Just in time for Valentine’s Day! The Burden of So Many Roses is now in audio over at Toasted Cake. Having a bad day? Well, have a listen. It could be much, much worse.
Tag Archives: Kazka Press
Publication: Keeping Time
My flash fiction Keeping Time is live on Kazka Press! Click through to read it and all the other November stories.
Write 1/Sub 1 check in: week 34 the one with the practice flash
Week 34! I did get a new story out this week (A Measure of Sorrow) along with two others I sent back out the door.
Next month, I will participate in a flash fiction challenge where they send out a prompt based on genre, location, and an object. This starts at midnight on a Friday and you have until midnight on Sunday to turn in your story.
Yeah. Crazy.
So crazy, I thought maybe I should train for it. Back in the day, in the Army, we had a saying: Train as you fight. Why not apply that to this situation?
My goal on Friday was to dash off a flash fiction piece in a day. I used the examples on the site, only I made three separate lists, so I wouldn’t go into any story with preconceived notions. I mixed up the selections using a random number generator.
What was my first assignment?
Romantic Comedy / A drug rehab center / a glass eye
Yes. Because nothing says romance or comedy like drug addiction. But … I did it. I had a story by the end of Friday. I’m not certain it’s something I’ll ever send out. I am fairly certain it’s offensive (see “glass eye” above), but it was a blast to write and reassuring.
I may come in last, but I feel pretty certain I can write a story for the challenge (albeit an offensive one).
Writing:
- Practice Flash Fiction ~ 1,000 words
Submissions:
- The Life Expectancy of Fireflies
- A Measure of Sorrow
- Alliance ~ Yep, sent it right back out again
Rejections:
- Alliance
Acceptances:
- None
Filed under Write 1/Sub 1, Writing
Write 1/Sub 1 check in: week 33 the one with the concussion
Week 33! I got my write one in early this week. A good thing since the rest of the week was consumed by a concussion, my daughter’s, not mine. She’s recovering quickly and only has the smallest of headaches this morning.
Also this week, I revised one of my draft stories for submission, so this coming week I can send out something new along with a story that’s been making the rounds already. I have a backlog of stories (more than I realized) that I’d like to get all dressed up and sent out the door.
Writing:
- Ghost in the Coffee Machine ~ 3,800 words. This may be my silliest title ever.
Submissions:
- The Secret Life of Sleeping Beauty (audio market)
- The Short Sweet Life of My Invisible Prom Date
Rejections:
- The Life Expectancy of Fireflies
- The Short Sweet Life of My Invisible Prom Date
Acceptances:
- None
Filed under Write 1/Sub 1, Writing
Ten day challenge day 9: the story behind the story
I didn’t plan day #9 like this, but it worked out just fine. Today’s prompt:
Post either a setting or character profile from your latest fiction project, a chapter summary of your non-fiction book, or a discussion of the theme or object inspiring a poem, article, or other writing project.
So … I’m still a little amazed that Kazka Press accepted The Girl with the Piccolo. It’s … uh … whimsical? I don’t know. Anyway, they did, and there it is. I started down the path of this story with a prompt from The Writer’s Regimen, which was, in part:
Try creating a character whose occupation is one that you are not familiar with and do some research as to what knowledge and skills he or she would need to fill that position.
Why I tried searching on jobs that involved noise, I’m not certain, but I came across listings for jobs in the United Kingdom for noise officers. I remember thinking, sure, we have people who clean up trash, purify water, and so on. What if you had to clean up noise?
Probably because I’m former military, officer = army, and my mind went off in that direction. The rest of it? You got me. I do know this. The following phrase popped into my head at one point:
Everyone always underestimates the girl with the piccolo.
There you go. That was enough character/conflict for me to take the idea and run with it for about 1,000 words. The story begins with:
No one thinks about the empty note casings after the nightly revelry. Someone has to pick them up, right? That I spent four grueling years at the Acoustic Academy at Stormy Point for the privilege is something I try not to think about.
You can read the rest here.
Filed under Write 1/Sub 1, Writing
Write 1/Sub 1 check in: week 32 the one with the story at Kazka Press
Week 32! I was speedy this week and finished my write 1 story on Wednesday. I played around with another, slightly longer, idea that I hope will shape up into my write 1 for this coming week.
I also need to do some revision and shape a few more stories for submission. Mainly because I’m running out. Everything is all tied up in as many submissions as possible. I need to get some “new blood” out there, so to speak. I would also like to finish out the blogging challenge as well (just two to go–I can do that, can’t I?)
