It was a good weekend, but one that didn’t last quite long enough (not that they ever do).  I hadn’t mentioned it here before (I don’t think, anyway – continuity is hard), but Lady Aravan and I have put our house up for sale.  That means that every weekend and some weeknights, we have to scrub the house down, gather our beloved pack of pooches, and get out of sight so people can look at the house.  We got an offer that we’ve been countering and going back and forth over the last few days, so we’re hopeful that it sells soon.  We are looking for a rural farmette in PA, or failing that, just a private location with some acreage.  Yes, I hate people that much, and yes, it will be key during a zombie invasion.

Priorities.

My little short story “Blamers” was posted on Smashwords for free, and as of this morning 80 people had downloaded it.  It’s gotten 2 reviews (both 5 stars) and I feel really good about that.  It’s nice to finally start to reach a wider audience, and it’s even netted me a new fan on Facebook.  One person at a time, right?  I’m glad my little story has been accepted as entertaining, and it makes me feel good about my idea for a modern-day novel.  The protagonist in both would pretty much be the same person, and I would write it in much the same way, so it sounds like it might work for people.  It makes me excited to think about writing it, and I hope/plan to have it done before the year is out.

Of course, that means finishing Storm first.  As I said before, I’m in a good place with it, and I just need to capture the last elements of the story that I’m looking forward before beginning the painful editing process.  I hope to enlist some people to edit it, as I’ve done before, but I’m just not sure who to ask besides my Lady.  One friend who is also a writer is less than helpful for the most part: saying “show, don’t tell” is great, but it’s hardly pointed criticism.  Plus, I think it’s sometimes hard for writers who have different styles to critique each others’ work.  He likes to confer expository information almost exclusively through dialogue, where I find that method just makes the dialogue portions seem forced and unbelievable.  I prefer dialogue to seem natural, like, you know, people talking.  Since Curse and Storm are told from the perspective of whichever character is the focus, the expository information is conveyed through thoughts and flashbacks.  He doesn’t like flashbacks.  So it makes it hard for each of us to approach the others’ work from a critical standpoint.

I do want to get some good feedback.  I think I might hit up my Browncoat friend and maybe the man behind Comrick as well.  Hay, and maybe a reader of this blog will volunteer!  Heh.