2024 is my year of short stories. In this weekly series, I talk about the stories I’m working on, from idea and draft to submission.
- Stories in Progress – 2
- Submissions This Week – 0
- Submissions Currently Out – 3
- Rejections This Year – 9 (4 personalized)
Finishing “The Bluefinch and the Chipmunk”
This week was less stressful than the past few, and I found myself with more time and energy. None of my submissions came back, which meant I could focus entirely on getting The Bluefinch and the Chipmunk done.
I did some more cleanup based on critiques, trimmed it down, and tightened up the new ending. This story has felt close to done for a few weeks, so I was very excited to finally get it finished and ready to send out.
The Joys of Multi-Tasking
Until recently, my plan was to work on Red Eyes after I finished with Bluefinch, since I already have a draft. Then I had a flash of inspiration about a story idea I’ve been calling Portrait of the Artist in Wartime.
I had been struggling with the structure of that story because I wanted to write it as an interview with the main character, but I needed to reveal past events that the character wouldn’t want to talk about.
Now I’m thinking that I’ll alternate between the interview and flashbacks. That will give me a way to access those scenes outside the interview, and allow for some interesting juxtaposition between what the character is saying and what the reader sees actually happening.
So, now I’m planning to work on a rough draft of Portrait. When I’ve had enough, I’ll switch to Red Eyes revisions again. It can be nice to have a few different stories at different stages of completion, to switch back and forth when one feels blocked.
Goals for Next Week
- Send out Bluefinch
- Start writing Portrait
Words Deferred 