One More Day

Last day, Capricorn fifteens, year of the city 2274.

I'm not going to be blown up tomorrow (at least, I hope not), but that line from Logan's Run keeps going through my head.

I've got all my words in order. I read over them every time I sit down. I think, without actually hiring a professional (professional what I couldn't tell you), I'm as ready as I'm going to be.

I comfort myself with the thought that I have as much chance as anyone else (like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). Since the judges are the audience themselves, this is a relatively cheap way to find out if anyone would read Star of Justice based entirely on a 20-word premise.

I find myself impatient to be done. If I'm rejected, let it be quickly. If I'm accepted...ooooh, there's the nausea.

I'm tempted to submit today. I don't see any great flashes of inspiration coming in the next 24 hours, but you never know. Murphy's Law tells me five minutes after I submit, I'll have the best idea ever for how to arrange things. Nothing I can do about Murphy.

I haven't treated this like a high school paper. You know, the putting off and putting off until the very last night when you scramble until 2 AM to throw something together? Maybe some of you didn't do that.

I learned in college that procrastination doesn't really help anything. I've treated this contest, and the submission process prior to this contest, like something I wanted to do, something important and life-changing. Maybe because it could be.

I'll wait one more day. I'm almost half-way through the editing process for the manuscript. Keli Gwyn calls it polishing (she's one of the bloggers I follow). That's as good a descriptor as any. I can't believe it's taking me so long. It's not like I'm rewriting anything. Mostly, I'm inserting reasonable chapter breaks. Of course, it might be faster if I didn't have a cat in my lap and one on the computer desk with his tail in the way, but maybe not. At this rate, I'll have Star of Justice polished on schedule by Nov 1, which meets both my original deadline and should have it ready in case I go to the next level in the contest. That's when I'll blow up.

Last day, Scorpio twenty-fours...