Still fighting the good fight, as someone said.  I thought at this point that I'd be in two writing groups but one of them has entirely failed to materialize.  I think that was to be expected because the other person involved has actually got a lot on his plate: he's highly productive in print, on stage, and on radio, so... why would he condescend to small potatoes like me?  Very well.

The other group, despite itself, is causing some substantial material to come into being.  We've been having difficulty getting together as a group, people turning up and dropping out from week to week (personally, I think weekly would be too often to meet, except people aren't meeting every week so it works out), and I think we lost a writer, but the rest of us are actually writing.  One is focusing on her travel stories, another is generating really excellent poetry--and I'm not usually a fan of poetry--and I even have a short story about ready to be sent out.

That sounds anemic in my ears: everyone else is throwing out their work with wanton abandon, submitting weekly, several times weekly, and I'm orchestrating this tremendous effort to refine one short story before submission.  Fear of success, or just laziness?

But I'm still writing plenty.  I started a blog (which I won't advertise here) in which I have committed to writing one short story every day.  I've pretty much plumbed the dregs of my notebooks and hacked out every half-baked idea I've ever had, and now I force myself to come up with one new, original story every single day (except weekends, which usually go to family concerns).  I'm very happy with a lot of the material that's come of this, and I really feel like this is a useful practice and I'm actually growing from it, just as anyone else would develop a frame of musculature from regular visits to the gym.

I have the short story blog, I write daily in a blog dedicated to stationery and pen pals, and I write twice daily in a blog where I complain about traffic incidents, complete with photos.  That's just a vent for my spleen, but it is still a writing exercise.  So the quantity is certainly there, and the quality is improving, but what needs to happen next is that I start turning these freeform exercises into actual manuscripts that I formally submit to publishers.

I also need to research the legality of online publishing as it pertains to print publishing--many places will not accept a manuscript if it appeared online first, like, say, a blog, considering that the first publication--so if anyone happening to read this knows anything about that, please point me to some useful links, thanks.

The writing has been very slow-going.  I dicked around with a couple short stories for a while, then dropped them.  I haven't touched my novel since early May.  As for the two writing groups, only one has actually met, but external events have caused me to miss all meetings since the second get-together.  I touched base with a guy for the second group and we still have to work out a mutually beneficial schedule.

But the fact is that I haven't sat down and dedicated myself to writing.  I'm maintaining my blogs, which are spiking in attention fortunately.  The blog in which I complain about traffic has received considerable attention from the local community and is starting to turn up in New York's radar; my regular blog continues to get inexplicable international attention so I've decided to capitalize upon that and expound upon global issues.

I terminated my Open Salon account, due to the high school politics of its citizens.  Worthy writers were being passed by while sensationalist, talentless ****s were jockeying for visibility through pressure.  I terminated my Twitter account, as I prefer the flexibility of Tumblr.  I eliminated a couple other satellite blogs because there wasn't enough kickback in them, my energy was better diverted elsewhere.

I don't even post here much because I'm tired of all the solicitations: "Hi!  I don't read any of your stuff, but how would you love to read my latest brilliant work!" No one can be faulted for self-promotion, that's for sure.  I just thought this arena would be more of an exchange of ideas, rather than free advertisement and self-aggrandization.  Don't ask me where I got that crazy idea, though.

Wish me luck: I'm submitting a short story to three publications.  They buy first time serial rights, they accept multiple submissions, and they seem amenable to the kind of absurdist fiction I like to write.

Never done this before.  I researched four Web sites on how to compose a cover letter for short fiction--they didn't agree with each other, so I assimilated the core information and estimated a reasonable margin for personal interpretation.  One congratulatory lunch (pasta and a large glass of wine) later, I'm geared up for the frigid weather and am about to bus to the Loop Station post office, which is unparalleled for speed and efficacy in delivering material.  I'm sure this will be the first of many such trips, but it's my first so I'm making a Thing about it.

In other news: I highly recommend Carlo Rossi sangria, for writers.  It comes in a huge jug with a handle (that's responsible) and it has a sterner, thicker taste--real sangria reminds me of anti-freeze.  Plus... the dog bites, if you know what I mean.

My college, Metro State, puts together a quarterly literary magazine, Haute Dish.  Recently I was asked to serve as an editor for new submissions but I haven't heard anything about when this responsibility will kick in.

In the meantime, the deadline for submission is tomorrow so I just now sent along some of my work: three photos from my season of experimentation with the Holga, and a short story, But That's Another Story.  The story was catalyzed by my pet peeve with that same expression--people (ab)use it to make their lives sound more interesting than they are--and I ran with the idea of someone forcing someone else to tell them exactly what this "other story" is, taking it to outrageous lengths.  Actually, I'm hoping to extend it into a chapbook, especially since the story itself has been positively received by my friends and classmates.

I had a brief concern with multiple submissions, but in reality I'm not exactly showering the world of publications with my stories so I think it's okay if I send this one along to my college's literary magazine.  I think I'm not shooting myself in the foot with this move.