My first publication should go live in the next ten days. I have seen the proofs and approved them. Very exciting!
I applied to both Clarions and also the Odyssey workshop, but found out over the last few weeks that I didn’t get in to any of them. That was disappointing but I turned around and submitted the story I had sent to Odyssey and have already been rejected by Clarkesworld (my dream market). It is out, as is another short and two flash pieces. I am trying to finish/polish up three shorts and get them out into the world. I once read an anecdote about mental health that described having multiple balls in the air as having multiple planes circling the airport and you need to land the planes to start a new project. This really resonated with me over the years so I am going to land my planes and then start working on other shorts and get back to the novel. I do have some ideas to move forward and more clearly differentiate my POV characters that i learned at the FoF workshop I attended a few weeks ago.
The last 9-10 months have been very tough for me personally and I have found that I am unable to hold my novel in my head for any length of time. Or any big project. I have been reading lighter fiction to make it easier on my brain. I do feel like I am coming around the other side now, and should hopefully be better able to work on the novel after I land my planes.