Making use of the July 5 holiday that no one outside this

company seems to recognize (CNET has its perks), I locked myself in my

home office today and finished the aforementioned space vampire story.

I’ve been pounding on it intermittently since I first wrote about it,

and it’s evolved a fair bit and–hopefully–gotten tighter. The first

draft is a rushed mess but I think it has a good core that I can tidy

up.

Most importantly, I finished it before the first Asimov’s rejection letter

is due to come in. I’ve got to have another story in my pocket (and

hopefully submitted) before that little confidence crusher shows up.

I’ll let the new story rest for a day or so, give it a good once

over, and probably pop it in the mail this week. After that, I’ll begin

writing something fresh. These first two have been reworks of old

stories I never finished. I lose confidence so easily that I almost

never finish anything, so I had to get these squared away before I

could move on, just to prove to myself I can actaully see a project

through.

From here on out, though, it’s uncharted territory. That’s a little

freaky, but the fear is balanced with excitement, and that’s fairly

encouraging. We’ll see if it lasts once that terrible blank page is

staring back at me sometime next week. For once, I think it will.