re: edit. and rev.

I think the title says it all. I'm in the process of cleaning up one of my accepted anthology stories. The process is made easier by having one of the people from my writer's group giving me helpful hints and suggestions. No small feat, actually.

Having someone you trust to read your work for revision ideas, not an interested family member, friend or lover, is a huge risk. They see the story differently from the writer, though the story reads the same to both on the page. The writer has the unfortunate advantage of a bigger picture of anything he or she writes and not all of that information ever hits the page. In a short story, that information may not even have an impact on what others see but may affect how the writer feels that character would react to tension and mood in the growing story. A writer that knows his main character likes chocolate but not peanut butter knows this information may do little for the story arc and leaves it out, but that personal choice helps the writer define a character and it fleshes the character out, makes them 'real.'

In a bigger sense, though, the writer may know things that don't hit the page and the reader may wonder why the protagonist or antagonist has reacted the way they have to a certain stimulus. Only by having an outside eye will this omission be made clear. The writer may need someone to point out that something is not making sense because a detail, one only the writer knows, needs to be present on the page for reader to understand why something happens the way it happens.

If you take writing seriously and want to do the best you can, you honestly can't do it alone. Sure, writing is a solitary art, one that takes a person away from others to brood over a pen and paper or a machine for hours at a time, but after the work is done it needs to be reviewed and critiqued. Sometimes it needs a nudge in the right direction, other times it may need a shove and a kick. In the end, few writers in history have ever been able to sell and publish their work without someone else's keen eye and subtle suggestions. I'm no fool.

And if the writing fails to be accepted, I also understand that it's not the fault of the person that took the time to help me. My story needs more work or it needs some time alone in my stacks to ferment and age. If there is still a salvageable story after it's been sitting a while, then it's still worth telling, even if not the same way it was told the first time. The terrible truth is that a story is never finished. Just ask any writer about one of their books or stories. Ask them if they are 'happy' with it and you'll get many different answers that mean the same thing: I could have done better, I should have changed this... I understand that I may look back on something I've written and laugh or try to apologize for it, it's in the art. I will always try to make what I write the best it can be before print. After that, only time will tell.

Anthologies Abound

Hey, all! A few sprinkles of good news in a pot of rejections. A few members of the writer's group I'm in are being published in two anthologies printed by Avendia Publishing: "Sin" and "Sex." I will have a short story published in each of them, the first going to print by the end of the year.

To follow up that good news, the Bath Spa University / Columbia College Chicago anthology team has accepted one of my Persian Gulf short stories for their upcoming anthology partnership. The book, "Open to Interpretation," will be released in the coming year. My story, "Home Life," will be in it.

In the mean time, I've been elbow deep in trying to keep a World of Warcraft guild afloat, my revisions on shorts rolling and my attention focused on why my novel is taking a turn for the waste basket. Hemingway, grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the Courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom to know when to let my writing fall from my fingers into the fireplace.

Opportunities

Sometimes you just get lucky. After the rejection I received from my short story submission to a Chicago literary magazine, I was a little slow to jump back in the mix. My rejection pile continues to grow and my confidence needs a boost once in a while.

I've been invited to join a team of writers on an anthology project. Each writer submits a story, which comprises the length of one chapter, and serves as editor to another story in the book. It is the chance of a lifetime and it's only the start. The follow-up book to the anthology is already in the works as well.

This is a very exciting opportunity and I will be happy to share more when it gets closer to the publication date. Time to put the novel aside and get to this project. I'll post more soon.

Time...

...keeps on tickin', tickin', tickin.' Been busy, though the book is killing me right now. I'm stuck on how to write a 'party' scene.

Imagine a ton of people in a room in various stages of sobriety all having several conversations at the same time. There are people bragging and arguing and flirting, all concentrated on themselves, and the dialogue needs to come across on the page as if the reader is right there. That's one of the challenges I've posed for myself, and it's not even a big scene. It's just something that needs to happen in the story and it's giving me a headache (as if I'm there with the start of a hangover as well).

This story is as unknown to me as the reader and each day of writing reveals more about the characters and the way they see the world. I love the discoveries I make each time I sit down to find out what's going on. I can't wait to see what happens tomorrow!

Characters do the strangest things...

I sat down to write out a scene this morning and the characters started misbehaving all over the place. I couldn't control them. Every time I tried to force one back into his or her role, another started to act up. This went on for quite a while and then I let them just do whatever they wanted. They were happier for the freedom I gave them, but I have no idea what to do with the scene anymore. I doubt I will end up using this material, but I think it's important to let the characters dictate their own actions. The scenes and conflicts are more honest when the emotions and actions come from the characters and not the writer.

