I have a Header...

Sorry to bombard you all with journals, but this time I'm up against a deadline.

EDIT: I've just got a reply from the Anthology team, and there is a limit on length- they say "3 to 4 pages of typed A4." It's never a good sign when you ask for a word limit and they say "oh...this many pages..." since, frankly, number of pages means virtually nothing (I ALWAYS abused that measurement in school by doubling all the spaces and using a ton of paragraphs). But still, it does give a rough idea of their limit and Immortal Eyes (my main choice so far) is at least twice that. They've said that I can submit a "selection" (which I assume is like an extract) or that I can submit the whole thing and they'll choose a selection themselves. I'd like to know if anybody has any ideas on if that would work and which bits I should use. I've finally gotten around to sorting out an Immortal Eyes folder in my gallery, so that should make it a little easier if you've got some time to spare. [link]

Also, without Immortal Eyes as a complete, main piece, I'm strongly considering Agoraphobia. [link] I've read over it again, and it's just about the right length- maybe a little over, but to be honest I could probably cut some bits completely.

My only other real option is to ask if I can count the parts of Immortal Eyes as multiple submissions. That's getting a little cheeky, but to be honest I'm not sure why I can't hand in one eight page piece if I could hand in four four page ones.

Anyway- still looking for advice on this, since you probably have a different idea of these pieces than I do. As hard as I try to write what I'm thinking, bits may get left out, or sound different to different people. For that reason, it's probably best if I'm not the only person considering these things.

(Testing out the Journal Skins- this fabulous one is by )

I've got the option of submitting some pieces to the university Anthology. I don't have much detail on the submission criteria yet. I think that I can give in up to four pieces of literature, but I'm having difficulty deciding which. I'd like to write something completely new for it, since I think I'm improving all the time, but I'll still probably go for some existing things, too.

Is there any of my writing that you think would be particularly good? The ones that spring to mind for me are:

Immortal Eyes
Possibly my best written piece so far, but there are two problems. I originally wrote it as sort of a serial, and I'd probably have to condense it down into a single short story. I don't know how well that would work. The other problem is that (I'd rather not give spoilers here) it's pretty sad. People seemed very shocked by it. Then again, it might be evened out a little if it was read all in one go.

Agoraphobia
Same problem with it starting off as a sort-of-serial. I think it might condense better than Immortal Eyes, but it's still a concern. Also, it's largely concerned with riots, mass murder and the death of humankind. All in all, it's really dark compared to my usual- to the extent that I don't think I've ever shown it to anybody who knows me in person. On the other hand, if I'm unwilling to put my name to it, then it's probably memorable at least.

Claustrophobia
I think this would work fairly well. If I have a 'style,' I think this one is fairly typical of it. I'll probably submit it as one of my pieces, but it's a little (not wanting to seem fussy here, but...) light-hearted. I'd like to have something serious to show.

My Old Room Was... (My Vegetable Love)
MAKES NO SENSE. Also includes a man-plant relationship, which is apparently frowned upon by some.

Lost Contact
Would need quite a bit of work, if not total re-writing to bring it up to scratch. Plus, I've been pushing this one quite a lot- it's had a good run, and I think it might be time to 'retire' it.

The Last Mouse on Earth
It's very short. Also maybe a bit too surreal, but on the other hand I'm sure some arty-types would love that.

The Carrion Prince
'Meh' sums it up nicely. I quite like this one, but it seems fairly pedestrian. Probably a good candidate, but it might be better to go with something 'stronger.'

Q and A
Probably not a bad choice, but I wrote it a long time ago. I'd probably have to give it a quick go-over to make sure it's at its best.

Memories
Originally written for a contest, so feels just a little forced. I'd only really include this if it turns out that people are totally in love with it. There are elements of it I like, but it's overall pretty unclear.

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Sorry that I haven't linked to these, but it's late, I've just had to cite a bunch of websites for an essay (which makes clicking and linking kind of a chore right now) and just searching the titles in my gallery should bring them up if you feel like having a look.

If you're particularly fond of any of these, or if you've got any suggestions about how I might condense down the serials, that would be great. I could really, really use some help on this- I'll probably even pester the other people in my hall about it sometime.

...and a footer! Bye, now!