Polishing like a Madman & The Submission

Last Sunday, I finished off the last of the editing for Star Treasure. It felt really good to get that done. I thought there was more action in those last few chapters, but there seemed to be a good dose of exposition instead. I still like how it played out, though. I think it would be good to give it another read, but I just can't with the editing right now. My back-to-back editing of my novels took almost a year. Need a breather.

Also on Sunday, I felt like the finish line was so close, I couldn't just stop. So, I tweaked my ST pitch and my synopsis. Having them already written, it didn't take much to get them in good form. I added a little here and there, changed this, that, and the other thing, did some pruning to 500, and blamo! Reads great.

I opened today with another polish on "Paradise Burned." It reads better now (again), and OnSpec will see it when rejection #18 comes to me from Wyldblood Magazine. There's some great language in there, so I really hope it gets published somewhere. Maybe Wattpad; we'll see.

Following that, I sent Star Treasure to Baen Books! I know I know, I'm still talking about giving ST another polish yet I've sent it out to a big publisher. Why aren't I waiting to complete the next polish? Here's the thing: the completion of the rough draft of Star Treasure just had its second birthday two months ago. I've only sent one pitch out for some contest for it--and that's it. She's been collecting dust. The second draft is quite readable and needs a shot. I have some anxiety about that, but it is now locked down for a year since Baen doesn't believe in sim-subs. Next year I will give it another look and trim the word count for the next publisher I'm eyeing. Or maybe that won't be necessary...

Finally, I gave "Thieves of Chikara" its first polish. It's a really fun story. I will be sending that one to Writers of the Future contest. This quarter closes at the end of June, so I will do another polish before then. It comes in at 3,800 words. Last time I wrote a story that lean, it got published...fingers crossed.

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