lisa rabey writes stuff issue #8: writing as a love
Dear Internet,
On Friday night I finished and submitted a piece, based on Vincent Van Gogh’s The Bedroom, for Ekphrastic Review. It’s a long form of a similar piece I submitted elsewhere earlier in March. The Ekphrastic Review piece was due March 31 and the short form piece was due May 31 but I submitted that one early. The short form is for a 53 word contest, but I feel it in my bones that I won’t win so I said fuck it; expand and submit it elsewhere.
The piece for Ekphrastic Review is the first piece I’ve worked on in a while. Day to day life has snuck up and I’ve not planned time to write. I also haven’t been to writer’s group in few weeks, and it’ll be a few weeks more before I go back since I have engagements next few weeks on the night the writer’s group meet. We’re also on vacation for ten days starting next week and I’m not going to write then, I think. I’m taking my portable keyboard for other reasons, so maybe jot down a few notes?
Even with day to day life sneaking in, I am disappointed with myself for not carving out more time to write and I’m finding myself beginning to drown in old habits.
What happens is this: I get riled up about writing and crank out a ton of stuff. Next step is to find homes and research new markets for the pieces which takes a decent amount of time. Then I get this wild hair up my ass about creating longer pieces of work and publishing it myself or with a small press (Skaldic Press, LLC was my imprint). I spend an inordinate amount of time on research on how to do that stuff. Time ticks on and I find myself having long list of websites and notes on how to publish and less work to publish.
I caught myself doing this exact thing last week and put a stop to it.
It’s so easy to get sucked into research especially when you find successfully indie and self-pubbed authors so I think I have a shot at making zillions. Lucy Score is the perfect example: one of her books, Things We Never Got Over, has nearly 120,000 reviews on Amazon! 120K! That’s crazy! Even transphobe J.K. Rowling can’t beat that.
(From the research I’ve done, the publishing house for Score is her own imprint. I’ve started researching how to set up an LLC in KY to revive my LLC. Argh!)
I’ve started using OneNote to keep track of all the websites that could be helpful further down the road.
See, I’m doing it again.
But I will say I’m keeping writing notes during the week so not all is lost.
I’ve read interviews with some authors who say even just thinking about writing work is work but it feels like it’s not enough.
My digital binder is a hot mess as I move things around. I’ve started submitting work as my nom de plume; I need to figure out how to organize that stuff. Right now, in my trusty spreadsheet, I’m noting which pieces are submitted as my nom de plume and which are me.
Interestingly, the nom de plumes website has gotten a little traffic. The only place it’s advertised on is their Twitter account.
I’m going to take a look at my after work schedule this week and this weekend to carve out some writing time. Even if it’s editing old stuff.
Speaking of editing, one of my editors is going to work on The Lisa Chornicles: Vol 1. This chapbook was pubbed back in 2016 under my imprint but it’s full of errors and lots of other issues and because of this, I’ve pulled it down from Amazon. The editor I’m working with gave me a reasonable quote to get it pretty. Not sure what I’m going to do with it. Self-pub again? Query agents? If I do a volume for each year, that’s 25 volumes. Jesus christ. Probably not but it’s a thought.
I’ve decided to add a media section of articles, videos, or podcasts that may be of use to others to the newsletter. May not be every week but do keep an eye out for it.
Housekeeping
Due to vacation time (yay! We’re going to White Lotus it up!), issue #9 for April 12th is a maybe and issue #10 for April 19th is a definite no. I’ll be back for sure on April 26th.
Media
Indie Book Talk: Rewarding Rejection: Interview with Marie Vibbert (podcast)
Submission update
31 submissions which includes 17 rejections, 2 acceptances, and 1 withdrawal.
Publication
chapbook: commercial breaks
Snippets
This story, Rotten Fruit, I wrote six years ago. It was rejected soon enough by the one place I submitted it to. The ending was clunky and some of the bits need to be fixed. This now falls in the “to be edited” pile. (I have queried one of my editors to take a look at it for me since it is about 1000 words.)
Hunger often ruled my thoughts when I was with her. When I was older, I often found it difficult to not pull her closer and munch on her cheeks or snack on her neck. Mother laughed if I hugged her too hard, for she thought it was an act of love.
There was no waddle, line or jowl to seen on her face, thanks to aforementioned beauty regime and curiously aligned genes that happily skipped my generation. Mother may not have been a traditional beauty, but she really knew how to work with what she had.
Mother, with a face and body hinting of fruit and smells recalling the earth and exotica, and hair color not found in nature; was never short a dance partner, travel companion, or a lover. “I’m just an old tart having a few laughs,” she’d say with a wink as she swiped lipstick across her lips before going out for the evening.
Have a good week!
lisa x