The short story I’ve been working on consumed my December.  It was in the editing phase and I was beating it to death when I decided to hand it off to a couple of friends.  I reached that point where I’d switch things around, then switch them right back, question the number of “the’s” in paragraphs, and inject random moments with excessive descriptive voice, turning my initially simple tale into a bloated monster. Thanks to a couple of friends who gifted me with honest critique, I was able to focus my edits and feel okay about the story again. Never again will I question the value of the critique process. I really need to get into a UCLA Extension Program Writer’s Workshop for my novel edits.

Today, I drafted my cover letter and sent the whole thing off to a respectable short story publication (after frantically re-reading the story a number of times). It was incredibly difficult to say, “This is the best I can do,” and hand it off. I’ll always feel like I can do better. If I didn’t have the deadline for my novel edits looming, I might never have given it up.

In other news, the holiday season was a blast! I’m not too jaded to enjoy Christmas carols and countdowns. Plus, I got a stack of books for Christmas. Editing is going to be hard when I have Justin Cronin’s The Passage sitting around, waiting to be finished. Can’t turn away! I’ll post a full review soon.