Do yourself another favor this week. Go read this story. The Last Banquet of Temporal Confections by Tina Connolly is a fabulous novelette.
You can read online for free, or if you want to curl up with it (like I did), you can buy it for 99 cents.
Busy week this week with Girl Scout stuff. We took a tour of the local police station. One of the K9 dogs was on duty and we got to meet her. So cool. We also participated in a cookie rally, which was a … thing. No, it was fine, but it will be nice to sit and do a little editing today.
Otherwise, a submission, a few rejections (I was following up on outstanding 2014 submissions), and I finished a novelette.
Writing Work:
Submissions:
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Acceptances:
Publications:
Happy New Year! I hope it was joyous and safe and you have lots of plans for the new year.
I’m going to take a quick look back before I jump into 2015 proper.
For 2014, I wrote ~270,000 words.
Uh, yeah. That looks like a lot. You know what? It doesn’t feel like a lot. I don’t feel tired or drained from doing that. In fact, I feel energized, and to quote Mr. Bradbury, I’ll be damned, it’s been a good year.
270,000 words looks intimidating. But really? Divide that by 365. It’s only 740 words per day.
740. Not even 1,000 words per day. That’s doable. If you bump it up a bit, you can take weekends off. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again now. Daily writing is a lot like exercise. It isn’t sexy or glamorous, but if you commit to it, you’ll see results.
Of those words I wrote, I managed a couple of novels, a handful of short stories, and several novelettes. I love writing novelettes, but it’s hard to find a home for them.
I made 51 submissions this year (down ~ 50 from last year).
I sold six stories/poem thingies.
Of my fiction writing income, 30% came from selling to traditional markets (short fiction markets) and 70% came from publishing my own work. With this in mind, I will probably concentrate on publishing my own work in 2015, in a variety of ways.
Straying from the Path at Flash Fiction Online
A Most Marvelous Pair of Boots at Timeless Tales Magazine
Breakfast in the Desert at Every Day Poets
Playing Soldier in issue #9 of Vine Leaves Literary Journal (and best of anthology for 2014)
The Secret Life of Sleeping Beauty, in audio, at Cast of Wonders
Girl with the Piccolo, in audio, at Cast of Wonders
Incriminating Evidence in Fantasy Scroll Magazine, Issue #4
Writing Work:
Submissions:
Rejections:
Acceptances:
Publications:
Need some free time? Need to learn how to steal time? Well, maybe I can help. Or not. What I can do is give you a free read.
This week, Just a Matter of Time will have a free run on Amazon, Monday through Friday. Grab it while you can! Want to know more? Keep reading:
Sadie Lin: High school junior Sadie is desperate–to maintain her GPA, to score high on the SATs, to see her dad return from Afghanistan. Time crawls and slip through her fingers all at once. She thinks it’s all in her head.
It’s not.
Gordon Bakersfield: Gordon–Sadie’s ninth grade epic crush–has plenty of time and knows where to get more. He knows someone has been stealing Sadie’s time. And while he’s not sure how to make it stop, he’s hoping to try. But can Sadie trust him?
Only time will tell.
Oh, yes. A series bible for the Coffee & Ghosts series? (And yes, do you admire my unbelievably creative name for the series?) Absolutely a good idea. I found a few places where I will need to adjust either this story or that, figure out where–exactly–one of the characters lives, and so on.
It was also one of those weeks where I had a bunch of random story ideas pop up in my head, so I jotted a few of them down, and now I’m wondering how to steal a bit more time to write all the things.
Speaking of stealing time: Just a Matter of Time will have a free run on Amazon starting tomorrow. Five days! Grab it for free while you can and all that.
Writing Work:
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Rejections:
Acceptances:
Publications:
So, I finished The Ghost Whisperer this week. Apparently I enjoy writing novelettes, since this one came in at ~11,000 words. A sequel to a sequel? A trilogy? Um, no. I think there will be five shorter stories that make up a longer one. I am trying to make each story stand on its own while also working on a larger story arc.
I’m enjoying the challenge of this. Will something come of it? Who knows. But before I write the other two stories, I need one thing: a series bible. Names, places, eye color, that sort of thing. Walk-on characters are acquiring traits and becoming full-fledged supporting characters. I need a way to keep track of everything.
Writing Work:
Submissions:
Rejections:
Acceptances:
Publications:
Well, did I do it? I think so! Here’s my tally for the week.
Writing:
Here’s the crazy thing: I totally dreamed the start of the novelette. And in dream-like fashion, I was both writing the story and in the story. This never happens to me. I never dream stories. But since the universe offered up this gift, I decided to go for it and the whole thing tumbled out of me in a matter of three days, no planning, no outlining, nothing but words. It. Was. Glorious.
The flash I hope to cut down a bit, to about 1,000 words. I suspect a good 200 or more are throat-clearing anyway and this won’t be too tough.
Submitting:
And, thanks to that novelette, I’ve had this Pat Benatar classic running through my head all week. Now, it can run through yours. You can thank me later.
Writing Wrongs 