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Posts tagged ‘writing’

Nov 30

Update End of November 2015

November was a big, busy month. I hope everyone had a good holiday (if you’re in the USA, of course). And I hope everyone hit their #NaNoMo goals. I tried one time a few years ago and realized it was just not for me. I like setting my own pace and I mostly write short stories. I do like to cheer people on though. Everyone should at least try creative writing.

Good for the soul, I think.

I can’t believe I’m almost at the end of the year. I don’t think too many rejections are going to come in so these numbers may not change. Still it’s been a good year. Here’s where things stand:

Rejections: 35
Acceptances:1
Submissions: 6

One market will open on Dec. 1, so I will be sending a story there, but other than that, I have no other plans to submit. I’ll keep an eye out for other places, but for now I should focus on other projects like my novella.

I still work a day job and finishing this novella is my number one priority. I really don’t know how close I am to finishing. I took a break a few weeks back and now getting back to it feels like a new book. I’m resisting the urge to go back a rewrite the beginning. I need to finish, then I can change whatever I want.

Also this week there will be series of blog posts from other Dear Robot contributors. Check my Twitter Feed for other stories. I’m going to retweet all I see. The blog posts are designed to tell what inspired the story in the anthology. So check back here on Friday for my behind the scenes story of “#iamhuman”. For anyone who ever wondered where I get my story ideas, this will be a nice peek into my story brain. (This is different from my everyday brain, which tends to be practical and sensible.)

To read the editor’s story please go here. Also there is a Goodreads giveaway until Dec. 10th, so be sure to check out Kelly’s post for info.
See you again on Friday. Happy December and Happy Writing!

 

Oct 31

Update – End of October 2015

Not much new on the submission front. A couple more rejections came in the last few days, including my first from The New Yorker. Very cool, right? Here is the update:

Submissions: 7
Acceptances: 1
Rejections: 32

I am falling behind on my submissions. I haven’t had a chance to send out the stories that have come back. Need to do that soon. But it looks like I may hit 40 by Dec. 31, so that’s pretty good. I knew I wouldn’t come anywhere close to 100 for the year, but hey, if you’re going to aim – aim high.

One thing that concerns me is that we are moving into the holidays. It’s that time of year when everyone is taking vacation. Things tend to slow down and some publications aren’t open to submissions.

Also, me the writer needs to take a much deserved break too. Always take time to be with your loved ones. You never know how many times you’ll get to be with them.

So now is the time of hibernation for a lot of publications. Ah well, I can be patient and wait for the right place for my stories. I’m not a big fan of sending stories to anyone or anywhere. I am much more precise with my submissions. I don’t want to waste the editors time or my own sending something inappropriate. Why would that work? I don’t think it would and I think it makes you look unprofessional. (Just my opinion, of course.)

Good luck to those that are dong NaNoWrimo this year. I thought about it, but since I am already deep into my novella, I decided not to go for it. I’d rather finish the projects I’m already working on. They should have a month dedicated to that. A month for finishing stories, but I guess you’re supposed to do that every month anyways.

Anyway, happy writing!

Oct 20

Creativity, Publishing, and Turning My Hair Blue

A few weeks ago, I had a snafu with my hair. Every 4-6 weeks I color it to cover the white(I don’t go gray. I go white.) and this time I picked a shade that ended up turning my hair blue. I thought it would be that dark, inky black that had a blue sheen. But that only works if your hair is black to begin with. If you are looking to cover a lighter shade than black, well, it turns your hair blue. I realized about halfway through putting the color on, but what was I going to do? My hair turned out okay. And the color is not too obvious. Frankly, I kinda like it. It’s a nice change from my typical dark brown/soft black shade. It’s already growing out a little and in a few weeks it will get covered up with the new color.

So sometimes a big mistake can end up being a nice change of pace. Sometimes it’s good to shake up your routine. Try something different and learn something new. Lately I’ve been watching some Youtube videos on creativity and entrepreneurship. That’s the new thing now, being creative and having business smarts. I’ll admit that learning about the publishing business is a bit boring at times, but I find myself getting more comfortable to more I watch. There is a lot of good info out there and I am grateful to the people that give it away for free.

In grad school, this was almost never mentioned. Not until the my last class, and even then it was near impossible to touch on everything. And I get it, most of my time needed to be spent learning my craft. That is important. After all, if you can’t write publishable material, you don’t need to worry about the business.

But what happens after that point. Maybe that is why so many people quit writing a year or so after they graduate. The business is too overwhelming? Or maybe they just don’t want to deal with it.

I don’t know…

It helps that a know a few who graduated before me that are continuing to write, submit, and get published. It helps that I still want to write, submit, and get published. I don’t feel burnt out, nor do I feel overwhelmed by the business aspect of publishing. Plenty of people are doing it. I heard someone say that publishing is simple, but not easy. Very true.

