Has anyone seen a month lying around? I think I lost one.

Time flies for teachers in the summer.  I can’t believe I haven’t posted here in a whole month.  I’ve been camping and fireworking and more camping and generally trying to enjoy the hiatus from that pesky real job.  It’s about time to get things in line for school again.  Yay?  Well, time waits for no man, so yay it is I guess.

Not a lot of action on the writing front, I regret to admit.  I’ve been putting a fair amount of focus on a slow long-shot project and I’ve allowed it to get in the way of more immediate enterprises.  I’ve lost steam on my most recent WIP, but at least I think I know why; I have an extraneous character and it’s making the conflict feel forced.  And the timeline is all wrong.  Sad to say it, but I need to approach this thing from a more Hollywood angle.  (I could see this being adapted as an episode of Eureka.  Hmmm…)  Perhaps I should bring another project to the front of the queue while my subconscious tinkers with the idea a bit more, since we’re looking at a total rewrite and  length change.

I have even less excuse for allowing my submission cycle collapse.  I have between 10 and 12 stories that are submission-ready, yet at one point I only had three out.  That’s up to six now (camping hindered the recovery effort) and that should hit double digits by August.  Yes, that’s still a couple weeks, but there are several slush piles that are closed until then and I’ve exhausted most of my quick-turn options, so it’s wait two weeks or risk missing the window.  Neither choice is great.

In happier news, I spent today at LibertyCon in Chattanooga.  As cons go, this was pretty low key; a Relax-a-con, if you will.  It was nice seeing some old friends and making a couple new ones.  It was just a day trip, alas.  I doubt I even pulled my money’s worth since I spent a lot more time jawing in the lobby than participating in con events.  I tried to eat my value from the nicely-managed ConSuite, but I doubt I pulled it off.  I may show next year, I may not.  We’ll see.  It’s a lot of the same folks as ChattaCon, which I enjoyed more, though that is biased since I stayed for all of that one and merited “guest” status.

So I guess posting’s been slow because writer-Scott has been slow.  Reader-Scott, on the other hand, has had a strong week, finishing GRRM’s A Clash of Kings and the audiobook of Gaiman’s American Gods in close proximity.  What to attack next?  The keyboard, that’s what!