Swirls

Last night I finished my revision of Swirls In Obsidian. It has been renamed Arcanum due to all the changes which have been made and sent out to my wonderful group of beta readers.

I did this while rebuilding my oldest daughters laptop and while continuing to wait on tender hooks for any word from the editor I'm currently working with.

Alas, the laptop is rebuilt, the revision is complete, I even managed to get halfway through NT # issue 6, but still nothing from the editor. I don't blame her for it or hold any grudges. I'm sure she has more than just little old me to work with in getting this book together to the extremely high standards this particular publication is known for.

Tonight I have more real work to do. Sunday I will be once more at my day job doing overtime. Sunday night I'll be putting together my last assignment for submission sometime during the coming week. I must also finish reading NT6 and read New Bedlam 1 before the weekend is done so I can make a dent in my review work.

You just know my slush reading for this month will arrive in my inbox any day now...

As for the previous discussion on writing courses. I am in no way saying people shouldn't do it. I am suggesting there may be better ways to achieve the same results, but courses do provide the structure some people need, and they definitely provide the much needed piece of paper to allow one to move into some writing professions. I suggest that if you are going to do a writing course, you first look at doing a short English grammar course to get the basics right (unlike me), and then research any long time course carefully. Ask around, post a question, be sure. Know what you want out of it and ensure that is the minimum you attain.

And good luck.

Something A Little Murky

Over on 52 Stitches you can now read my little flash piece titled Murky Depths.

I know I'm going to get hauled over the coals for it so I'll be up front. Until I reread it just now, I didn't notice the speech tags being the wrong way round. That is to say, instead of it being 'he said', I managed to let slip through many instances of 'said he'.

It's one of those rules I know, but old habits die hard and sometimes I slip. I'm human.

I hope you enjoy the story.

As for this weekend:

Today I got called into work and I need to pop back in there tomorrow which will be nice when the pay packet comes in but shoots my schedule full of holes.

I did manage to get some editing work done on Swirls In Obsidian, which now needs a new title because it's moved a long way away from what it once was. And I'm about to complete my reading of Atrum Tempestas and then write the review, so the weekend isn't a total bust.

Hopefully I'll have some awesome news about an acceptance sometime over the next 24 hours. Fingers crossed.

Everyone think happy thoughts and I'll continue to do the same for you. With a little help from each other, I know we can fly.

Ouch

I just this moment received a rejection back from the general submission slush pile for the Dark Glass anthology which makes me think it'll have no hope in the competition side of things either.

It was quite unapologetic in it's efforts to call my story crap. Taking a line from the middle of the rejection letter - "There's nothing really new here, and the characters seem thin." - left me wondering if I can actually write.

This story has passed through a number of beta readers, and others, and has attracted better feedback with each revision cycle - and yet now it has been broadsided with labels of 'standard' and 'better avoided'. (Actual words used in the rejection letter)

I haven't done a lot of writing over the last couple of weeks: less than 2000 words on AKL and one short at 3600. Add in a couple of assignments and I get a total of around 7-8K in two weeks. I've done a bit of reading but in general, I seem to be winding down.

Now this could be due to the fast approaching holiday period. I have two days of work left, and then 12 days of relaxation. First family holiday where we are going away for a long, long time. I'm seriously looking forward to it.

Or it could be because in the last few days, I've had rejections on a couple of pieces I thought were good, or at least some of the better stuff I'd written so far. The insecure writer in me has taken this pretty badly. I understand that and intend to simply keep trying, but I am worried that a lot of my work seems to come back from paying markets with comments seriously down-playing my ability to form all the components of a good story.

Am I just a cliche writer? Can I not come up with something new, or at least something with a big enough twist on it that someone would want to pay me for it?

I have these doubts, and then I read some of the crap that is being published and writers are getting paid for, and I go into this spiral of envy and whining bullshit which disgusts me, and makes me feel somewhat worse than a gynaecologist who misses the mark by just that much. (Sorry, I watched Knocked Up last night - funny.)

I guess this is all part of the learning process, and the heavy payment of dues we all must put into the coffers at some point. Personally - I think it blows the big one.

Now I wait in expectation for another hammer blow from the Devil's Food antho, and then Apex can drive in the final nail by rejecting the previously short listed Dreaming with a "sorry, what were we thinking" type of rejection.

