"The Unkindness of Ravens" was not accepted for the anthology I submitted it to. Excuse me while I bawl my eyes out.* I thought it was a really good story. Everybody who saw it thought it was a pretty good story...and that was rough draft. To make matters worse, it's nearly 16,000 words long, which makes it damn near unsellable to most markets.

Some days, being a writer means feeling like you're down and being kicked repeatedly in the ribs.**

Is okay. I have rhinoceros hide when it comes to my writing, and I've only worn through about half of it. I'll do my damnedest to sell "The Unkindness of Ravens" elsewhere, and if all else fails, I'll pimp it out for nothing more than a P.O.D copy. None of my babies get to sneak away and die quietly.


* Don't worry, my eyes are actually perfectly dry.
** Nope, that was practicing techniques in Tae Soo Do last night.

It was a good day yesterday. Lots of writing got done. Then there was Tae Soo Do, and sparring, wherein I got kicked in the face and my nose started to bleed. However, it remained a good day, because that made me a bit meaner when I came back to spar with my partner. Which is bad, because I should have control and not be a sadist, but which cheered me up a lot, because, well, it's fun to hurt people!

The Unkindness of Ravens

6,584 / 20,000 (32.9%)

Writing Log
Words yesterday: 2,446
Total words: 6,584
Reason for length: It was one of those days when writing's a rush, so I got more than my target wordcount despite starting later than I'd like and having to stop to go to Tae Soo Do.
Overused word: feather
Gratuitous word: nightsoil
Type of scene: Poor princeling went from seeing his god to having to pretend to be a member of the untouchable caste--in about fifteen minutes.
Challenge(s): Describing a god.
Which line is it anyways?"No, you definitely have too much life in you to be carrion," Lord Crow said, sounding irritated. "It was not your time. One of mine wronged you. You have twice the claim on me, since my wing also extends over you. Very well. I owe you a favor."
Notes: The observant (or those who pay way too much attention to such things) among you may note that the wordcount meter just got a much higher upper limit. That would be because I'm very close to hitting the minimum wordcount (7,000), so I've switched it to show the maximum (20,000). In reality, I can stop any time now. Just as soon as the story's done. My goal is to finish writing it today or Saturday, to have it in the Critters queue on Sunday, and to use an MPC to bump it up on Monday, which means that I would start getting feedback on it Wednesday. This is still pushing it a bit in terms of the deadline.