Happy surprises

November 30, 2012 / Alex Whitehall / Leave a comment

First, business: You can read my story “Soups and Diners” as part of Dreamspinner Press’s Advent Anthology. There’s a story for every day in December. The release date is December 1st! I think eventually you can buy it individually, so I’ll link to that when it happens.

Also, Storm Moon Press, which has another of my holiday pieces in their Milk & Cookies & Handcuffs anthology, is putting out the anthology on December 21st. So expect more about that later!

Second, the word-dulling depression has lifted. It’s been come and go since Thanksgiving, but it’s been fairly gone the past two days. I’ve written 11,000 words in November, 3,600 of them today. Although I wasn’t aiming to write a story, I wrote one short piece and then an idea just kind of took hold and I’ve been running with it. We’ll see if it gets an end. If it doesn’t get a conclusion, at least in my mind, I’ll post it here for anyone who wants to read my raw stuff.

Third, Christmas is coming. Which means birthdays, parties, and holidays. Are you excited? I’m pretty excited. It’s a cheery season with gift giving, cookie baking, etc, etc. It also makes me want to write a holiday story, but whenever I think of holiday stories, I think of this one. I know I’ve written others, many of them happy. Three of them published (and all happy). But I normally don’t write the happy ones. But we’ll see what I can come up with!

Snowy woods

November 28, 2012 / Alex Whitehall / Leave a comment

We had snow today in my little world, which is odd in itself and is probably a sign we won’t have a white Christmas. But it was a lovely snow, wet and heavy and will probably be gone in a week. But it made me think of Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” and I thought I’d share it.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Robert Frost

Warning: Emo ahead

November 17, 2012 / Alex Whitehall / 1 Comment

November usually means Nanowrimo for me, but not this year.

This year I figured I’d be working on editing the one submission that needs redone and working a job and a half and I wouldn’t have time. And I suppose the beginning of the month was busy, but this last week has been quiet (too quiet) and I wished I was using that time to write.

Except I got a massive case of writer’s block. Or maybe I should say seasonal writer’s block. Too dark to motivate me to write. So I started just write a little bit each day. Completely unrelated things just to keep me writing. Things that will probably not form into anything. And if some of them do seem to be taking shape, well that’s just a perk.

I’ll be sure to share all the ones that have no future. Because I’m fun like that 🙂

Right now I’m very much struggling with depression, which kills motivation for me and makes me exhausted constantly, so even though I’m sleeping 8 to 9 hours, I wake up sleepy and am ready for bed by 7 most nights. Oh, and I read about author pairs writing over 50,000 words in three days and I crumble into a fit of self-pity and -loathing.

But I’m trying to remember the positives too! I have two submissions coming out in December, I have one with an editor, and I have multiple stories that need a refining touch before I can send them off, so I figure even if I’m not writing all winter (if the despondency continues), I can still edit. It takes more work, but less creative efforts.

And hopefully my next update won’t be such a downer.

Keep warm.

Reading, writing, and worrying

November 5, 2012 / Alex Whitehall / 2 Comments

Blankets, books, and brewed tea
all a reader really needs!

Isn’t that some lovely poetry? 🙂

Enjoy it, because it’s practically the only writing I’ve done recently 😦

OK, not really, but there hasn’t been a ton. Partly because of work, partly because of muses, partly because I’m not really feeling inspired on any of the three pieces I’m working on. One involves sexual abuse and asexuals (which I will eventually finish, but can’t get in the right headspace right now), one involves sibling sexual abuse and some weird repercussions, and one is a follow-up story involving the previous character’s father. That one I’m actually kind of enjoying, as it’s light and will eventually have a very happy ending.

But not much writing has been actively happening. My two Christmas submissions were both accepted, and the submission I sent in at the end of October has come back as “This needs to be an actual full book.” Which makes me cry a little (a lot). I can agree with the editor, and I knew the story had some issues, but just thinking about having to broaden everything makes me groan and curl up in a ball. And while I can objectively say to myself, “Well yes, but she’s willing to work with you, which means the writing/idea must be good enough,” most of my sensitive writer parts shriveled up.

We’ll see how and where that goes. For now, I’m just trying to balance work, my job, my writing, and my life. And getting sleep. Getting sleep is important.