Props to Alison Gaylin for coming up with a name for this affliction. It works.

It's reared its head a couple of times over the last few months, while I revise my novel yet again. Is especially acute when I read about people I know whose novels or short stories are nominated for some award or, heck, published. I know the only way to do anything about it - at least in this case - is to get a few critiquers on board to work with me, and to keep working on myself. And yet: I totally…

I've struggled with a character in my novel for as many years as I've been writing it. It wasn't that I was trying to make him do something that went against what he wanted to do. I realized a long time ago that he was repressed.

Therefore, finding things out about him was always more like creating him from scratch, rather than his telling me as I went along (as the other two main characters did). Figuring out his motivations, weak points, etc. however? Not like pulling teeth - more…

I was trying to figure out why I write my novels from the cops' POV, and my short stories from the criminals'. I can only guess that a novel lets a mystery unfold - it takes time for cops to piece together the evidence enough to find the perp and make an arrest - whereas a short story is a good venue to show the rashness of most criminal acts: crimes not planned, but committed (or at least conceived) in the heat of a moment.

Anyone else notice this trend in their own, or…

I run the risk of sounding like a dork, but I think my favorite part of the recent BSSP was the sense of community. It is so easy to think in terms of writers who are on one side or the other of a published "wall," but what this project showed is that regardless of status, we all still love writing and reading - the pleasure of creating for others' eyes, and the pleasure of enjoying it.

Thanks again to those who commented on my story. And thanks to everyone who participated. I hadn't…