Sorry - just venting.

I'm revising a couple of stories at the moment. I'll wait until I have confirmation from the PARSEC contest before I do anything with Swirls. I still have some market work to do for AHWA which I'm hoping to get onto today.

As for the next week or so: I'll post a couple more times over the next day or two and then I'll be slipping off the radar until after Easter - or there abouts. So have a great and safe Easter. Drive carefully, and best of luck on your egg hunt.

And I wish you all the very best with your Easter writing endeavours.

Submissions

Today I decided to lay off Newland and clear the other projects I'm working on. Result:

Swirls In Obsidian has been submitted to PARSEC Science Fiction & Fantasy Short Story Contest 2009.

Digging Up The Past has been submitted to The Devil's Food Anthology.

Dreaming is being furiously worked on with the intent of submitting it ASAP to The Blackness Within Anthology. (Update - subs don't open till March so I'm just trying to finish it now. It can sit quietly in the back ground until the end of the week.)

I really like the first, I'm happy, but have doubts about the second, and I'm just not sure I can pull the last one together.

With these out of the way, I can concentrate solely on my assignments and Newland.

I currently have 8 pieces out in the wild for consideration. All are paying markets so competition will be high.

Out of the 8, I need to send queries to four of the publications. They are all approaching six months overdue the expected query response date. Two I've queried before and received a 'still under consideration' reply, but it's getting a little long in the tooth now.

Time to shake things up.

PARSEC 2009

If you are not yet aware, The 2009 PARSEC Short Story Contest is on again. Entries need to be submitted by April 15th with winners announced somewhere between the end of May and the 15th of June.

First prize is $200US and publication in the Confluence 2009 program book and in the annual Triangulation anthology. Second prize is $100US and third is $50US. Second and third may also be published in the anthology or another PARSEC INK publication. With the way the Aussie dollar is when stacked up against the US dollar, it's well worth your while to enter. Hell the way the economy is anywhere, it's well worth your while to enter. Oh - did I mention there is NO entry fee!

To be perfectly blunt, you're a little silly if you don't enter. (personal opinion only, no offence meant)

Other bonuses: last year, my friend Amy Treadwell entered two pieces, and won first and second prize - so it is possible for a virtual unknown to win this contest. All you need is a great story. (or two) In fact, the contest is only open to individuals who currently don't qualify by SFWA standards to be labelled as professional writers.

You will gain excellent feedback. Last year I entered "The Winged Shepherd Of Innocence". From the feedback I received I rewrote it and ended up selling it elsewhere.

You should be writing these stories now so you can workshop them and polish them meticulously prior to submitting them before the deadline. For those of us outside the US, you can contact the lovely Ann Cecil (email details on the website) and gain permission to email in your submission. I have already gained permission to do so.

They do everything they can to get the best entries around. You have nothing to lose.

Last week inspiration struck and I penned a piece I had no title for, but was aimed at PARSEC. I sent it off to a couple of my beta readers. Here is where I name drop that one of those is last years winner :cp

Within hours of each other, they returned emails with thoughtful, specific, and some similar comments. Today I've spent around six hours solidly rewriting it.

My 3500 word piece ended up at nearly 4000 words. I then spent a few hours rewording, rephrasing and generally playing with my jigsaw pieces of a story, until I got it back down to 3500 words. Word Tetris anyone?

I think I've addressed the major flaw pointed out by my readers - the slow beginning, and added some other bits to add depth to both character and theme.

I'll be sending it out again in the next day or two after I've allowed it to sit and I've reread it, just to be sure it's as polished as I think it is. And to let the cat out of the bag, the new title is "Swirls in Obsidian" - cool.

I've also received Issue #40 of Aurealis to read, cast a critical eye over another writers work, finally posted off the first assignment, and now intend to read the first assignment of the second module for the year. In my inbox arrived a market report from Ralan I need to check, and four newsletters I need to go through.

Time to chill - it's not like I haven't got plenty to do...

Did I mention I brought a few new books yesterday to bring my current to-read shelf up to 29 titles.

Maybe it's time to chill while reading something...

And tomorrow I have a bathroom to do some renovations to...

Out of here.

Good luck with the contest.