Writing update: June 2020

I don’t know about you, but my sense of time has become a little skewed throughout these last couple of months. I’ve been able to maintain a little sense of normalcy, thanks to the ability to work from home, but that just means I usually know which day of the week it is. Which day of the month? That sometimes gets a bit blurry.

All of that to say… I apologize for missing some blog posts recently, May’s writing update included. I’m getting back on track with a lot of things, but regular blog updates are something I still need to get a bit better about.

Bringing me to today’s post. Though my blog is running a bit behind, I have been doing fairly well in other areas of my writing.

Novel-length WIPs

I’m still querying BC, and I still need to improve in that area. I’ve set a new query goal for June, though. My hopes for achieving it seem realistic enough, so long as I hold myself to task.

N, on the other hand, is a WIP I’ve made some real progress on. I’ve made it through to the end of the fourth chapter, and the words have, overall, been flowing quite well. I’m hoping to step up how often I work on the manuscript this month, in an effort to finish the draft sooner. I just have to hope that won’t lead to any sort of burnout.

Short stories

I’ve done a little more editing on a couple of my short stories, but I haven’t written any new ones yet. That said, I have an idea or two brewing in the back of my head, and June is feeling like a good month to start drafting something new. Particularly since I’m beginning to feel as though I may have to stop submitting one or two of my pre-existing stories.

One that I’m considering putting away is a story I’ve been submitting for a while now. I’ve been receiving good feedback on it, but I have a feeling the reason it isn’t getting published is the ending. While it feels like a natural ending for the story, I’m worried it isn’t resonating with editors—and that it won’t resonate with readers. The other story, meanwhile, is one that I’ve always sort of worried about. I submitted it once, but wasn’t confident enough in it to try again. I may one day go back to it, but, right now, I’m not quite sure how to fix it.

For now, I’m going to concentrate on editing and submitting the stories I do feel confident in. Those, after all, are the stories most likely to get published.

To summarize…

While I’m feeling guilty about not querying and submitting enough, I’m feeling good about how much writing I’m getting done. And with everything else that’s been going on lately, feeling good about just that portion is, well, pretty good.

So, all in all, if I can keep up with my writing habit, and improve even slightly on my querying or submitting, then I’ll be in decent shape. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that I manage it.