I knew the day was coming. Things have finally started to settle down and I’m finding a routine. Get up at 6:30, take dog for walk. Shower, dress, eat, walk to work, start work at 8:00. Read or edit at lunch. Punch out at 4:30, home by 4:45. Between 5:00 and 11:00, I need to make my lunch, exercise the dog, finish off any remaining household chores, and write. Not bad, as far as routines go.

Just sealed the envelope on “Change of Seasons” and it goes out tomorrow. That’s probably the third or fourth revision since I wrote it at Clarion but it’s much, much better. I’m rereading Andy Duncan’s “The Pottawatamie Giantâ€? (first mentioned here). Deconstructing is probably a better word for it. I’m reading it with a highlighter and a couple of colored pens, underlining phrases, sentences, and paragraphs that I like. It’s amazing how breaking a story down helps expose what stands out. I think the vast majority of my stories have decent plots that move at a good clip, and I think that’s why I’ve gotten complimentary rejection notes. The reason why I’m not getting contracts, I’m guessing, is that my stories seem a bit thin. I’m realizing that stories (or at least my stories) need to be written, and then they need to sit and settle. Then they need a rewrite, sit, and settle. Then another rewrite and probably a fourth time before it’s really ready to go. Even with this story, I think it could use a fifth pass but I’m tired of looking at it. Six weeks in an editor’s slush pile should solve that.