Archive for September 29th, 2006

9/28/06: Writing-related program activities

Word count: 3113 | Since last entry: 877

Another post-Hugo rejection in today’s mail, this one from F&SF. Alas, he just bought another post-Katrina ghost story. I’d been afraid that might happen.

That made three stories requiring resubmission, so I went ahead and resubmitted them. As it happened, the story that F&SF just bounced went to Asimov’s, and the story Asimov’s bounced earlier in the week went to F&SF. The Jupiter story, which I’d intended to send to Asimov’s as soon as they replied to the previous story, had to be held back again because I wanted to send the post-Katrina story to Asimov’s before it gets any staler than it already is. So rather than let it languish any longer, I sent it to Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show — my first submission there. The story is really a better fit for Baen’s Universe, but that market’s closed until further notice (though I now see that it could reopen as early as October 1… oh well, the story’s in the email already).

It took entirely too much time to update my spreadsheet, decide where to send the three stories, and prepare the packages and emails. But I did get some more writing done. The action is cracking along nicely — in fact, I think it might be moving too fast, because the main character has some backstory that I have to lay in so that the climax will make emotional sense. (I don’t have a written outline for this one, but by now I know everything that is going to happen.) Ponder ponder ponder.

Changing topics completely… I’m considering changing my phone — I want to carry a single device instead of my web-enabled phone, Palm V, and camera. It has to have a QWERTY keyboard, and I would really prefer PalmOS to Windows Mobile, so it comes down to a Treo 650 (Cingular) or Treo 700p (Verizon or Sprint). But it seems that the minimum calling plan I can get that supports this phone’s data capabilities costs $60 (Cingular, 450 minutes + 5MB, or Sprint, 450 minutes + unlimited data), or $80 (Cingular or Verizon, 450 minutes + unlimited data) per month. My current plan (Cingular) is $40 for more minutes than I ever use + 1MB (I use maybe 50 minutes a month, but 1MB is a little too small). $240 or $480 more a year seems like a lot to pay for email and web on my phone. Any advice?