I have finished “Blood Red Sun” and submitted it to Angry Robot Books for their open door month. Starting next week, queries will go out to agents. Appropriately, then, I open my monthly update with a quote from Edward Gorey’s “The Unstrung Harp”:
“The next day Mr. Earbrass is conscious but very little more. He wanders through the house, leaving doors open and teacups on the floor. From time to time the thought occurs to him that he really ought to go and dress and he gets up several minutes later, only to sit down again in the first chair he comes to. The better part of a week will have elapsed before he has recovered enough to do anything more helpful.”
Too right.
People always seem to think that when you’ve finished a novel you’ll be filled with buoyancy and elation, that you’ll experience a gratifying sense of accomplishment and completion. Truth is, you know in your heart the novel is not *really* done and never will be. You feel worn out–at once glad to be rid of the damn thing and mournful that something you’ve poured so much of yourself into is over and done. Yesterday was meant to be a day off for me to “celebrate.” I spent most of it sprawled on the sofa in my pajamas staring sightlessly at the television.
But still…check, that’s done. Go me! I’m sure in a few days (or as Gorey suggests, about a week), I will feel simply fabulous about this 
What else did I do this month? Well, since pretty much every day was spent hunched over my desk excising “of” and “that” and “was” from 450 pages of manuscript, not too much.
- I critiqued 6 short stories for various writing buddies.
- I managed to keep to my gym schedule fairly well (probably one of the reasons I remain sane at the end of this crazy month), though a persistent hamstring injury is definitely hampering my progress. I made it to the gym 16 times.
- I read “Midnight Never Come” by Marie Brennan, “Mark of the Demon” by Diana Rowland, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” by Philip K. Dick, “The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms” by N.K. Jemisin, and “Soulless” by Gail Carriger.
- Since every free moment was spent working on “Blood Red Sun” I didn’t write any new fiction, but I did revise a short story and submit it to my writing group.
- I subbed two short stories and received 1 rejection this month.
- I traveled absolutely nowhere this month, which felt wonderful after January and February’s perpetual motion.
- I slogged through 24 hours worth of lectures at Queens College, bringing the students through the global spread of Homo sapiens and the rise of agriculture. That meant 32 hours commuting through the subway tunnels of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens.
- As part of our “start living like grownups” campaign, Sid and I bought an awesome new desk for my office. It arrived yesterday and is fabulous.
In sum, it was a crazy, sometimes beautiful but mostly painful month. I finally completed a project I’ve been laboring on for over a year.
I’m personally looking forward to April. I’ll get back to work on other projects (notably, I want to make serious progress drafting my next novel, “Absent”) and I have a trip to the British Virgin Islands on the horizon.
What did your March look like? Major accomplishments? Regrets? Do tell.
