Author Archives: admin

Goals for the Week Ending 02-16-14

Posted on by
Reply

Starting today, every Monday there will be a post of my goals for the current week. This will include writing goals as well as reading goals. Reading is as important to a writer as writing, for both are learning experiences that help us to grow in our craft.

Or, so I like to think. Anyway, on to the goals!

Writing Goals (Any titles listed are working titles):

  • Write “Fallout Ariel”, a flash fiction story of a technical diver meeting a mermaid at the outset of nuclear war. (1,000 words or less)
  • Write a flash fiction piece for the Kazka 713 “Journeys” flash fiction contest. (1,000 words or less)
  • Write “Songs of Fate”, a fantasy short story for Crossed Genres‘ “music” theme. (4,000 words or less)
  • Write “What Use, This Strength?”, a short story for Penumbra‘s “superhero” theme. (3,500 words or less)
  • Write “Interstellar Explorers”, a science fiction short story about human prospectors discovering – and dealing with – a pre-spaceflight alien race that is very warlike and will be a threat if they do reach the stars. (6,000 words or less)
  • Write outline for the second draft of “Into the Wastes”, a fantasy novel about a company of crusaders sent into their kingdom’s northern hinterlands to deal with one threat, only to discover multiple threats.

Reading Goals:

  • Read each of the five stories that Daily Science Fiction puts out this week.  It’s free to subscribe, so I highly recommend it.  They put out many wonderful stories of varying sizes, shapes, and stripes.
  • Re-read my notes for “The Wastes” and lay the groundwork for a second draft.
  • Re-read portions of Elizabeth Haydon’s Symphony of Ages series, mostly for how she incorporates music into her writing.  This will be important for my own musically-themed stories.  Plus, it’s a good series!

Submission Sunday – Week Ending 02-09-14

Posted on by
Reply

Well, this past week hasn’t been very productive in terms of new writing. I’ve been working on some concepts, but no rough drafts have been written at all. This was a combination of work interference, snow interference, automobile interference, and general laziness. I have a bad habit of tacking one big thing and then being done for the day.

Anyway, today I spent a lot of time getting a bunch of stories resubmitted. Here we go:

Summary: 0 New, 9 Resubmissions

Resubmissions:

“False Light” resubmitted to Daily Science Fiction.

“Flickering Freedom” resubmitted to Flash Fiction Online.

“Sand” resubmitted to The Dark Magazine.

“Familial Obligation” resubmitted to Apex.

“A Necessary Sacrifice” resubmitted to Asimov’s.

“Water Cursed, Earth Atoned” resubmitted to Lightspeed.

“Subroutine” resubmitted to LORE.

“Beneficent” resubmitted to the Intergalactic Medicine Show.

“An Unquiet Peace” resubmitted to BuzzyMag.

Submission Sunday – Week Ending 02/02/14

Posted on by
Reply

Starting today and continuing each Sunday I will post a list of submissions completed for the previous week.  This will serve as a form of accountability for me, as when weeks go by where I submit nothing (Either new or resubmissions) I can now be publicly shamed over it!  Even with writing happening, if nothing is getting submitted it can’t be considered a productive week.  From a short story standpoint, anyway.

So, without further ado, here are my submissions for the week:

Summary: 4 New, 0 Resubmissions

New Submissions:

January 29th, “Starting from Zeroth” submitted to Penumbra Magazine.

January 31st, “Supply Chain Management” submitted to Crossed Genres.

January 31st, “False Light” submitted to On the Premises.

February 1st, “Paper Planet” submitted to Unlikely Story.

“Lost in the Mail” Deemed Acceptable

Posted on by
Reply

The fantasy short story “Lost in the Mail” has been deemed acceptable for printing in the Third Flatiron Publishing March 2014 issue.  The theme is anything involving “Astronomical Odds” and “Lost in the Mail” fit the bill, apparently.

It’s a short story about a summoner who is at risk of losing his license to practice and his new workshop due to some mail of his becoming lost in transit.  For anyone who’s ever had issues with the post office or any bureaucracy, this is for you!  It is based on a true story, minus the involvement of magic.

“Second Thanksgiving” Rewrite Request

Posted on by

A few months ago I sent a flash fiction piece called “Second Thanksgiving” to Anassa Publications for their “Existence on Mars” anthology (Photo below taken from their site, done by MK).  It was basically a retelling of the First Thanksgiving where the Pilgrims and the American Indians met and found a way to coexist, at least for a time, but the native Martians are not what you expect…

Anyway, I just heard back today that they want the story to be rewritten, but that they will otherwise accept it.  This is an interesting challenge, as I’ve never been asked to rewrite something before.  Minor edits, yes, but major scene changes?  I’ve got to get to work on this, but it could be fun!

