Just thought I would give an update on things going on this week.

This week, I’m hoping to finish my yet untitled short story. It has gone pretty well, but has also been a bit of slog as I work on posts here as well as other things. I did have a few days this past week where I let those voices of doubt and fear creep back up and get to me. I tend to go through a cycle when I’m writing something where I get really excited and smash out about 75% of it, but then at that last chunk, I start to doubt it. It’s been quite the hindrance in the past and I have many unfinished pieces because I listened to it. Now, I’m starting to understand that if I push through and finish, I feel a hell of a lot better. I’ve learned to love the imperfections of a first draft and in so doing, I have also learned to love the idea of working on perfecting them.

The end of this week will be a special time. I finished the first draft of my first novel a few weeks ago and I decided that it was best to let it “ferment” in a drawer for awhile. I set an arbitrary date on when I would release it from its prison and this weekend is it. I will possibly go into turtle mode while I work on the first revision, but I will be sure to keep posting to the blog. It will take some time, and I’m sure a few long nights, but once it is finished, the first revision will start going out to my beta readers. (I’ll be contacting you guys soon). Pretty exciting!

Will I find a publisher? No way to know, but the simple act of finishing it has been an impressive catalyst leading to a much greater output of work in general. The rejection letters I will inevitably get are simply receipts for dues paid. I’ll certainly be in good company as many greats have received stacks upon stacks of rejections before finding a foothold. It’s all worth it to learn and grow. I’ll keep on slamming these keys for sure.

As for the blog itself, I am currently working on tomorrow’s personal post. It’s an important topic for me and one that I hope to do some justice. I’m also planning to continue what I started in Flash: 02 for this Thursday’s flash post. A lot of people have been keen on me expanding that piece into something with a proper conclusion. I normally get tingly with abrupt ambiguity in endings, but I think everyone deserves a bit more there. Also, I think I may start titling the flash fiction pieces as well. The generic number titles sure are easy for me, but there’s a certain power in giving something a name and I think it will give greater substance to those pieces. Besides, I just really like coming up with titles!

As always, thanks for reading!

-Neon