I finished the fourth draft of my novel last week and shared it with some fantastic people. I'm really happy with it. Realistically I'll need to do one more draft (maybe two) before I submit it to a publisher. I need to write the synopsis, my bio, etc. But the end is in sight. 

I'm working on a short story that I need to finish this week and submit, and I have a review to write. I'd like to get one more short story done after that in the next couple of weeks. Then I'm going to start working on my next novel. It's based on a draft I wrote in high school and a synopsis I wrote about ten years ago. I cleaned out old writing last week and found some that I'd like to use as the base of this next book. I'm excited to see where it goes.

I hate writing workshops. I don't mind critiques, but I hate sitting in a room with people as they make those comments, good or bad. "Is that what my writing is?" I think, and feel stunted, helpless. I've mostly avoided workshops, though for awhile I help organize a queer femme writers group, which I adored.

I'm doing a housesitting writing retreat to finish my novel. I worry that my book's too long, but mostly I'm happy with it. To round out my retreat, I went to a workshop led by Jen Cross yesterday called Writing The Flood. Cross uses the Amherst Writers and Artists method, so there's no negative feedback and everything is treated like fiction, which helps. I still felt shy but I was glad I went. It got me thinking about what I want to do as my next steps as I finish this novel.

I want to blog once a week. I want to get this book published and start another one. I want to get some short stories out in the world. I want to keep my day job under control enough that I can do this. I should be finished with grad school in May, though I've got to work in the here and now.