What I've been up to

I did very little in the way of ‘creative’ writing last week, by which I mean that I didn’t write any new fiction. There are two reasons for this.

Firstly, at the start of last week I saw a job advertised which is not only perfect for me, but which I would be perfect for (at least, that’s what I need to make them think). It’s essentially the same thing I’m doing now, but it’s a step up the ladder – more money for more responsibility. So obviously, I spent some time working on my CV. It’s going off today, and if they haven’t already filled the post, I’m confident of getting an interview. Getting the job is a different matter – I’ll just have to blag it.

The second reason is a little longer story. “Little Miss Movie Star” (still hate the title, but nothing else comes to mind yet so I’m sort of stuck with it until it does) is now over 30000 words and a little over half way, maybe two thirds, complete. Given the size, I haven’t made my mind up if I’m going to submit it to Ruthie’s or not. I probably will, but I’ve been exploring other options just in case. One of those options is to go straight to e-pub. I’d looked at a few, and while looking at “Phaze” I spotted an anthology that was open to submissions of not more than 15000 words.

I read the blurb, and figured that “Charlotte’s Secret” would fit in nicely, but it is (was) 15750 words and I was worried it might be rejected out of hand for being too big. I shot off a couple of e-mails to make sure I wasn’t wasting my time or stepping on anybody’s toes by subbing, and then spent the rest of the week reformatting the story, because naturally, they require a totally different format for submissions to Ruthie’s.

Anyway, long and short of it is that while formatting I took the opportunity to do some tweaking (couldn’t resist), then subbed the damn thing. I don’t expect them to pick it up, but it would be nice if they do. The anthology is “Coming together for the Cure” and the royalties (after a one off author payment) go to Breast Cancer research, so that’d give me a nice warm glow inside.

So it’s back to a bit of creativity this week (hopefully). I think I need a break from “Moviestar” so I might work on a couple of flashers or a short. Just to keep things fresh. Then again, I might not.