Having a bit of time management problems this last week. I have a number of projects, both personal and professional, and they were stepping on each others toes.

At work, I'm in the middle of trying to solve a problem for a demo on Monday but things keep breaking. And, the major project I just finished is getting back some bug reports. I hate that. I try really hard to write solid code, but apparently I missed three things when I refactored out a nasty snarl of code. Both of those were on the schedule though. I have another project that wasn't on the schedule but needs to be done by the 26th or 27th or I have to wait another year to try. Just a bit of pressure.

On the personal projects, I still have my serial but my buffer has finally run out and I'm writing week-to-week. And a 15k word commission has a deadline looming and I haven't really gotten too far into it. I keep having to rewrite the first thousand words because nothing felt... right.

I also am trying to figure out how to get interest in Casting Call. I'm doing something wrong, I know it, but I don't know what to do. One review, no comments, no questions. I think it was just lost under the overwhelming press of other things going out. I figured I'll fumble for a few more weeks on Call and work on getting BAM out the door. Maybe a full novel would attract more interest in either.

During my lunch breaks, besides a short 1-2 km walk, I'm editing Flight because I should be getting a response "soon." I'm getting a bit depressed by that, mainly because I keep thinking I have a great story, but I keep finding stupid little things I missed the last two years I've been working on this iteration. Flight isn't there yet. I haven't gotten it to the point where someone can't put it down or obsess about it. A quarter of my beta readers didn't even bother returning it and two won't answer my emails asking for a status (it has been six months) so I can only infer that it isn't there.

I'm still editing it, because there is a chance it is good enough for the Publisher Who Shall Not Be Named (PWSNBN) might like it. Plus, I need to clean up a couple references, a few rounds to edit some really minor things, and another attempt at killing a couple thousand words from the length.

According to PWSNBN's website, I'll get a response in 4-6 months. Since they should have gotten it January 15 or so, that means I'm looking for a response May 15 to July 15. That means I'm calling my mailbox place every few days, both terrified and anxious to get that letter. I'm afraid of succeeding just as much as rejection at this point. Editing helps with some of the anxiety and nervousness because I'm Doing Something™. It also helps (slightly) with the fear that I have ruined the one and only chance I have to get published by PWSNBN.