And I LOVE it!!!
Seriously, the busyness was supposed to end when I finished my stats class, right?
Wrong.
No, I just stopped being busy with stuff I hate and became busy with stuff I love!
Like editing.
I kid you not, editing is 3/4 of my life right now. I'm editing with my Tahitian Noni job (soon to be my Morinda Bioactives job... I have another blog post and a half about that one), and I'm going through and reviewing contest submissions for TM Publishing.
I. Love. This!!!
I'm picking apart the stories, figuring out why they work or don't, and rating them to determine contest winners. It's so much fun! I'm being reminded how important voice is, and how many novice writers spend the first chapter telling the reader exactly what the reader is supposed to think about their character. Note to writers: this does not work. It's annoying and screams, "I have no clue how to write gracefully." Having an intriguing character definitely works. Having a unique world definitely works. Having a plot that follows a standard formula, but does so with unique and interesting elements works marvelously. And having a voice that tells a story and shows lots of character (note, that was SHOWS character, not tells the reader who the character is) is the single most important thing to keep a reader reading. Bring on the awesome stories!!!
Meanwhile, I'm in the middle of packing up all my stuff, I got a storage unit for all my really big stuff, I'm selling textbooks on Amazon.com, I'm in crunch time at work before the convention that's the same week as graduation, I'm wondering if I should get my transmission checked out because my car is shifting funny, I'm prepping for graduation, I'm trying to talk everyone I know into signing up for our e-magazine [shamelessplug] go to tmpublishing.com, click the "Kindle Giveaway" link under The Blot Event, and sign up for it, and not only do you get an entry in the giveaway for signing up, but the more people you get to sign up for the e-magazine before this Saturday, the more entries YOU get for the Kindle giveaway. Magazine is free for now, due to a special promotion and all that stuff, but will cost money later, so PLEASE sign up ASAP! [/shamelessplug], I'm trying to pay 300 bills that all of a sudden decided to come due at the same time, and I'm still fighting insomnia, though not as terribly as earlier in the semester.
Basically, I'm busy.
The end.
