IWSG: August

To put it mildly, it's been a busy year. Not only is my event schedule full for this year and starting to populate into next year, but work has been crazy and apparently gardening has become a full-contact sport for me. 

So far this summer I've managed to pull muscles in my chest (though that may have been partially work-related), sprain my foot and just today I broke a blood vessel in my finger and now it's all swollen and purple. But, on the bright side, my garden is looking more fabulous by the day. The days that I'm able to work on it at least. I'm not even doing anything super strenuous or out of the ordinary. In fact, I'm probably doing less heavy lifting than I have in the past couple of years. Perhaps my body is just fed up with all I've been putting it through and is demanding some downtime. 

Since I have been trying to be good to myself and honor that downtime thing, I did buy a new barstool height chair for author events. I much prefer to be at eye level when talking to people so I usually end up standing most of the time. Now I feel more comfortable sitting, at least more than I have been. 

Have I been writing lately? I've been trying. Summer is my time for being outdoors in the garden, so progress is slow, but I'm currently doing another revision pass on Not Another Bard's Tale. My idea percolater has finally come up for a fix in the dragging middle section. Time to combine two characters and speed things along!  

And now onward to this months' Insecure Writer's Support Group question:

If you're not familiar with 

the Insecure Writers Support 

Group, check it out here.

Has your writing ever taken you by surprise? For example, a positive and belated response to a submission you'd forgotten about or an ending you never saw coming?

I had been submitting a couple short stories this year and in the process of jugging those submissions, didn't glance at the responding emails beyond confirming that they were rejections. I always assume they are rejections. That way, I'm not crushed when yet another one comes in, and pleasantly surprised when it is an acceptance. However, in my "yep, it's another rejection", skim of a submission email from a pro market I knew was a long shot, I totally missed the P.S. far down the email until, weeks later, I was copying a section of that submission email to send to the next market. As it turns out, there was a note from the editor who had some very nice things to say about the piece. I tossed that story back into the fray. Does this have a happy ending? Not yet. But it only takes one yes.

As to story endings, I rarely see those coming, so nearly always, yes, those surprise me. I like writing that way. If I'm excited about figuring out the ending, hopefully, the reader will be too.