Halfway through

Geez, it's the end of June already. I round out the half-year mark with a rejection for poor "Never Be Alone"; despite my tepid fondness for it, I think it's time to retire it permanently. The editor gave me some good feedback which is probably accurate, but which doesn't make me want to pursue another rewrite.

June was okay. I didn't get much done, although I did rewrite an old story FUGGETYFUG I need to hack it down RIGHT NOW to 4k words and SUB IT before midnight! I can't believe I forgot!

Um, anyway, I rewrote an old story in June and I've half-written a new story. I sold a flash story to Bards & Sages Quarterly. I got some rejections that disheartened me enough that I'm considering retiring everything I've ever written and growing hot peppers as a hobby instead. There would be less heartbreak, since nothing much kills peppers and I have a head start with nine huge cayenne plants out back.

I have zero novels out right now, zero novellas, and only three stories. Right now I'm feeling so paralyzed at my inability to judge my own work that I'm incapable of sending anything out--not a query letter, not a manuscript, not anything. I guess this is probably a good time to ask for beta readers for chapter one of The Weredeer. You don't have to commit to the whole thing, just the first chapter. I'm pretty sure it starts too slow. If you're interested, drop me an email at kateshaw123 [at] gmail [dot] com and you will have my eternal gratitude.

Now I have to go chop down that stupid "Cult of the Butterfly" story to 4k words. Since it's squatting there like a toad at 6,300 words, I don't anticipate having much fun.