Back to the Grind.

Partly from my new author blog at carole-cole.com (because last weekend I learned that all serious authors are going to soon be required to have one per their agent, editor, and publisher):

"My head is still in Southern California thinking of sunny weather and the crystal blue pool at the Hanalei Hotel while the rest of me is up here in the cold and rainy Pacific Northwest. This is usually perfect writing weather for me because I love this region but after visiting San Diego last week, I'm looking forward to warm, dry days . . . exactly like the weather in the novel I'm currently working on. If I were smart, I'd get out last year's unfinished novel and work on that. When I stopped writing that novel, it was just like it currently is right outside my window.

After reading Matthew J. Pallamary's book of short stories, The Small Dark Room of the Soul I thought of two short story ideas of my own. Naturally, I added them to my story ideas list as soon as I could like a good writer so I wouldn't forget them later. This spring I plan on reading several short story collections to try to better understand how short stories are created. It would seem an easy thing to accomplish but to someone used to writing novels, how one goes about shortening an entire story arc into 4000 words or less is somewhat incomprehensible. But I'm learning."

One bit of information we picked up at last week's writer's conference: The differences of authors-in-the-know. The short story market is dead according to one big name author, but not so said another. Yet another wouldn't comment one way or the other. Obviously short stories are still being published in various collections and anthologies. No telling who was right and who was wrong and poo to the one who wouldn't say a word.

Oh, and there was a discussion going on in the old INK a long time ago about spacing between sentences. The latest from authors and editors we listened to in San Diego is double space after the end of each sentence. Some editors admitted that not seeing double spaces irritated them enough to toss out manuscripts. Fair warning.