What a difference two weeks make.
I’m writing again. Or at least pre-writing again. This last weekend an old short-story of mine jumped back into my memory entirely unbidden, and my mind immediately said, “Hey! Welcome! You deserve to be at least a novella, and you’d sure be fun to write!” It’s going to be a sci-fi/space opera crossed with The Scarlet Pimpernel, and I’m knee-deep into world-building. I’m also still trying to decide whether or not to change up the point of view. The short story is first-person-sidekick; it’s from the point of view of a narrator telling us the adventures of a larger-than-life character he tags along with. That could work amazingly well, or it could be too limiting. I’m not sure yet.
I also finished re-reading my two most recent novels, and while they still need some work, they’re both better than I remember. Good enough that I intend to put in the work to get them fixed up and polished for some sort of publication. Of course I have special plans for one of them, and that’s the next piece of the puzzle that’s revitalizing my enthusiasm for writing.
I’ve been accepted to be part of the FutureScapes Writers’ Workshop at Sundance I mentioned in my last update. In many ways this sounds like it will be a three-day, intense peer-reading group, but with professional writers, agents, and editors also offering feedback and/or directing the groups. This is a major jump outside my comfort zone, but I’m hopeful it will also give me a solid assessment of where my strengths and weaknesses lay as a writer and how close I am to being marketable. And, it’s entirely possible I may meet some fellow writers with whom I might be able to continue peer-reading afterward. It’s hard to say just what will come of this, but I’m quite hopeful.
Meanwhile I continue to prepare for my two panel discussions at LTUE next month. As a panelist/moderator I’m getting an entirely new perspective on the conference and what goes on behind the scenes. Some of it’s positive, and some of it’s insight into who I don’t want to be as a writer. Perhaps I’ll understand their perspective better when I’m in their shoes some day, but I do think a gracious and patient attitude will take me quite far–if I can cultivate one. I understand the desire for self-promotion, but I hope I never lose sight of what symposiums like LTUE are trying to accomplish. If that no longer meets my needs in the future I hope I have the decency to simply thank them for what they’re doing and walk away rather than grousing about it and trying to get them to become something different than what they intend.
In any case, I’m looking forward to this year, while nervously hoping I’ll be able to add my bit and play my part well. I’ve sat in panels in past years thinking I could answer the questions asked as well or better than the panelists, so now I get my chance to do just that. Put-up or shut-up time.
All in all, I’m feeling a bit of a rush right now, and feel more like a writer than I have in some time. I usually feel this way after LTUE each year, so feeling this way before can only be a good thing, if I can hold on to it. And if I can get past planning to write into actually writing.