The WAL

Draft number two of the zombie story is finished and my two first readers have promised to have it back to me by Saturday after work with comments.  From there, I’ll have eight days to make any changes and do any polishing I want to do before the submission deadline of August 31st.

I like how it reads.  I like how it ends.  I hope my first readers do, too.  And just as importantly, I hope the editor of the anthology I’m submitting to (The World Is Dead) likes it, too.  I just really don’t know.

That’s one of the really weird things about being a writer: whatever you might think of the work, it’s only a good story if someone else wants to read it.  Unless you’re just writing it for yourself and then you’re the only audience that matters.  Me, I’m trying to move in the direction of a bigger audience and that means opening your soul up to criticism and rejection.

I’ll post when it goes out and probably when it comes back, whatever the response is.  Wish me luck.

With respect to Jonathan Coulton, but I’m sure he won’t mind the small quote since I’m linking back to him and I’ve been humming the song for days.  Besides, it’s germaine to today’s subject: Zombies.

I’ve been neglecting my short fiction a lot lately in favour of first one, and then a second novel (plus the beginning of  a third) and I thought I might like to change that.  I have been doing some editing and have half a dozen things I intend to send out in the next week or so, but nothing new.  Following some a link provided by the inestimable Mur Lafferty in an episode of I Should Be Writing a few months back, I skimmed through the anthology section on Ralan’s Webstravaganza and found a listing for an anthology by Permuted Press titled “The World Is Dead”, a post apocalyptic zombie anthology.

I’m not really a big horror fan, preferring most of my horror to come mixed with comedy.  “Bubbahotep”, “Sean of the Dead” sort of thing.  But zombies can be a lot of fun and I’ve never written a zombie story before.  The idea of this abthology grabbed me, and I immediately knew what kind of direction I’d take with the theme.

So I’m writing a zombie story.  Will it be done, edited, and polished in time for the 31 August deadline?  I hope so.  Will it be truly original?  I’m not sure I can judge that as I’m not well read enough in the genre, but I think that might change a little.  Will it be good enough?  That will be for the editor, Kim Paffenroth, to decide if I can get it in on time.

On a related note, check out The Takeover, a zombie-related audio drama presented by, hmm, Mur Lafferty.  Absolutely hilarious.  Only five episodes in, so it’s still easy to catch up.