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Posts tagged ‘writing’

Aug 30

End of August 2015 – Up for the Challenge

Here we are at the end of August. The second half of the month moved much slower for me. Only two rejections came in, but I have noticed that right at the end of the month/beginning of the new month is when a lot of notices are sent out. So over the next day or so I may hear from a few places.

Numbers for August:

Submissions: 12
Acceptances: 0
Rejections: 23

I think in the last post I counted a story twice, because all my stories are out now, but I still have one less than before. (That’s what I think happened, but not sure.) I don’t really do simultaneous submissions. Most places that I want don’t allow them, and I have gotten out of the habit. Maybe if I wrote more literary fiction I could do that, but the speculative fiction is a no go.

Anyway, there are now twelve unique stories out, and I hope to increase this over the next month. Last year, I did a personal challenge called “Short Story September.” I wanted to write a new story every week. This year, I’m going to bump it up and write one every day. No idea whether this is a good idea or not, but I want to break out of my rut. I’ve been working on this novella, but it is still unfinished. I like finishing stuff. Gives me a sense of accomplishment.

Some days I may write a flash piece and then get back to the novella. Others may be spent just on the new story. Either way, I’m going to get a few more new things written. Even if I don’t get thirty stories done, I’ll take any new stuff. My major clean out showed me a few pieces that I didn’t finish or only wrote the first paragraph. Because of school, I had to put a few things on the back burner and so now is the time to finish them up, while I’m still excited by them and want to finish.

The “wanting to finish” is important. Sometimes if the story is boring me, I know I shouldn’t continue to write it. If the enthusiasm is gone, I’m gone (and probably the reader too). Focus on the other that are still alive for me. Those are the ones I have to bring into the world.

Still continuing on my reading streak, although I only read four books this month (Gotta get back on track!). Next few months will have a flurry of new books coming out: Rushdie, Franzen, Galbraith (Rowling), Sanderson, Due, my favorite author Atwood, and quite a few more. So, lots to look forward to in the fall.

Aug 16

Mid-August Update 2015

Quite a first half for August. One of the places I sent a story to (way back in the winter) closed up shop and I didn’t notice until this month. Bummer, but the story went back out into the world and will hopefully find a good home. Also during the last update I mentioned there were a few that didn’t open until August 1. So three of those submissions happened quickly.

Ok. Let’s get to the numbers so far for this month.

Submission: 13
Acceptances: 0
Rejections: 21

August has been both busy and dull. I find moments of incredible productivity when I’m writing and submitting. Then, I can spend two or three days tinkering through a scene and putting down only a few hundred words. It has been a while since I wrote anything close to a long piece, so I both remember this feeling and marvel a the newness of it. I’m hoping to finish by the end of the month.

I also did a summer clean out of my workspace. After school was done, I noticed that my apartment was drowning in paper, revision notes, and info. I had to organize. A couple of good hours a day sorting, tossing, and filing paper work worked wonders for my sanity. I don’t feel so disorganized anymore. (I even have a dining room table again!)

So I am feeling quite productive this month and hope to continue this pattern.

Jul 31

July 2015 – Refreshed and Writing

We’re 2/3 of the way through summer and this month I feel as if I have really got back on track. Not only have I been working on my novella (I think it is a novella, but that could change.), but I also managed to mail out more submissions!

And I even wrote a new short story.

Yes, I know. In my last post I said I was going to ditch the short stories this summer, but there were a couple of places I wanted to submit to and their deadlines are September 1. So I took a couple of days off and pounded out a new story. There is one more I need to write, but I will do that this weekend. So those will be off and submitted next month and then I can really concentrate on this longer piece. Also, I have two other stories that are ready to be submitted, but the journals don’t open until August 1, so those pieces are not included in this update. Here is my total so far:

Submissions: 8

Acceptances: 0

Rejections: 12

Still woefully low, but hey, if I’m going to fail at this, I’m going to fail. After all, the goal is to get myself submitting, writing, and (hopefully) published.

Also, can I say how wonderful reading is now that I am not in school anymore? One of the downsides to grad school is that I never seemed to have time to read for pleasure during the semester. I was either reading books for class, reading short stories for class, or reading my classmates work. It was only in those brief weeks during break that I could read for fun. This year between January and May (when I graduated) I read 3 books for fun.

However in July, I read 5(!!). FIVE books that have been sitting forever waiting for me to read them. Oh people, it is so nice to get back into the swing of things with my reading. Maybe in December I’ll do an end of the year post on all the books I read. But here are a few more that I’m working my way towards:

Stone Mattress – Margaret Atwood

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms – NK Jemisin

The Corrections – Jonathan Franzen

The Diamond Age – Neal Stephenson

Yep, this was a good month all the way around. I hope your July went well too. See ya in August!

