Grouchy writer/editor post - you were warned

Word to the wise - unless it's past the date an editor has said they'll get back to you (well, in this case, for my anthologies), DON'T ask me the status of your story unless it's absolutely vital. It wastes my time and your time to have to write back and say "I don't know." I don't mean to sound bitchy it just makes it so much harder. Already, I feel awful when I have to reject good stories, but I also know that part of being a good editor is doing things for the good of the project, not to spare someone's feelings. Writers get rejections. It's part of life, and of course it sucks, but you deal. But being the one who has to send them . . . not fun. Would that I could just magically get the perfect number of perfect stories right off the bat, but alas . . . what I've come to realize while editing anthologies is that it's not just about the singular content of a story, but how it fits into the book as a whole. How they all work together and what that means and how it flows, which is something as an individual writer you can never know when submitting, so you just have to write the best piece you can and send it off.

Lately, I've been slacking in that department myself. Better to get it done than get it done well, and that's bad. I need to figure out how to both work harder, but really, work smarter, not pile on so much that I freak out and cannot finish a thing and lie around like a lump while realizing that sometimes I do need to lie around like a lump and watch movies and just zone out. I love New York but sometimes it feels so oppressive, which is why I'm excited about things like bingo, because I can just go and enjoy it.

It'll all be fine, just a lot of grunt work left on a bunch of books as they get finalized and as I read a mini mountain of smut over the next few weeks, not to mention all the stories I owe people. I started a few and have been pecking away on the weekends on others but it's slow going, like pulling teeth lately with all of it.

At the same time, I feel really alive and energized. I can get new ideas at the drop of a hat. The ideas are easy, it's the execution that's tough. I know that and am just trying to hang on to some shred of whatever it is that keeps me believing I can do it, one word at a time. I have trouble concentrating on any one thing; I'll be in the middle of reading one book and am thinking about another, in the middle of one story and realizing what else I need to do. At least I know that and just have to keep plugging away.

Speaking of anthologies, Violet Blue has posted her intro to Best Women's Erotica 2006 called "Buttercream Frosting Erotica." YUM!