OK, so I am knee-deep (or maybe neck-deep) in third drafts for Oberon, my NaNoWriMo sci fi project, prior to sending it out for submission. So what have I spent this last week doing?
Writing an entirely new and unrelated project, of course.
This is how writer brains work. You have to be at least a little ADD to be one – and often it’s the allure of the next shiny new thing which leads you on to the next story.
So what is this new story I speak of?
I found out that a friend of mine had submitted to the “Behind the Uniform” anthology from Mischief Corner Books. I’ve never been involved in a project with him, and so I jumped at the chance.
I even had an idea for the story – marching band uniforms – that would draw on my own high school experience. So I started on my merry way, my writer brain happy, and knocked out a couple scenes. Then I looked at the Call for Submissions again:
Mischief Corner Books is looking for stories that illustrate the physical or emotional sacrifice and the hard choices that sometimes come with such all-consuming dedication.
Damn.
Back to the drawing board.
I still wanted to go ahead with the story, but needed to revise it if it was going to work. But I had nothing. Sometimes your writer brain just throws up a white flag.
But another thing you should know about writers – they get some of their best ideas in the middle of the night. So *boom* – it’s four in the morning, and I’m wide awake, staring at the ceiling, new idea in mind.
Stupid writer brain.
Anyhow, my week-long affair with uniforms is almost at an end. I am wrapping up my second draft edits on the story today and sending it out for its beta reads. And soon I will return to the loving arms of Oberon.
Unless I get distracted by something else first.
Oh look… shiny!
Every time I see “NaNoWriMo” I think of Mork from Ork. 🙂