So much going on!

StarShipSofa:

StarShipSofa is cranking out episode after episode of high quality speculative fiction for you to listen to on your commute. Most recent is Episode #103, which you should go download at once.

You can also purchase the Sofa’s very first Anthology in digital or dead tree formats. Go give them some love, (which here means “money.”)

I listened to the latest episode of the Sofanauts podcast, and it sounds like my first narration for StarShipSofa is going to be coming up pretty soon. I am incredibly nervous about that – I had no understanding of how to record, my mic was way down, it was my first time trying to use Audacity, and hell, my first time trying to narrate anything. I’m not sure I can even listen to it when it does come out. The other narrators on the show are so good, it’s a very high watermark. But I’m still just very pleased to be a part of it.

Matthew Sanborn Smith, a frequent contributor to the Sofa, recently started his own podcast showcasing his flash fiction. Each episode is just a few minutes long, and a lot of fun. Go check it out at Beware the Hairy Mango.

November Noveling:

So NaNoWriMo is just around the corner – I’m going to give it another shot this year. The forums are already teeming with excited novelists. This is what I love most about the event, the sense of community and the sheer enthusiasm for writing that I have frankly lacked for much of the past two years.

I have spent most of 2009 working on short stories and taking it all very, very seriously. November will provide me with an opportunity to work on something longer and also to lighten the hell up, because during NaNoWriMo I’ve found that (for me at least) taking it seriously is a sure path to failure.

LFG:

I’m back in Forward Motion at night, which is always full of smart, funny, encouraging writers; I’ve also joined a much smaller writers group, where I have started off with a thud by submitting that 2-hour story for critique. The results were not unexpected: it sucks. The next one, I hope, will suck a lot less. I’m still editing “And If They Have Not Died, They Are Living Still,” and I am feeling like the first four pages (out of 16 total) are pretty solid. Of course that will change when my writers group gets their red ink all over it.

World Fantasy Con:

Holy crap is that coming up fast. I can’t wait to see the actual program, which is still being finalized. Turns out I’m going to know (kind of) at least one other non-pro attending. We shall soak up teh wizdums and revel in the reflected glow of the Published.

Rejections Tally:

3 in the past week. That leaves four stories out in the wild.

Conclusion:

I need to write better stories.