Thoughts on test week and rejection letters and several interesting links.

So, another test week done and gone. Managed to survive this one, and fairly well, much to my surprise. I'm chalking this semester's improved grades up to a return to basics, if you will, in which I remember and consistently apply the knowledge that I am first and foremost a reader, a lover of words, and attempt to do as much of my studying as possible in that fashion.

Apparently it's working. Here's hoping it continues to do so.

And with last Monday's block exam done and gone, it's adios Cardio/Respiratory/Renal systems and on to the Hematology/Lymphatic and Reproductive systems, the latter of which I greet with some trepidation as I'm not particularly looking forward to going through the Repro system while my wife navigates the tumultuous and hormone-fueled funfest that is the THIRD TRIMESTER (I know, I can't believe she's that far along either.).

Why the trepidation, you ask? Well, the second year of medical school involves a lot of time (and by a lot, I mean pretty much ALL) spent focusing on all of the things that can go wrong with the human body. By nature, I tend to be the kind of guy who worries about things to be begin with, turning them over and over in my mind until I'm ready to implode and go all black hole beneath the accumulated weight of anxiety. And to be honest, combining that with the already present concerns of pregnancy just doesn't seem like the most fun to me.

Yet my mantra for the year is to try and be a more positive human being, so I'm going to do my damndest and NOT worry.

I'll let you know how that goes.

Let's see...what else is going on. Managed two submissions to some short fiction markets in the last week or two. One rejection came back yesterday, which isn't really surprising as while I think the story is off to a good start, I can't shake the conviction that something is missing, some key element to pull it all together. I think it's a plot problem as I'm fairly happy with the setting, character, and style, but I haven't managed to sort it out just yet. I'm going to let it percolate in my ol' noggin for a few days and see if I get anywhere with it before tossing it out into the ether again.

Although that brings up an interesting point: the dilemma of whether or not I should focus on continuing efforts to publish short fiction or if I should move on and attempt to write something of novel length. As far as money and career opportunities are concerned, novels are definitely the way to go as short fiction just can't really cut it in either of those two categories any more, particularly not in spec fic.

But I'll be honest-I have this nagging concern that my inability to get any of my short fiction published in the past three plus years means that my writing isn't quite up to snuff yet, and I worry about pouring all of the time and effort into producing a longer work if I'm not really ready for it yet. I mean, it's not like there's really a surplus of time in my life right now.

On the other hand, writing is like every other skill; you only improve by doing. And I do have an idea for a multi-book series, most likely a trilogy, that contains a setting, characters, and conflict that have been rattling around my brain for over a year now and are starting to clamor loudly to get out. I've spent my whole life reading epic fantasy and series sci/fi, and perhaps that has hardwired my brain to be best suited for longer works.

So I think I'm going to try and do that. Be warned: you should expect numerous frustrated posts concerning my attempts to get this thing done. I'll try to do so fairly regularly so any of you who might take delight in that sort of authorly schadenfreude can eat your heart out. Or, you know, offer the occasional bit of reassurance.

It'll be an interesting journey. Right now, I have two other projects that I'm working on (a musical and a TV show idea, if you really must know), both of which I'm really excited about as they involve collaborations with two of my favorite people. As each of those taps into a different part of my creative mind, I think that working on a fantastic (both in genre and, hopefully, quality) novel will help round that out nicely, particularly as the analytic portion of my brain is subsumed by the juggernaut that is school.

And there you have it. That's what's going on in my neck of the woods. Now I"ll leave you with a few interesting links that I've stumbled across this morning (descriptions of said links are below the links themselves):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22751415

In which you learn why Finnish babies sleep in cardboard boxes. Trust me, it's fascinating.

http://designtaxi.com/news/361484/Ad-Shows-The-World-s-Popular-Opinions-Of-Women-Using-Search-Engine/

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Our children deserve so much better than the world as it stands right now. This ad uses a search engine to show the world's opinions of women, and many of them are just as depressing as you  might imagine. But the images and brief commentary offer a perfect counterpoint and commentary, I think.

http://www.freesfonline.de/index.html

This is a site I came across this morning that collects links to various authors' speculative fiction online and organizes it according to said authors so that you can select find your favorite sf author and have quick access to places where their work has been published online. There's nothing pirated as the links take you to online magazines and what not where the works have been published.  (I'm not sure this summary actually explains it all that well, so head over there on your own and browse to see what I mean.)

http://kenliu.name/binary/liu_the_man_who_ended_history.pdf

And here's a link to "The Man Who Ended History", a novella by the depressingly fantastic Ken Liu. If you haven't read anything by him, you really should, which is why I'm recommending you start with this, my favorite work of his. It won a number of awards several years ago, and deservedly so.

http://www.fantasy-magazine.com/new/new-fiction/choose-your-own-adventure/

While I'm giving links to some of my favorite short fiction, I'll go ahead and toss a link up to Kat Howard's "Choose Your Own Adventure." This appeared in Fantasy Magazine a few years ago and is, I think, wonderful. Kat is, like Ken Liu, a terrifically talented young writer on the sf scene and has quickly become someone whose work I read automatically whenever it comes out. If you're interested in learning more about either of these writers, here's the links to their websites:

Ken's: http://kenliu.name/

Kat's: strangeink.blogspot.com 

Ok. That's it for today, I think. Catch you all on the flip side.