An Overslumpification

It happens to the best of us: I've hit a writing slump.

I just finished the third revision of "An Angel's Apprenticeship", and the review copies are on their way to the author. I still plan to do a Lulu version, but I can't get started on that until the author is happy with the manuscript.

I finished the pre-edits and other paperwork for "You Don't Have to Cook in the Clink".

I'm still waiting to hear back from Tor.

So now what?

I had begun a new novel, tentatively called, "The Girl in the Gorilla Suit", but after re-reading what I'd done so far, I decided to scrap the whole thing and start from scratch. The plot's great, the story is fun...the writing sucked.

So I started a short story...but the writing wasn't flowing, the pacing was wrong, and I wasn't sure exactly what I was trying to say with the piece. I need to refocus, do some serious editing, and see where it goes from there. But right now, I have to take a break from that story. I'm frustrated with it, and for me, frustration is the death of creativity.

I've looked into a new genre, plotted a story or two, done some reading...

What do you guys do to get over a writing slump?

Quick Update

The "author's version" of my book's blurb is now up at the website, here.

The book is tentatively scheduled for release this August.

Another Acceptance

I just found this in my inbox, referring to a short story I had written and submitted to SageWoman Magazine:

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This is stunning, and (assuming that the entire issue doesn't evaporate -- which, very occasionally, does happen when not enough submissions arrive for a given theme) I will be delighted to publish it in the SageWoman Protection issue, currently slated for next winter (November 2011.) Can I hold it for that long?

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"Stunning". Wow. Now there's a word to warm a writer's heart. :)

Still waiting on Tor, and still working on both edits and another novel.

UPDATE: I replied to the above letter saying that I had written this story for SageWoman and had no other markets in mind for it, so they could keep it as long as necessary. This is the reply I received:

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Thanks for your graciousness -- and patience. it is a truly wonderful story, and I see perhaps as many as two dozen submissions a day, so that's high praise.

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SageWoman isn't the most widely circulated magazine, but it does have a solid audience, and I have family and friends who read it. And while the pay is small, there's immense professional satisfaction in getting another acceptance so close on the heels of my last one. If it comes out in November, "A Place For Deer" will be released just a few months after "You Don't Have to Cook in the Clink". 2011 is looking good!