After spending the weekend thinking about this, I've decided to stop using this as my primary writing blog, and to switch those posts over to my Livejournal. The reason for this is simple - there simply aren't enough people reading and commenting on this site to justify my putting any more time into it, especially when I already have a blog that has several hundred readers. This isn't about "justification", it's about conversation and discussion - something I hoped I'd have here, but just hasn't materialized. I think a large and active audience only works if you're a phenomenal blogger, and if you're publishing work that gets reviewed, and gets the kind of professional attention, accolades and honors that cause people to seek you out online. If you're a small-fry mid-talent like me, you tend to sink out of sight. I need Livejournal to connect to people, because, frankly, I'm tired of talking to myself. I've done that for four decades now, and I've had enough of it.

Going forward, I'll use this blog only to post announcements of sales and publications, and the comments function will be turned off. If I ever sell a novel and start to get what amounts to an actual career in writing, I'll also announce convention appearances, readings and publicity events. For those of you reading this blog through various feeds, you should be able to do the same with the Livejournal, and you won't miss anything. For those of you who'd rather just know about the sales and publications, this is the blog to read.

For those of you who did read and comment here, I do thank you.

I posted a few notes about "The Girls of the World" over on my old Livejournal the_numinous_1, under a cut. So far not a single person has clicked on the cut to read the post. No one's interested.

I've come to realize that I'm doing something horribly wrong with how I present my writing and myself online, and I don't know what it is. People don't take me seriously, and I need to fix that because yes, in this day and age, it does matter, it does affect my career. It may mean shutting one or all of the Livejournal blogs down, or shutting this blog down and sticking only with Livejournal. I just don't know. I have to think about this.

Labels: "the girls of the world"

Laird Barron is one of my favorite writers, and one of best short story writers in the business (I'd say he and Caitlín R. Kiernan tie for first place). So when he says something nice about my writing, I stand up and take notice. Scroll to the end of this post, and you'll see it. FYI, he's one of the few people (only four) who's read my as-yet-unpublished novelette "Horses", which I consider to be my best writing to date. I'm crossing my fingers that it'll be published this year.

And while we're on the subject of ME, several readers on a Livejournal community called lastshortstory have some good things to say about "The Four Hundred Thousand: here and here.

However...

A few positive blog comments aside, professionals in the industry still aren't reading and officially reviewing my work - and it's not just because there are just too many thousands of stories to choose from. It's because I'm not good enough yet. I need to become better. That's all.

I've crossed several things off my January Goals list, but I'll post an update next Monday. What's been most difficult has been trying to balance writing time with reading time - I absolutely must read a specific stack of books before I start "The Girls of the World", and I'll admit I'm beginning to panic a bit. I don't like to do research then rush into a project. I'd rather let it sit in my brain for a while before I start using it. But in the real world, time is a luxury, not a right. So I guess I better STFU and get back to work, right? :)

Labels: reviews

1. Write short outline for novella "The Girls of the World"
2. Revise first chapter of The Ruins of Love (almost finished)
3. Revise and send out flash story "Crepusculum"
4. Revise and send out poem "Silver Night Train"
5. Finish erotic story "Our Lady of the Bleachers" for anthology (due Jan. 31) (in progress)
6. Write short steampunk fable - no title yet - for Shimmer
7. Write novelette "The Engine of Desire" for horror anthology (in progress)

Even though some of these projects have submission deadlines in February and March (or are open-ended), they all need to be finished by January 30th, so I can:

8. Start writing novella "The Girls of the World" on January 31

February will be dedicated completely to the novella, and I don't want any loose ends hanging over me while I work on it.

This isn't really that horrible of a list, as many of the items are already underway or near completion (I should have the chapter revision finished this evening). It's just a matter of having all my ducks in order, and not letting myself get distracted. I'll probably post an update to this list in two weeks - I won't be doing any kind of daily update, as I'm sure that would get tedious to read.

Labels: 2008 monthly goals