Word count: 50267 | Since last entry: 21 | This month: 13965 The 21 words shown above is the net result of edits on the Gateways and zeppelin stories. I put both of those in the mail tonight, as well as a resubmission of “Where is the Line”. Also sent off a couple of queries on stories that have been at their markets for a loooong time. Final word count on the Gateways story: 6684. But I e-queried the editor and he said “Don’t worry about the extra 600 words — if you’re happy with it, send it on over to me.” Tonight’s edits were mostly tweaks suggested by my crit group — I tightened up the first few paragraphs, eliminated a red herring or two, fixed a couple of technical and grammatical errors, and brought the bad guy on stage at the last so he could see he’d been defeated. In general, the crit group liked it. I think it’s a pretty good story. Why does the simple act of mailing a story take so much time? It’s not like I sweat over the cover letter (every one is the same except for the address, title, and wordcount). Maybe it has something to do with the reading over and over of my deathless prose. Handwriting the two envelopes is also kind of time-consuming, but it takes less time and stress than computer-printing them when the printer gags on the envelope two or three times, as it did more often than not before I gave up on it. Tomorrow I will write at least 100 words on the novel! Promise!!