I tell myself that I have been generally useless for about a month. I haven’t written anything new and am determined to begin anew, but I have been active.
- I spruced up the middle of Alchemy. The freshly edited version of it went to and was passed on by Fantasy and Science Fiction, but they pass on almost everything they get in slush.
- It’s disturbing how many small problems I found when I closely edited it on paper before sending it. I don’t want to linger on stories I think of as “done”, but this did give me pause.
- I submitted it to the new, well-heeled site, Lightspeed. They have a very fast online submission and turnaround (and rejection) rate.
- I’m concerned that I sound like a broken record on the rejections and that I seem unhappy and that I expect only to be rejected. This is not the case. I’m a ‘new’ and unknown writer and I have written stories that are not terrible. I’ve been submitting them to the top magazines and websites in the genre. The stories are not over-the-top or earth-shattering and are more a result of me learning how to take innate story-telling and game-plotting/running and converting it to short fiction. It’s to be expected that the places that publish well-known authors are unlikely to to accept my stories. That’s okay. I understand how things work and I’ve learned the conventions of writing and submitting. I won’t always be rejected, but I know that I handle difficulty better when I do not ‘have my hopes up’.
- I’m very excited that one piece of flash fiction, Service, has been accepted at Hypersonic Tales, and I am anxious to see it online (hurry up guys!). Many writers never even get this far. And that was only three weeks ago.
- I’m keeping everything submitted, and this is one of the slowest parts of the year for magazines/websites – even slushpile readers need a holiday.
- I start back to work tomorrow. We are finally all healthy, for now, and I’ve got several things to work on: exercise, cooking, preparing new AP Economics lessons and renewing my US History stuff, working on the house, reading fiction and books on writing, assisting my wife as she goes back to school for another MA – this one in History/Education, easing out of both being my Educators Association President & coaching and, of course, writing. It’s so easy to let it get away from you.
- We’ll see if I can pick it up with a new year and new systems in place.