This is apparently the time of picking up “old” pieces and working on them. If you’re following me semi-closely, you’ll know that the past two weeks have been spent developing “Primes” a 9,000 word story that grew out of three sentences I had written back in 2005 and that I found laying around untouched since.
Yesterday I spent about an hour re-arranging stuff, and came upon another brief, untitled piece that I had written for Brigid probably fifteen years ago. I picked it up today, and have worked it into what I think is a really nice little 800+ word bit that I’ve titled “Hazel and the Monsters.”
I feel in ways that I’m riding on a new wave of insight. I’m not sure how else to describe it, but that’s what it feels like. Or, that I’m developing greater insight into story as I work on pieces. A lot of it, I think, is due to some work Mike Resnick did with me last month on my story “Teammates” (the acceptance of which by Galaxy’s Edge is now complete!). He really stretched me. He showed me how lazy I had become, and it’s paying off now. At least it’s paying off in the sense that I’m absolutely loving the act of working on these stories–pushing myself more deeply into the characters and their actions and into word choices that can wear multiple hats and language that just sounds right as it rolls off the tongue.
Will this wave result in commercial success?
One always assumes so, but that’s just because writers must always make such assumptions. The honest answer is that I obviously hope it does, but I have no idea if it will. But just as honestly, in the end it doesn’t matter, because writing while I’m in this kind of a zone is really something special.