Writing:
- Incriminating Evidence ~ 1,000 words.
Submissions:
- Alliance
Rejections:
- The Secret Life of Sleeping Beauty (audio market). Nice rejection with an invitation to submit other stories.
Acceptances:
- None
Published:
- The Girl with the Piccolo ~ Kazka Press
Filed under Write 1/Sub 1, Writing
Write 1/Sub 1 check in: week 6, the one with Girl Scout cookies
Week 6! Despite the 200 hundred boxes of Girl Scout cookies in my living room–that need a home that isn’t my living room–I had a very good writing week. Here’s what I did:
Writing:
- It Only Takes a Minute, 247 words, for the Flash Fiction Chronicles String of 10 contest
- The Weight of Secrets, short story of some length. I wrote it longhand and it’s still in my notebook, so I don’t know the exact word count.
Submitting:
- It Only Takes a Minute, since I wrote it for the contest, why not actually submit it too?
- The Madness in King’s End, to a local mystery contest. However, my story is probably more fantasy than mystery, so I’m not holding my breath on this one.
Rejections:
- None!
Acceptances:
- Payment, that even shorter (25 words) version of Cash or Check received an acceptance from Literary Juice for their Pulp Fiction section, where the story must be exactly 25 words with a one word title. (Now you know why I changed the title.) Oddly enough, it’s a story with a Girl Scout cookie theme.
Published:
- And, of course, The Burden of So Many Roses went live this week at Kazka Press. I am very pleased about this.
I also started an online class this week at The Loft Literary Center, Breaking the Unwritten Rules in Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction. I’m all about the rule breaking. The next couple of weeks are going to be very busy, so this Write 1/Sub 1 thing may be more of a challenge. It’s like a cliffhanger–stay tuned to see if I can make it all work.
Filed under Promo, Write 1/Sub 1, Writing, YA
The Burden of So Many Roses: Milestone story
So today, The Burden of So Many Roses is live over on Kazka Press, where the theme this month is an undelivered valentine. My guess is (I haven’t read all the stories yet) that if you’re not a fan of gooey Valentine’s Day stories, you’ll be happy with the fare offered up this month.
At least, mine isn’t gooey.
It is, however, a milestone story for me. Here’s the breakdown:
1/3/2013: finished the draft
1/13/2013: sent to Kazka Press
1/30/2013: accepted
2/5/2013: published!
Not only is that one of the fastest turnaround times for me, submission to acceptance, it is the fastest I’ve ever drafted/revised/polished a story and sent it out. That being said, Kazka Press has a list of prompts on their submission page, and I had that undelivered valentine fermenting in the back of my mind for the entire month of December. That probably helped.
One of my goals this year is to figure out how to maintain a steady pace of writing while dealing with the ebbs in my creativity. And ebb it does. To the point where I’m all reclined on the fainting couch, hand on forehead, and despairing, I’ll never write again!
But since I always do, I’ve stopped believing myself when I get this way. This is why Write 1/Sub 1 is such a challenge. If I don’t write one, I’ll run out of things to submit. But it’s teaching me that:
- I can write more than I think I can.
- I have more story ideas than I think I do.
- No one story concept is like another. Some tumble out like gifts, some I pick at, bit by bit.
- There’s no wrong way to draft a short story.
Sometimes, to write, you simply need to get out of your own way.
Filed under Promo, Write 1/Sub 1, Writing, YA
Write 1/Sub 1 check in: week 5, the one with no heat and a sale
Week 5! Our furnace died on Friday. It’s also been one of the coldest weeks all winter. Clearly our appliances have a (dark) sense of humor. Yesterday was Girl Scout cookie “go” day, so since the house was cold, Kyra and I bundled up and sold cookies door-to-door. By the time we arrived back home (several boxes lighter), we had heat.
Writing:
- Poem about the color orange. It is full of whimsy. And adjectives.
Submitting:
- One Good Turn, (very) tongue-in-cheek science fiction story.
- Payment, an even shorter (25 words) version of Cash or Check
Rejections:
- None!
Acceptances:
- The Burden of So Many Roses to Kazka Press for their undelivered valentine prompt. The story should be “live” in a few days.
I also spent a good deal of time revising/editing two stories, One Good Turn and another that I’m set to submit in this upcoming week.
Filed under Write 1/Sub 1, Writing, YA
Writing Wrongs 