Progress Report

"The new phonebook's here! The new phonebook's here! I'm a somebody now!" If you haven't seen The Jerk with Steve Martin, you must watch it. I'm saying my published short story has come to me in book form! It is on my shelf now! It does exist! As you might imagine, I'm pretty stoked to touch it. And it looks legit! Very well done. I'm impressed. Hopefully the paper version will become available again, if not, some time this year it will be on Amazon for digital purchase. I'll let you know. Today I pumped out 3 pages on my new short story, "Untitled," as I call it (working title). It reads pretty good. I've got to figure out what happens next, but it is a good handshake for the reader to this world. I've officially given up waiting for a certain magazine publisher to get back to me on "Otherworldly." When I first submitted it, I realized afterwards that I had submitted too early for their scifi theme, so I expected a ...

A pretty quiet day on the writing front today. There are a few updates to drop on ya, though. The editor of Big Smoke Pulp, Vol. 2 got back to my inquiry to let me know that the print copies are indeed on their way! In fact, the next comment on the Kickstarter a few days later was from a supporter who had received his book. I may be only days away from updating my bookshelf! Adriano also confirmed that the story will be available for purchase on Amazon after the Kickstarter is fulfilled. From The Submission Grinder (submission logging and tracking website), I've learned that form rejections are still being doled out from the last place I sent "Paradise Burned." Their average rejection timeline is about 31 days, while their average acceptance timeline is 45 days. "Paradise Burned" is on day 52. So where does that leave me? You would think I would be excited about this potential sale, but I've been fooled before. They could just be behind. Like I've said ...

Yay! Submitting day! It always feels good to submit. Nothing but possibilities when you first send a manuscript to a publisher. I actually feel a renewed sense of elation on submitting now that I've experienced a small amount of moderate success. I just need that feeling of acceptance again. I combed through "Paradise Burned" once more to make sure it reads properly. And I think it does. The last magazine I sent it to is apparently notorious for not sending a response to submission. A rejection is just an ignore to them sometimes, I guess. I think that's plain rude. Send me a form letter. I don't need anything fancy, but I do need something. Anyway, I sent it off to OnSpec . I also added a few things to make "Thieves of Chikara" read better. Little tweaks here and there that occurred to me throughout the week to make it more vivid. It reads so well that I couldn't help myself--I sent it out! I gave it to Writers of the Future contest in hopes of at ...

Last Sunday, I finished off the last of the editing for Star Treasure . It felt really good to get that done. I thought there was more action in those last few chapters, but there seemed to be a good dose of exposition instead. I still like how it played out, though. I think it would be good to give it another read, but I just can't with the editing right now. My back-to-back editing of my novels took almost a year. Need a breather. Also on Sunday, I felt like the finish line was so close, I couldn't just stop. So, I tweaked my ST pitch and my synopsis. Having them already written, it didn't take much to get them in good form. I added a little here and there, changed this, that, and the other thing, did some pruning to 500, and blamo! Reads great. I opened today with another polish on "Paradise Burned." It reads better now (again), and OnSpec will see it when rejection #18 comes to me from Wyldblood Magazine. There's some great language in there, so I really h...

Well, I would say I definitely made a dent in the Star Treasure edit today! I've only got about ten pages left, but my brain has turned to mush. I don't think I can wait until next weekend, though, so I will wrap it up tomorrow. Then, next weekend will be the synopsis and query polishing day. The weekend after will be my new short story's polish and maybe I will send Star Treasure out for the first time! "Paradise Burned" saw another rejection yesterday and will probably see another one within the next ten days. No matter, though, it is not the version I have a renewed confidence in. The tweaking I did to it recently will be seen by good ol' OnSpec . OnSpec was a local magazine which died late last year after a 40 year lifespan. They have now decided to do a Kickstarter, a la Big Smoke Pulp, and create one big collection for this year. I've been submitting to those guys for ages. Maybe their death will be my birth, and give me my second publication! Fi...