Howdy,
I hope this post finds you in good spirits, despite the global pandemic. The other day, my sanity took a blow. The governor of my fine state announced the schools are closed for in-person instruction for the academic year. School is going 100% online, or at least, as close to 100% as humanly possible. Luckily, we are not as bad off as some families, so providing food and a Chromebook with wi-fi connectivity are not hardships. My wife is an essential healthcare worker at a regional medical center, so this is an especially worrying time all the same.
Anyway, on the writing front, I am revisiting some past failures, trying to get them up to snuff for publication. I was able to brush up one story in short order, but I've been rewriting it on and off for several years, at least. I'm hopeful this time I'll have better luck than in the past. Maybe I will, and perhaps I won't, but the story is much better than it was. I beefed up the characterization considerably while streamlining the story. It's at least 100 words shorter than it was, which is impressive (to me anyway!) considering the amount of characterization I added.
The second story I'm working on is a bit of a beast. First off, it's way too long at over 9,000 words. I think it needs to be more in the 6,000 to 7,000-word range. Plus, most of the writing isn't that good. Some of it is OK, but the final result taken as a whole is, well, lacking. Bad, really. But the concept is solid, so I think this is the perfect time to resuscitate the tale.
As always, good luck in your writing endeavors, and for the duration of the pandemic, stay home as much as possible and while in public stay 6 feet apart.