Thanks so much for your generosity on this, everyone.

Allyson, if you want someone to read this that has an arm's length perspective on the fandom stuff, feel free to ping me at my profile addy. I have no idea what happened with ita, and I came late to the online fandom, thereby missing most of what you're probably writing about.

My writing style is just like yours, and revisions are the bane of my existence, but I can critique/edit other people's work without a problem. I'd be happy to help. This is a worthwhile project.

"If ignorance is bliss, you must be organic?" Nah... I'm not sure...mostly I think I have to write the crappy first draft...and write my way into things. Although I tried writing an ending first to my latest project, and well, it's not that kind of story after all, so I'm gonna throw it out. Allyson, I'll be excited to see what you come up with.

massively skipping to the end

Hey GWWriters...sorry I've been absent for the last couple of months. I've missed drabbling a lot.

I should be more present from this point on.

Also, book update--I'm making progress again! Slow, but sure.

Research. How much is too much? Because I've done some, and some things I know, and I'm going to do some more because I'm aiming for that "millions of stories in the naked city" thing that makes my heart beat faster.But I know myself, and I know how much I like people's stories so I could see myself never finishing, looking for one more bit of "color" or something. Telling myself I'll get back to the writing, but never doing it.

I'm so glad you're writing Allyson. Your words should be making their way into the world more often.

And, I'm glad to beta if you aren't overwhelmed with volunteers already.

erika, the reporter in me says: When you've already heard everything improtant that you find out, you've done enough research. But it sounds like you might benefit from settiing a deadline for yourself and sticking to it.

And I, too, have a question: Is it possible to only be capable of writing when you're unhappy?

I wrote all of my short stories, some of which are not-bad, when I was aged 15 to 20 and either single and miserable or living on a different continent from my boyfriend and miserable. Similarly, I wrote almost all of my fic this winter and spring, when I had a job I hated. It seems like when I'm relatively happy, I can't get into a frame of mind where I want to write. Am I just making excuses, or does this jive with anyone else's experience?

Hey, it could happen, but maybe if you make time you can get past it. And hey, your life could turn to crap again...but it's probably not worth it... No, I've got a lot of questions...not sure where to get the answers, either, exactly.(Flashes back to journalism school. ACADEMIC: But I'm not an expert in the field or anything.
ME(pleading): But you're an intelligent person. Of course you have an *opinion*, right?
) Argh.

What are you researching, erika?

So. Lucy is currently entered in two contests that I haven't heard back from yet, but I expect to hear from soon. It is also somewhere in the slush pile of two agents. And I have an unrelated query out to a magazine.

Obsessively checking voicemail every time I return from a brief errand, getting hopeful every time I hear the new message beep for my email, and haunting the mailbox every day starting an hour or so BEFORE the mailman usually shows up is normal behavior, right?