Things In The Back Of The Drawer

I’ve decided to put the first draft of my novel 'in the drawer', so to speak, and leave it there for a few weeks. I don't want to see it, and I certainly don't even what to think about it. Sure, I might lose three or four weeks of writing time, however, the time to clear my mind and come back to the story with a new perspective is definitely worth it in the long run.

Fortunately, when I did put my novel back 'in the drawer', I happened to stumble across an old story I wrote about a year ago called 'The Mind's Eye'. The story was originally an idea adapted for the Australia TV series 'Two Twisted', back when they were advertising for new material for a second season. Ultimately the ‘Mind’s Eye’ was rejected along with a couple of other stories I submitted - I'm not entirely sure which is more disheartening, having your story rejected, or having it rejected from a shithouse TV series like Two Twisted; probably the latter.

I sat down and reread the story - it may be considered a little clichéd in part, but I certainly enjoyed it enough to spend some the last week belting-out some of the dints in the bodywork. It's a novelette by definition, running at over 10000 words at the moment, however, I hope to find a market for the story. Novelette's are always a little awkward - too large for your average short story magazine, too small to be taken seriously as anything else.

Probably need another couple of weeks on and off to perfect the story, then I’ll look at magazines for publishing.