Introductions; or, Hello.

The problem with going to high school is that it takes so much time.  So do after-school activities, and homework, and all of the other ancillary things that go along with it.

The lesson to be gathered is that I'll never have enough time, and I may as well start getting used to it now.

I write fantasy and, occasionally, science fiction.  My fantasy usually doesn't involve magic; my science fiction doesn't usually involve science.  The latter is more consistently a problem. 

I'm currently trying to teach myself how to rewrite fiction.  Writing is rewriting, or so I am told.

I've also been told that if I can get out, I should, but right now I'm having too much fun.

How I Spent the Winter of 08

One of my ways to get myself to learn how to rewrite is, apparently, Apply to summer writing workshops. It's working well so far because most of the deadlines are at the same time--I just have to write the stories and fill out a lot of forms.

The list of places I'm applying runs a little like:
Kenyon Young Writers' Workshop
Iowa Young Writers Summer Program
Alpha Young SFFH Writers' Workshop
Clarion
Odyssey

... obviously, there are some of these I have a better chance of getting into than others.

At any rate, I'm basing my rewrites off what Clarion wants with an application, which is two short stories. Story #1 is post-apocalyptic gay female teen geek story, sort of; Story #2 is a modern retelling of a fairy tale, possibly The Little Mermaid, possibly also with gay girls. (Sensing the trend?) Odyssey wants a fantasy story under 4,000 words, which will probably be Story #2. Alpha wants one story, SFF or horror, between 2,000 and 6,000 words, which could be either of them.

Then again, the U of Iowa wants ten pages (guess they didn't get the memo about word count), and Kenyon would like a short essay or story about why I want to go there, neither of which meshes well with the two-story thing.

Story #2 has been trying for a few days now to get out of the cabinet someone locked it in; I'm just trying to stay away from the claws until it works its way out. Story #1 needs work--a lot of work--but I need other people to tell me what's wrong with it. This means: time to send it out to people. The fact that half of them will undoubtedly tell me it's perfect doesn't mean it is, it just means I'm asking the wrong people. The problem is that I don't know where to find the right ones.