Summer and Fall Plans

I've been in a slump since the great AWC pitch session. Depressed and unwilling to write or work on my novels. The only thing I have done is write a few poems. Yes, the agent pitch was disappointing. I came away with nothing. In both cases the agent got the wrong idea about my work and I couldn't alter their perception in the short time that I had. I felt like an incompetent poseur.

How to recover? My first idea was to let both novels rest and concentrate on short fiction - both short stories and poems. I sent out some more short stories, at least. But I didn't work on them or write any new ones. All I really did was dash off a few poems.

What should I be doing?

• I have a class coming up, a week long vacation/class at the Campbell Folk School. That's the first week of July. Surely this will kick me back into gear.
• There's a one day seminar with Brian Corrigan later in July with the AWC. Although I don't agree with everything that he says, I'm very impressed in him as a teacher. He has a lot of energy. It would be a good idea to attend this as well.
• The South Carolina Writer's Workshop is October 24-26. Should I go back this year and try another humiliating agent pitch? At least I was successful there last year - the agent actually requested my entire novel to read, although she later turned me down.

Option #1 - concentrate on short fiction until the folk school class, then concentrate on the novels in preparation for the SCWW.

Option #2 - Skip the SCWW this year and write a new novel in the fall. This would mean I would have two novels in the drawer (actually five novels in the drawer, but I don't count the first three.)

Option #3 - Do nothing. Give up, gain weight, watch TV, vegetate.

I don't guess I'll do option #3. That's not my style. It doesn't make me happy to do nothing. So I guess, for now, it will be option #1. I don't want to put these two novels in the drawer, since I am, usually, proud of them.

So the plan is to concentrate on the short fiction and poetry until the folk school. The short story "Broken Keys" will be the project for the folk school.

Only one problem with this strategy. Most of the literary journals are not accepting submissions in the summer, but that shouldn;t stop me from working on the short stories.