Spent some time last night working on edits to a collab I did with a writing pal who recently got a two-book deal at Tor, the top SF and fantasy publisher in the US -- congrats Jay!!!

I always love seeing my friends enjoy the fruits of their labors and their talents, even if it does make me a teensy bit jealous. I'm working on catching up to them, though at a snail's pace lately, it seems. Hard to get up at 4:30 a.m. when you're exhausted from house stuff. But now that we've got most of that taken care of (just need to sell the place!), I'm getting back into the swing of things. And sometimes a little twinge of jealousy is all it takes to fire the engines of motivation again.

So today I finished up the edits suggested by the editor, and sent them back to Jay. Soon, I hope, I'll have some good news to share about this potential story sale, to one of the top fantasy markets out there.

And I've been chipping away at the new story idea. I chopped off the old opening, and now I like it much better -- too much exposition in the old version. I think I need to just draft this thing instead of cutting and pasting like I was doing the past few days.

Here's a snippet -- the opening two paragraphs:

I was not chosen to be an Elder. Nobody on our world ever is. The role simply fits a person, or a person fills the role. An Elder is a person who does amazing feats, someone like Uollaway, my childhood hero. Back on the dying world that my people have left forever, I never could have known that my idea to go underground would allow me to leave my old role forever.

That first role was the lowest of all, determined for me by my humiliating physiology: wide shoulders, thick legs, strong finger-toes. And an expansive, extendible belly. Much to my chagrin, I was born for the role of a Drinker.

I was trying to think of one of the most humiliating, thankless jobs there could be, and I think I came close. Wait 'til you see how they filter the water they drink and carry for long distances in their extendible stomachs... Ew.

Heh heh heh. Having fun with this one! Later...