Photo by MK (solely for inspiration)

“The Littlest of Sparrows” is Deemed… Honorable?

Posted on by

IFWA

My science fiction short story “The Littlest of Sparrows” won itself a place in the 2013 “In Places Between” Contest hosted by the Imaginative Fiction Writers Association (IFWA).  There were more than a hundred submissions and, in the end, a total of eight winners.  The story ranked as one of the five Honorable Mentions, which is a great accomplishment for the tale.

Thank you very much, IFWA!

 

Short Story Rough Drafts

Posted on by

All right, as of 07/15 I have finished six short story rough drafts.  That is since July 4th, so on that is roughly a short story every two days.

These short stories range anywhere from 1,000 – 4,000 words each, and they are all very, very rough.  I intend to revise them beginning tonight with the first entry for the NeaDNAthal anthology.  They’re allowing for two entries to that, so I will see if I can get another one out.  The first is a futuristic sci-fi tale, but I think the next one (If there is one) will be back in the past.  A steampunk tale, maybe.

Here are the working titles for the six rough drafts and where they are bound for:

“Subroutine” – Penumbra‘s Hitchcock theme.

“For All Mankind” – Wily Writers‘ Military theme.

“A Well-Ordered Garden” – Wily Writers‘ catch-all speculative theme.

“The Future in the Past” – NeaDNAthal anthology, entry number one.

“The Re-Gift of the Magi” – Crossed Genres‘ “Gift” theme.

“Enough” – Not sure where this is going just yet.  Happened to just spit it out one morning, so it needs a lot of refinement.

July 2013 Goal Progression

Posted on by

So far, the rough drafts of three short stories have been finished.  Also, between the two novel ideas I was floating around I’ve settled on the older one of the two.  The world is a little bit more established and should give me plenty to work with as I try to speed through the rough draft process.

Things have been off to a bit of a rocky start this month, but we are picking up steam.

I will also need to make time to re-submit some tales (Such as “Code Amaranth”) to new markets.  For most of my tales (With the exception of “A Tuberous Anomaly” and “The Little Red Survivalist”) it is a long journey down Rejection Alley before arriving at the Hall of Acceptability.

“Code Amaranth” Rejected in Final Selection

Posted on by

Back in April I submitted a short story titled “Code Amaranth” to the Future Embodied Anthology.  There were around 250 submissions total and the story made it to the final round of selection before being dropped.

While disappointing, it is heartening to know that the story did so well given the quantity of tales it was up against.  Here’s hoping it finds a home elsewhere!

July 2013 Goals

Posted on by

It had been my intent to write a “June 2013 Goals” post, but some issues came up that prevented much writing (Read: no writing) during June.  It was completely my fault, as there was certainly time to write.

Novel Writing

Well, July 2013 begins with an added note of urgency.  I’ve had a novel idea I’ve been mentally tossing around for quite some time, and some of it has already been put to paper.  I wanted to start writing the rough draft in July with the idea of being done with it in September.  The end date in September is still there, but there is now less time between now and then to get the draft done.  Pressure can be a good thing, so here’s my goal for the month:

Week 1: Go back over my old notes and writings, including a short story set in the same universe.  Come up with a solid structure for the story, and a basic (if not detailed) outline.

Weeks 2-4: Begin writing the rough draft.  1,000 words per day is the goal, so over 21 days we should have approximately 20-25% of the story written.

I would push for a more ambitious writing goal, but I need to save room for short story writing, which will allow my brain to roam in random directions as it is wont to do.  It will also allow for more chances at publication, either in magazines or in anthologies.

Short Story Writing

My writing goal for short stories is the same as the novel writing: 1,000 words per day, so by the end of this month there should be around 31,000 words of short stories under my belt.  Will it be as exact as that?  Probably not.  But, I’ll do my best to make that happen.  At an average of 3,000 words per story that could be as many as 10.

There are some upcoming theme and anthology deadlines that look interesting, including (In no certain order):

Tell Me a Fable – A Grimm Retelling

NeaDNathal – Another Fringeworks anthology, this one about Neaderthals having to be resurrected for some reason.

Wily Writers – They have three themes with a July 31 deadline, and they all look interesting: Military, Psychological Horror, and Speculative Fiction (A catch-all?).

Penumbra – Each month they have an interesting theme.  Last month was the Fae (Elves, faerie-folk, pixies, etc), next month is Gaslight Fantasy, and this month is Alfred Hitchcock.  Not sure what I could do for a Hitchcock-style story, but maybe I can come up with something.

There are also a few flash fiction ideas I’m tinkering with, so hopefully I can get those out in-between these deadline tales.