It's not the same novel I started yesterday. I mean, it is--I didn't scrap anything. But hard as I tried to push it in the direction I originally intended, I just couldn't get it to gel. But that's okay. I'm going in an entirely different direction, striking out into uncharted territory.
While stewing about this issue last night (I didn't get the brainstorm and/or give myself permission to change the novel concept until this morning), I assembled bits and pieces of another story I've been thinking of turning into a novel for some time. All told, that story is already at around 14,000 words of previous work. I thought about using that as my backup story.
I might still work on it some this month, but not as a last-minute swap-in. Just as another story to be finished eventually.
Borrowing a page from the Book In A Month workbook, I started a companion document for keeping notes on the novel. I noted that I needed to change the description of the opening setting (a moderately large house) to something different (a small apartment), I've swapped out the heroine's name, personality and talents for someone entirely different, but who will suit the new direction.
Which means, of course, that the original character(s) remain available to me for some other story.
In other news (already shared on Facebook), I got a rejection letter from The Atlantic. No surprise there. I haven't seen the story out again yet, but I will. I've been busy writing til now.
And I got the first monthly royalty check from Cobblestone Press for "Flying High" (www.cobblestone-press.com/catalog/books/flyinghigh.htm). It's tiny, but it's a check! I hope to do better in the future, since a) this check covers only September and the story only went live on the 25th, and b) I aim to do more promotion. Plus, as of the 13th of this month, I'll have TWO stories to promote.
Anyhow, that's it for now.
Stories in Circulation: 13
Rejections: 20
Stories Accepted: TWO!
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