 

May 31

End of May 2015 — Back to the Real World

Ok, take two of this post. Don’t you just hate it when you write the whole thing, only to have the computer freak on you and then you lose all the writing???

Yeah, I hate it too.

It’s the end of May 2015 and the end of a busy month. It began with me graduating from school and getting my MA. After the celebrating died down, I’m back into the grind of everyday life before school. For the first time in three years, I actually have the summer off.

But it doesn’t feel like it.

I’m still writing, submitting, and trying to move my writing career forward. The high of graduating has worn off and now I’m back to the REAL work of a writer. The writing. Here’s where the challenge stands so far:

Submissions: 4
Acceptances: 0
Rejections: 18

I submitted everything from my thesis (complete stories – I had one that was an excerpt.) Plus one story is a hold over from December. One story came back a few weeks ago and I am debating where to send it next. I’m in the process of looking over all my work and evaluating which I should keep submitting.

The writing of new material is slow. Last year I was able to finish quite a few, but I don’t know… Now I feel stuck. I start a new piece, but then I just loose interest. Finishing has always been tough for me and usually I can power through. Not the case this month. Maybe I need to put this concern aside. Finishing is good, but lots of writer have more than one story going at the same time. The story will be done when it is good and ready. Better to look at the total numbers at the end of the year.

Yikes, we’re coming up on the mid-point of the year and my rejection numbers are tiny! You can see why this summer is going to be a busy one for me. I have a lot to catch up on. June will be over before I know it.

May 20

Small Update Because I’m Writing

This is just a quick post to say I know I skipped my mid-month update on the challenge. I dove right in to a new story and forgot to update. I haven’t had a chance to do much, but I did make a mistake last month. I still have two stories out at market, not one.

So everything hasn’t ground to a halt. By the end of May, there should me a nice healthy amount of stories out. Maybe even some more new material written. I haven’t forgotten that goal.

The funny thing is how some things have changed and some have stayed the same since I graduated. After years of writing on my lunch hour and after work, I realize I am not a morning writer. Those writers who get up at 4am to write? Yeah, I’m not one of them. My alarm goes off at six (on weekends I get up about 6:30 or so naturally) and I have no inclination to write. Instead I found out I like getting my workout in morning.

I’m an evening writer. At 7pm, I have no problem dashing off a few pages. Heck, I’m writing this post at night now. So far so good. I know I can’t do this schedule everyday. Even the best routines get disrupted for life event. But most days should follow this routine.

 

 

Mar 1

End of February 2015 Update & Trunked Stories

This post was supposed to go up yesterday, but I forgot. Nothing changed in February. No rejections came in, nor did I mail anything else out. I think the cold weather and the snow slowed everyone down. I know I feel like a slowpoke.

Rejections: 11
Acceptances: 0
Submissions: 8

One thing I didn’t mention last time concerned a flash fiction piece I have trunked. I like the story, but I have learned that even the mere mention of vampires (even if there isn’t a character in the story!) makes most editors roll their eyes. After getting comments about how they are sick of vampires (again just mentioned, not actually what the story was about or even an important plot point), I realized that this story needs to sit for a while. Too many other writers are sending these stories out, and I can’t expect my story to be treated any better.

It’s a hard thing to let a story go. I have a few that I wrote years ago, but I probably will never rewrite them. I want to work on projects that I am excited by and not cling to works that are flawed and might never been very good. Part of me used to believe that, given enough time, the story will work itself out. But I’m not so sure anymore. Sometimes, I think I just didn’t write a good story.

Yeah, sometimes I write bad stories.

For whatever reason, I needed to write it down. But I can’t treat every piece like a precious, unbreakable object. Sometimes I just write a story to see if I can write in a certain style or subject matter. The challenge interests me.

Now I realize, not all of those stories should be shared. Or maybe I shouldn’t try and sell them. I can always put them up on this site. The two stories up right now, I chose to share because I didn’t think I should sell them anywhere else. Comfort Zone has the main character die at the end and that is so overused, no one would want it. (Although I still like it and am quite proud.) Triton’s Fist was written for a contest and I didn’t like the idea of sending out such a specific story anywhere else. I’ve heard editors are annoyed when they get left over stories from contests. It was a short, creepy story I enjoyed, so up it when too.

I guess I am learning to let go. Not every story I write will be successful. The important point is that I keep writing, because I do have some stories that I think are very good. I realize not that I will never run out of ideas. In the past, I worried about this. But thanks to my challenge last year, I know this is not true. Just when I think I have run out, I get two more. (or more!)

“Art is never finished, only abandoned.”
–Leonardo da Vinci

Never did that quote ring more true than now. This story will be put aside with the others. Those stories that I find interesting, but I don’t want to put any more thought or energy into them. Maybe I wrote them just for fun, or maybe I thought it would turn into something more significant. All I know for sure – I am done (for now) and I have other work to do.

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