The reversal I suffered in August to my writing seems to have hit me emotionally a little more that I had first estimated. Gathering up the motivation for a project seems difficult and I have two incomplete short stories currently sitting on my hard drive.

Still, this will not dissuade me. Setbacks are a part of life, well until you get to the ultimate setback and that one you do not recover from but on that front I see no serious dangers.

No, this is not something that will make me give up and such. As I often joke I am too stupid and too stubborn to give me. In fact in the middle of this artistic Sargasso I have found myself becalmed in hints and glimmers of hope continue to break on my horizon. I have a story in the current issue of Newmyths.com, that certainly help my mood and confidence, there are a few nibbles for new representation, but perhaps best of all a senior editor at a major SF publisher after reviewing my sample chapters requested the full manuscript. Now that editor may still decline to move ahead but while not fully good news the request is quite encouraging.

So what does an artist do in this spot? I think the answer is quite clear. Stop wasting time reading political websites at lunch, finish the two short stories in progress, write the new story that has blossomed in my imagination, and then serious consider working on a full novel outside of my comfort zone.

As always the hardest part of writing is ‘butt to chair, fingers to keyboard.’