I just hope that they got all of that craziness out of their system. I have work to do. :)

Summer, a time for...work.

Summer is here and the weather is getting away from typical Chicago chills. The birds are out, the bass are biting and golfing is in full swing. This is the perfect time for me to get crackin' at the novel.

It's sad to watch the leaves in the trees from my office window, but if I don't keep at this it will never be done. It's been said that if you want something done right, you need to do it yourself. Writing for a living doesn't allow for much outside help, so if it's not done well it can only be the writer's fault. If it is done with talent, skill and determination, it's to the credit of the editor! Not fair, but still the most pleasure/pain possible in a career choice, as far as I'm concerned. :)

Haven't gotten my grades back for this semester yet, but I expect good things. I made so much progress in these last few months that it's going to be so hard to leave, diploma or not. I guess I'll still be around, still keep the same circles of writing friends and professors, but it seems miles away already.

Enough of my babbling! The birds are singing and the printer is humming. Sounds like a good day to write.

The gears keep grindin'...

Well, the next step of my technological evolution is complete. My website is (almost) completely finished. Even though it's currently 'published' to the web, I think I will always consider it a work-in-progress.

On my site there are buttons that link to samples of my fiction and other writings, teachers and writers I respect, and places to shop for books in Chicago. There is a brief bio and my writer's statement, as well.

I'm starting to feel like I have an understanding of this stuff now. It's kinda' nice!

Check it out: http://www.transcendwords.net Let me know what you think from the Contact page.

BFA Bound!

Well, school is almost over. Another semester closer to the BFA in Fiction Writing degree from Columbia College Chicago. The writing community here is strong, almost a renaissance movement, and something I hope to keep lasting ties with after graduation.

One thing I've made sure to do while in college is 'network,' a terrible word, I know. The most important thing, however, is making sure not to lose touch. Burning bridges is artistic suicide, in my opinion.

Every person you meet that shares your interests is a potential link to a new agent or an open-minded publisher or, even, a small literary magazine that needs to fill some space in the next online-only issue.

One can never tell who their next contact will come from. Keep your friends close, but keep your contacts closer.

Waiting is the hardest part...so don't wait.

I'm waiting on an acceptance (or rejection) from a Chicago literary magazine on a submission I sent out not long ago. I was lucky enough to meet and sit down with one of the editors and the time we spent discussing one of my stories was an absolute treat.

Not often enough, as writers, are we able to sit down with a professional editor for direct one-on-one consultation. It's extremely difficult to get published and I think writer's need to see their work through the eyes of the people they send it to for submissions. In the end, though, the story is the writer's and if editors want to make drastic changes or flat-out reject it for publication at their magazines then there are other places to shop it around. That is, however, only if the submission has some merit and a level of talent and hard work poured into it. Bad writing is seldom published by good magazines. That said, here I wait to find out if I have what it takes to make it onto the list of those that can call themselves published writers.

As the title of today's Blog states, I'm not just waiting. There is work behind-the-scenes which keeps me from losing my mind on the possibilities of being published or rejected. "A watched pot never boils." While the manuscripts I have 'out' are going under an editor's microscope, I am working on a new batch of stories to be submitted next week. I figure the best way to keep from thinking about it too much is to keep the ball rolling.

Perhaps by my next Blog I will have an answer to the question of whether or not I've had my first major publishing credit, perhaps not. In the mean time, though, I will be busy putting more of my work out there. I know practice and determination are two key elements to being published and the busier I am the better I feel about the work I do. Besides, working beats waiting.

Golfing Weather

Well, the sun has come out of hibernation and the air is a little warmer. Friends are starting the golfing season off right as I prepare to go to class. Sacrifices.

Still waiting on two rejections/acceptances from an anthology overseas. Other than that, the semester is winding down and the work is piling up. No rest for the wicked.

I should be back soon with another update. I'll keep you posted.

Day 1

Well, I guess I've just entered the technological age. "One small step for me, one giant laugh from the rest of the planet." I'm new to the Blogosphere and, so far, it seems fairly painless.

I'm a senior in a Chicago Liberal Arts college. I'm enrolled in the college's BFA program in Fiction Writing. By this time next year, I'll be fighting off federal loan payments and sweating over the revision of my first novel. That is if all goes as planned. So far, I'm on schedule.

The title of this blog, "Scribbles in the Margins," is how I hope to treat this. I want to use this space to make notes, jot down ideas, share my acceptances for publication and my numerous rejections. I also see it as a way to share some of the hurdles I face on the road to writing and publishing fiction stories and novels for a living. I understand that few pull it off, but I'm hopeful, hard-working and not without a little talent, so I hear.

Wish me a little luck and I hope to see some hits in the next few weeks.