What else? We had our first really cold night and that means it’s time to break out the winter teas! Yum! Fuel for the early morning (or late night) writing.

Mmmm...

Mmmm…

Sep 30

End of September 2015 – Accepted!

Well I guess when you put it out into the world, you get your answers.

Submissions: 11
Acceptances: 1
Rejections: 24

Yep, I got an acceptance e-mail for one of my stories. I’m excited to see it in print. I’m not going to give any details now, because I think it is better to announce when people have a book or a link to follow. Me announcing it doesn’t have any benefit to you or me. So, stay tuned. As soon as there is something to see, I’ll let you know.

As for my other challenge – I failed. No sugar coating this one. I didn’t get thirty stories. Honestly, I am surprised I got into the double digits. Thirteen was the grand total.

Hey, it’s thirteen more than I had at the beginning of the month.

Since my goal at the beginning of the year was to write two stories a month, for a grand total of twenty-four for the year, I think I have made good progress so far. I have one more quarter of the year to go. To tally up where I am at with my goals from the beginning of the year:
I have 14 stories completed this year (I wrote one earlier in the year.)
I started my novella.
I have 24 out of 100 rejections.
I haven’t designed a cover or tried to self-pub anything.

That last goal is something I’ve been thinking about over the last few weeks. I had forgotten all about it, but now that I have quite a few stories, my thinking wheels are turning. Not going to say too much, because I haven’t thought it all the way through. I’m still putting a plan together.

Over all, I think I’ve done pretty well for the three fourths of the year. I sometimes forget that for the first four and a half months of it, I had thesis class and finished out my degree. So really, I didn’t get things moving until June or so. And in June, I went on vacation and generally took a brain break to recharge.

That means July, August, and September were months that I was really trying. Where I was really focused.

Not too bad.

My plan for this last quarter is very simple. Finish, finish, finish. Submit, submit, submit. Repeat.

As Jack Sparrow said, “Simple. Easy to remember.”

Sep 15

3 Comments

Mid-September Post 2015 – Two Challenges at Once!

Mid month update. No movement on the submissions, except I got one more rejection. But, I mailed that story right back out. The rest are still out in the world.

Here’s the numbers:

Submissions: 12
Acceptances: 0
Rejections: 24

We are ¾ of the way through the year, so I’m sure I’m not going to get a hundred rejections, but maybe I’ll get 30 or 40? Maybe I’ll get at least one acceptance? One can hope.

My other challenge isn’t going so well. I started off strong, but somewhere around September 10, I fell behind. It’s not the writing that is hard, it’s the finishing. So now I have two unfinished stories sitting on my table. I opted to keep working on those rather than start yet another story. I suppose I could write a couple of flash fiction under five hundred words to catch up, but I’d rather finish up these two stories that I really like and am excited about.

What ever happens I’m glad I decided to do this. Like I said in my earlier post, there is something satisfying about finishing. I will have more new stories and I can submit those and add them to my challenge.

I would count the stories, but it’s getting late. I think I have 12(?) right now. Not too bad. Just a few stories behind.

A nice break from the longer story. In October, I will get back to that.

Sep 5

Changes that Add Up

Five days in to this challenge and I’m realizing how good of an idea this is. There is something satisfying about finishing a story and starting fresh. I’ve always liked that feeling. It’s always hard to finish, especially when you have such a long way to go in longer pieces, but the beauty of this challenge is that everyday I get to start fresh. The other story is done and now I have something new to look forward too.

So far I have finished 4 this month. Right now I decided to take a break and write this post before I finish the rest of story #5. It’s a longer short story that I saved especially for the weekend. Weeknights, after a long day at work, I don’t have the patience for a story over 3K. But on the weekends, I can space it out over the day. Some in the morning. Go out and run a few errands. Come home and write more. Do laundry. Write more. Write the blog post. Etc.

I can’t say all these stories will be good. But some will. Some will be fun and interesting. But I will have a lot. I will practice my craft. Create, create, create. I get that now. I understand that my stories will not be produced in a rush of brilliance. They will be mined after millions of words written. They will grow from the millions of stories I write.

I read a couple of interesting articles this week. (I’ll link them below.) One was about what I’ve already talked about with writing and practicing your craft (Rusch). She writes it much better than me, so I won’t summarize. But the other story I read this morning really hit home with me.

A British cyclist team decided to improve everything in their lives by 1%. Not only did they start winning, but they did it, not with radical changes, but small ones that added up over time. For me, it just hammers home the idea that small changes add up over time. Sort of like the old saying, if you write a page a day, you will have a novel by the end of the year.

I may not be able to write a story everyday for the rest of my life. Illness, travel, family issues, or just life in general will come along and throw off my schedule. But that one percent improvement, that will move me forward. That change will add up.

Business Musing Column by Kristine Kathryn Rusch= A great column I discovered a few months ago.
Productivity Article in the Entrepreneur

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