Decided I should try to update this more often, as an accountability effort. I need to get back to the keyboard in work mode instead of fuck-around-on-the-internet mode.
So, in writing last week (the last 10 days):
SHIT I GOT DONE
-Did a skill-building roll-up with Nina on New Year's Day, wrote around 300 words.
-Revised and submitted one short story, revised and signed up for critique for a flash piece.
-Drafted and posted my year-in-review for 2024, and updated my books read.
-Made a list of short stories to submit in January.
-Listened to a writing podcast.
-Looked up what "subversive" literature means and how that varies depending on who's using it.
-Listened to an online session on meditation for writers and one on premise.
-Critted two stories.
-Started reading The Sapling Cage and finished Hunter's Prayer.
... Good thing I write this shit down, because when I sat down to type I'd forgotten I'd done ALL of that except for the reading and the New Year's Day rollup. My brain, man.
Still somewhat depressed and crunchy from insomnia night before last, but I've reached the functional stage of recovery so I'm calling that a win.
WHAT I LEARNED/RE-LEARNED/PRACTICED THIS WEEK
Meditation workshop was irritating because the download kept glitching (tech issues are a major peeve, who knew?)
Other class was on premise, from which I re-learned that everyone defines premise differently. Her definition was essentially excruciatingly tight back cover copy. (When [X] happens to PROTAG, they must [Y] to achieve [Z]). So my premise for DUBIOUS would be "After a doomed generation ship is contacted by aliens, timid thirteen-year-old Opal accepts being chosen as translator. Initially dazzled by the generosity of the alien in her head, she realizes this new world comes with political dangers, and she must learn to protect both her community and her new mental friend." As a first draft, that sorta works. Otherwise class was a lot of rehashing stuff I knew; good reminder that a strong theme readers connect or relate to is needed to keep them interested, and pitches help your own personal clarity.
So one of the zines I was looking at submitting to referred to subversive literature. Subgenre classifications often annoy me. A, I don't like putting labels on my work because what I see in it often isn't what others see, and B, people throw those words around and sometimes I'm not sure they know what they mean and other times I think they're just being... hoity. To be fair, I do not always understand what some of those words mean when applied to literature. An MFA I am not.
So I took an admittedly shallow dive into the literary meaning of "subversive," trying to understand what THOSE EDITORS meant by it. They referenced an essay I am not going to link to here, which in the fewest words (it was long) seemed to be saying that reverse subversion was now a thing, and they were embracing that. So... if "boy gets girl" is a trope, and "boy gets boy" or "boy prefers life alone" subverts that trope, but such story subversion has become mainstream, then "boy gets girl" is now subversive. That's what I took from it, and that seems to be what those particular editors (it's a new zine) seem to be wanting.
Sigh. Whatever. Just say, "we're looking for stories that stick to traditional norms" instead of handwaving that "it's cutting edge to be traditional."
For what it's worth, here's Merriam Webster on "subvert: to overturn or overthrow from from the foundation, ruin: 2: to pervert or corrupt by an undermining of morals, allegiance or faith.
Elsewhere, subversive literature is defined as either works that oppose or challenge the existing social norms or order, or works that challenge the current literary or genre norms. The goal is to make the reader think about what they are reading as well as the world in which they live. Such works often have descriptions like "controversial" or "shocking," although only in the time in which they were written -- subversive works in Victorian times are considered classics now, like Wuthering Heights. Animal Farm and 1984 were subversive works in their day. Putin and our CFOOO might consider Animal Farm subversive still, for.... reasons.
Subversion can also be in the eye of the beholder; apparently some people consider children's books such as Maurice Sendaks' The Wild Things to be subversive. I adored that book as a child and I still love it and am bewildered it was ever controversial. So one's values can impact what is considered subversive.
So, subversive did mean what I thought it meant. That said, I thought "make you think" was what literature was SUPPOSED to do, so I've always been a bit baffled by the label. Redundancy for emphasis' sake?
Moving on.
READING:
Finished Lilith St. Crow's Hunter's Prayer. (I've been reading the Kismet series out of order because ... I pick up what I pick up when I pick it up. Also, I'm an idiot).
