P&E Poll

I currently have 189 unread posts in my Google reader - I well and truly fell off the face of the writing world over the festive season. I'm back at the real job today and have a lot of work to get done during January, but my intention is to try and get a fair bit of writing related work done as well. We'll see...

Thanks to the heads up from Jodi Lee (and for the nomination from her for The Grass is Always Greener (best horror story) - thank you), on the P&E Reader's Poll 2009. I thought I'd go through and do some voting of my own.

Horror Novel
The Harrowing by Alexandra Sokoloff

Sci-Fi and Fantasy Novels
Jack of all Trades by K C Shaw

Young Adult
Jack of all Trades by K C Shaw

Horror Short Story
Fishballs & Mushrooms by Natalie L Sin (Tainted Anthology by Strange Publications)

Anthology
52 Stitches by Strange Publications

Magazine/e-zine editor
Jodi Lee

Print/electronic book publisher
Brimstone Press

Review Site
HorrorScope

Fiction magazine
Aurealis (lots of great mags to choose from - hard choice)

Writers' resource/information/news source
HorrorScope (especially Talie's news gathering efforts and the AHWA writer support stuff - the reviews are pretty good as well)

That's my votes and once I get home, I'll have a plethora of confirmation emails to click through so if you don't see my choices listed yet, that's why. Go here to enter yours.

Things to do...

I still have posts to write and lodge about the current phase in the Dark Pages antho. I want to story card Inner Voice (which I read through the other day - not bad). There's some areas/characters which need work. I have four shorts which need revising and resubmitting to new markets.

I have two shorts in various stages of being worked on which will, in all likelihood, crash and burn in the furnaces of incompleteness due to too much else to work on.

And the top priority of the moment is continuing to put together Dark Pages. I have comments back from my trusty minions about the short list. I'm about to reread all the short listed stories and make my final choices before we move into the copy editing phase - more on that soon.

So I hope Santa was kind to you and yours, and the New Year has started on the right foot (unless you're left footed and then I hope it's started on that foot). Here's to a great 2010!

Target Hit Patch Out

Earlier this year I named Necrotic Tissue and The New Bedlam Project as the two main markets I would be aiming at this year. I've not managed to crack NT...yet, but I'm happy to announce I've secured a spot in the town of New Bedlam - the lead off story no less!

Go take a look and let me know what you think.

Never Rains But It Pours

I should have stayed in bed catching little electric Pokemon instead of opening my email today.

Spoilt Rotten has gathered its second rejection. Need to find another target market.

AHWA competition results have been released and neither of my entries did any good. Now I need to find new targets for Digging Up The Past and God's Piscatorial Church.

I got my piece for The New Bedlam Project back from Pharo and it needs work, although The Great One does believe the story can work which is encouraging. I just need to fix a couple of things.

I need to finish revising Arcanum and send it out.

I need to send pieces off to Necrotic Tissue. Does 1 short and 1 100 worder count as multiple subs for this market? Nat? Cate? Anyone?

And lastly, I've had another story idea, but this time while I was wide awake - actually while I was out shopping with the better half. Not sure about the length of this thing yet, but the themes buzzing around my head are screaming for a proper manuscript. More thinking to be done and then some outlining, or maybe the other way round - quite excited over this one - again! What happened to concentrating on shorts for a while?

And lastly, I need to get a $@#$ load of reading done - 6 novel-length books in 5 weeks! Where the hell am I going to find the time to read my lovely copy of Necrotic Tissue which finally arrived in my letterbox. Oh, and thanks goes out to Jodi Lee. My copy of her and her daughter's chapbook arrived safe and sound. It's beautifully presented (handmade even) and full of interesting facts and fun activities. Head on over to her site and have a look. Very cool.

Being crook has placed me firmly behind the eight ball - time to get back in the saddle and get some work done.

Quiet Weekend

I'm blaming the cold for any real lack of forward momentum in my writing - as opposed to my just feeling somewhat slack and seriously lacking in any real inspiration (only half this sentence is true - guess which half! Hint: Take out everything between 'blaming' and the second instance of 'my').

I did manage to wrap up a draft of my New Bedlam submission. I'm now going to let this sit until I've read the next issue (due out the beginning of next month) before I decide on the next move. Jodi Lee, you'll be pleased to know it looks to be coming in within the short fiction guidelines. Working title "The Grass is Always Greener..." - yep, I'm a tease.

A side note. I have a requirement to write the whole name of the editor of The New Bedlam Project as my wife has the same name, with the same spelling. I know they both read the blog, so to save confusion, my wife is Jodi, and my friend is Jodi Lee.

Now, moving on...

I read and reviewed Jeremy C. Shipp's debut novel and now have his collection of short stories in my bag to do next. After reading Vacation, I had one major thought in mind - Ben should read this, so Benjamin Solah - go and buy this book. It's right up your alley.

And next...

Alan Baxter (author of RealmShift and MageSign), has posted an excellent bit of webtrickery (TM) about importing blog posts to other areas. I've managed to follow the first bit and reproduce this blog onto FaceBook so that space is no longer just sitting there doing nothing. Hopefully I'll be able to the same to other spaces currently acting as place holders for the Brenton Tomlinson or MusingsOfAnAussieWriter brands.

Lastly...

I received my final assignment back for Module 1: Write for TV and Film. In way of background for all of you coming late to this topic, and for my copious amount of new readers on FaceBook, I have just completed semester 1 for my second year in an Advanced Diploma of Art in Professional Writing. Each semester I am required to submit 8 assignments. So far this semester I have received the following grades: B, B, B, B, B, C, C - and the final grade - insert drum roll here - was another B! All together, this gives me a Credit for this module - which I think is pretty much the standard mark. It should be a pretty good mark (the levels being pass, Credit, Distinction), but it doesn't seem so, which is part of the reason I'm leaving. I won't open up that whole thing again - this post is probably long enough already.

So that was my weekend. I hope yours was filled with all sorts of awesomeness and sparkles (you have a lot to answer for Carrie).