Monthly Archives: February 2014

It was a quiet week on the writing front, with work on the thing that is clearly not a short story, since I’m up to +10,000 words on it so far. This is a story that’s been flitting about in the back of my mind for at least four years and watching it all come out is really kind of fun. 

I didn’t submit anything this week. Nothing came back to me, so there’s that as well.

But I did get a nice surprise from Kazka Press. Editor Michael Haynes named The Burden of So Many Roses as one of his favorite stories from last year. I am enormously pleased he thought so highly of it. You can click through to read (or reread) it. I recommend it for those who had a lousy Valentine’s Day.

Writing Work:

• The Time After ~ 5,338 words

Submissions:

• None

Rejections:

• None

Acceptances:

• None

Publications:

• None

So …  the back of my car? Filled–filled I tell you–with Girl Scout cookies. I don’t suppose anyone would like to buy a box or ten. My weather widget says it’s zero degrees right now. Once it gets “warm” enough, we’re going to layer up and hit the streets. 

I started something new this week, something that is (clearly) not a short story, since it already has 5,000 words. I suspect it will go long, and I’m looking to write a flash sometime this month so I can have an official “write 1” for February. Ah, but the month is still young (of course, it’s short, so I don’t want to put it off for too long).

I’m beginning to think that if last year was the year I wrote short, this is the one where I go long. I guess we’ll see.

Writing Work:

• The Time After ~ 5,000 words

Submissions:

• Abandonment Issues
• The Burden of So Many Roses (audio market) 

Rejections:

• Abandonment Issues

Acceptances:

• None

Publications:

• None

So … I ended up with a novelette that wants to be a novella when it grows up. Once I told myself “screw the word count” I started writing faster and finished the story on Tuesday this week. I’m not sure what to do with it, other than let it “compost” for a bit and then take a second look. It’s really too long for most markets (especially since it’s YA) and too  short for a novel. 

That left me plenty of time for shaping up some new stories to send out. So, this week alone, I sent out four stories, three of them fresh submissions and one a re-submission.

I’m also still working on learning InDesign, which I continue to love. It’s so pretty. Sometimes I open the program just to stare at the interface. You have to understand, I normally work with XML authoring tools, where the interface manages to be both ugly and difficult to use. InDesign leaves me just a little be breathless.

All in all, this hasn’t been a bad start to 2014.

Writing Work:

• Lawn Mower Serenade ~ 9,000 words

Submissions:

• Like Bread Loves Salt
• Abandonment Issues
• Where Were You When the War Started
• The Madness in King’s End

Rejections:

• The Madness in King’s End

Acceptances:

• None

Publications:

• None