Trade offs

Another short story due tomorrow and I’m worried I’m not going to finish in time. I’m working on a story I’ve had kicking around in my head for some time now, about a wolf who befriends a boy who’s being picked on by the boys in his village. Unfortunately, it’s got a relatively complex plot and, though I think I’ll get the first draft finished by tomorrow, I won’t be able to fit in as many edits and rewrites as I’d like. It’s particularly important for this one, as there needs to be a few Chekhov’s guns inserted and the writing polished to really tighten up the emotional impact of the story.
Which leaves me with a quandary – do I post a story I’m not happy with in order to meet the deadline, do I quickly knock together something from scratch (high risk), or do I brush off something I already have prepared and post that instead.
Obviously, my main aim is to finish the story, but assuming I don’t I’ve got a few options. I could post one of my old children’s picture book texts, which I like but judging from the complete lack of response to Little Green Butterfly I may be the only one. I have a 6000 word urban fantasy story that I could polish up and post – but rereading it there’s too much exposition and the plot is too contrived. I’ve got a murder story I’m quite proud of but I’m saving that for publishing in an anthology with my writing group. Or I could just take one of the 20 minute writing exercises from the writing group and publish it as filler.
As I say, trade-offs. The main thing I’m worried about is putting people off with either a naff story, or one that’s in a completely different genre to the last one they enjoyed. I have until tomorrow night to decide.