St. Crow does tension and unrelenting stress really fucking well, and well as trauma without the male gaze. If you like dark monster-hunting urban fantasy with a kick-ass woman protagonist, Jill Kismet is fun to follow. I could not watch a movie of St. Crow's books, there is too much gore, but I can turn my visual brain down and blip over it while reading. There are a few places I argued with choices she made (a new brain wiggle I've developed that comes from writing your own work, and one I'm not sure I like) but she ended up addressing 95 percent of that in later action.
Started reading The Sapling Cage, am about 70 percent through it. I'll actually finish in time for book club this month. I keep putting it down, waiting for the next thing to be unremittingly grimdark, and then being relieved when I pick it up again. That may be a holdover from the St. Crow universe, which is darker that Margaret Killjoy's world. Or seems to be; they're dark in different ways and I haven't finished the book yet.
It's a coming of age story, with teenagers making teenaged decisions with teenage logic, so I have that frustration with it, but it has an interesting, well-crafted world and an interesting plot and a so-far unseen villain who feels truly power-hungry, so I'm along for the ride.
St. Crow's work is tighter, grittier and constantly reminds you the protagonist lives in a world of immediate harsh consequences. Also, the catharsis of splitting monsters' throats. The Sapling Cage introduces you to consequences more gradually, and they are occasional very harsh as well. But the world isn't as dangerous, at least not yet. I can see how the text for each book does that, so it was useful to read them so close together.
Also reading Jerusalem because my brother gave it to me. I think I've read a chapter since the beginning of the year. It's a slog of real battles and real massacres in our real world, written by a man, that largely features men -- power-greedy or religiously-motivated/obsessed men-- with the occasional driven woman. It's both educational and depressing; grinds it into the reader just how long and how bloody the conflicts over that "holy ground" have been. A book to sip, rather than gulp. Also is evoking a short story/novellette in me in response, and I don't have time for that, so I'm taking it slow.
Projects status update:
BOOKS
The manuscript for DUBIOUS is done and needs the next steps -- layout, cover, publication date and marketing.
THWARTED is largely done but needs a new opening; I drafted one but it will need some honing and revision. Then it will need the same.
It has occurred to me that Thwarted ends in what could feel like the end of a second act. I didn't think of the duology as a trilogy -- it was a single book -- but I should outline what happens in the next 50 years very clearly so I can fill in as necessary during revisions for PURPOSE. And possible a coda at some point.
PURPOSE is with the editor.
DRAFTING
I set a goal to write daily and skill-build regularly. The intention was that such writing would be story-and-skill based. While I updated the blog, I can waste a lot of time that way so I decided that blog or social media stuff was extra and wouldn't count.
I only drafted new stuff once this week. I did review and revise two stories though, and that should count! Revision time is important.
STORIES
Came up with a list of SS to submit this month. Typing them up here in case I misplace the piece of paper I scribbled them on:
"Fire Station" (submitted! also renamed "Some Connections Don't Burn")
"Parsec Omega" (possible rewrite)
"Doodles of Spacetime" (might need rewrite)
"Inconvenient"
"Swallowed by My Patrol Car, A Report"
"Smells Like Lunch"
"The Right Aisle"
"Songs of Change"
"Hooked on Music"
None of those are in the universe the books are in. I should take a look at the book-related shorts and see if any are clean and clear enough to submit in February, or to substitute for the rewrites above.
NONWRITING
- Critted last week's stories; need to crit a story for Tuesday's meeting.
- Need to set a publication date and other tasks as listed above; need to sort the workflow and related tasks necessary between now and publication.
- Taxes.
MARKETING
- I need to contact the cover artist. I've been putting that off for months.
- Review publication plan and add deadlines.
- I might ought write some online reviews of other authors' works.
- Once I get the cover sorted, I'd like to make some ribbons and other bling for Worldcon and Miscon.
- Social media accounts are languishing, I should figure out what I'm going to do with them this year based on the lists above, and then set up some posts for S&W and for my own work.
