheese grits, garlic grits, garlic-cheese-grits, plain grits with butter and salt…mmmm!
Fireflies are less common. I firmly believe this.
I’m not the only one. Yay!
I think a lot of it is just development. I saw quite a few out in the country this Fourth of July, but I still think they’re less common than they used to be.
Don’t worry about a thank-you note for me, then; I’ll assume you found my critique useful 🙂
I always find your critiques useful and insightful. Thanks for reading my queue offering! (I can at least thank you for your crit on LJ, dangit.)
Short story ground to “the end,” and I’m supremely dissatisfied with it.
Gosh, this sounds familiar! Just happened to me with my story “Lifepod.” I’ve added another 75% to the original words, and it’s better, but I’m just sick of it. I think I’ll throw it at Critters this week, which entails (for us without pro status) a month of cooling off — maybe with that and the fresh eyes of some Critters, I’ll get a better take on it.
Anyway, I feel your pain. Good luck straightening out your recalcitrant tale!
Thanks, sweetie. I think I need to buckle down and thrash my way through a few editing passes. Maybe something will occur to me. Blah.
Amazingly enough, I saw my first firefly of the year last night too (alas, there was only the one). I came back into the house to alert my fiancee of this bit of wonderment. She was not impressed. Tough room.
And if it’s any consolation, I got a rejection from AEON this week too (though I’ll be one of the cool kids when issue #4 comes out). Maybe I’m being too subtle in my submission letters. Maybe I should just go with “Hey, Bridget, BUY THIS!!!”
Ooo. A new direction in cover letters. I like it.
We’ve had fireflies for a few weeks now, and Brit saw a Hummingbird in our wildflowers last week…
if you see fireflies, you might be able to see some bats come out just after the sun goes down…Alpharetta nature at it’s finest!
Bats and hummingbirds! *squee* I want. I think we need more wildflowers in our yard to get hummingbirds. Or maybe I’m just not looking for them in the right places.
Bats would be fantastic. I’ve wanted for a while now to see about putting up a bat house, but never gotten around to it.
Thick skin
What do you think about wearing porcupine quills?
–Joel
Re: Thick skin
Or I could stick hedgehogs to my limbs. Cute, mammalian armor is definitely the way to go. Or, ooo! What I need is a bunch of pangolins to hug!