The MS is in the Mail

My interview appointment has been postponed (for reasons about which I can only speculate) and my friend didn't need a ride after all, so I put my time to good use to determine the next recipient publication, print out a clean copy of the "Trouble's Reasons" manuscript and a new cover letter and SASE, and get that baby back on it's way to a new potential home.

In many ways, keeping my manuscripts circulating has been the most difficult thing for me. When it comes back to me, I tend to take that as a message that the manuscript isn't good enough, even though I know it just means it hasn't found the right home at the right moment. However, I resisted the temptation to rewrite, and sent it out. Well, I did make one little tiny change to one sentence. I resisted the temptation to obsess over who was the best possible home for the story, and sent it out. I just sent it out!!

What are your strategies for keeping your work circulating? Do you have any strategies for quashing that nasty little voice that tells you your writing isn't good enough? How do you keep from clinging to things you know are ready?

Fairy Magic Lantern | The Steampunk Workshop

Fairy Magic Lantern | The Steampunk Workshop

Growing up, one of the loveliest Christmas ornaments my parents had (and my dad still has, to the best of my knowledge), was an old light bulb that had been in the family for many yeats. The elements of the light bulb are shaped like flowers and glow when the bulb is turned on. In order to keep it working for as long as possible, we never turned it on for more than a few minutes a year. This beautiful lamp reminds me of that bulb and how magical the new technologies seemed to our very recent ancestors.