Tag: short stories

Publication: A Most Marvelous Pair of Boots

A Most Marvelous Pair of Boots is live over at Timeless Tales Magazine! This is my retelling of the Puss in Boots fairy tale.

When I sat down to familiarize myself with the story, I couldn’t help but notice that all the humans were morons and the cat was pretty much your classic a-hole. Why, oh why? I wondered. Why would the king foist his daughter onto a complete stranger with a made-up name? Why is the princess a simpleton who cares only about a handsome face? Why is the cat even involved?

I simply had to write the story to answer these questions for myself. If you’re curious, click on through and read my (tongue in cheek) take on the old French fairy tale.

Publications 2013

So, Write 1/Sub 1 made 2013 an interesting year. I embarked on a new writing adventure. Buoyed by the publication of The Secret Life of Sleeping Beauty in Unidentified Funny Objects last year, I decided to focus more on short fiction and not worry about the rest.

The results? Well, they surprised me. I ended up with fourteen sales/acceptances and nine of those were published this year, and five more are forthcoming in early 2014. Not a bad way to end a year or to start one.

Online flash:

The Burden of So Many Roses  (Kazka Press)

Payment (Literary Juice)

The Girl with the Piccolo (Kazka Press)

Keeping Time (Kazka Press)

A Measure of Sorrow (Luna Station Quarterly)

Standalone shorts:

Elvis Has Left the Building (Untreed Reads)

Anthologies:

Ghost in the Coffee Machine in Coffee: 14 Caffeinated Tales of the Fantastic

Available from UFO Publishing, but also in e-book form for Kindle, Nook, and Kobo.

Land of the Free (Haircuts) in Proud to Be: Writing by American Warriors, Volume 2

Leap of Faith in 100 Worlds: Lightning-Quick SF and Fantasy Tales

Self-published:

Blogging Airborne finalBonus publication!

At long last, I compiled my Blogging Airborne series into electronic format to make it available for e-readers. You can get it on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and iTunes.

Write 1/Sub 1 check in: week 52 the one with the last check in of the year

Week 52! This is it! The very last check in of 2013. This week, because the universe has a sense of humor, I received a rejection on Christmas Eve and one on Christmas Day. I thought it was funny; friends on Facebook were trying to cheer me up.

I also managed a flash fiction piece despite the holiday. All in all, a good way to end the month and the year.

It’s hard to believe an entire year has passed us by in a flurry of words–well, more or less. Sometimes less. Although I didn’t officially “win” the weekly challenge (see accidental novel below), I did write a great many stories, I sold some of those stories, and most importantly, I learned a lot about my writing process and writing in general. 

Am I going to do it again next year? Yes,  I will, with a few modifications. More on that next week.

So how did I do for the year? Well, here’s the tally:

  • 45 short stories of varying lengths and quality
  • 1 accidental novel, 54,000 words
  • 103 submissions
  • 14 acceptances/sales
  • 9 publications

Writing:

  • Like Bread Loves Salt~ 730 words

Submissions:

  • The Maze 

Rejections:

  • The Perfect Canvas
  • The Madness in King’s End

Acceptances:

  • None

Publications:

  • None

Write 1/Sub 1 check in: week 51 the one with the late check in

Week 51! A very quiet week around here, both for writing and submitting stories. But! I did get my write 1 completed. Apparently, I wasn’t quite done with Simon the Cold, and I added a “Part II” to the story. More or less.

I hope to get something written this coming week to finish out the year with a story. We’ll see how that goes. But now, it’s time to bake!

Writing:

  • Simon the Cold, Part II ~ 2,600 words

Submissions:

  • The Perfect Canvas 

Rejections:

  • The Price of Comfort and Joy

Acceptances:

  • None

Publications:

  • None

Write 1/Sub 1 check in: week 50 the one with 100 submissions

Week 50! It might be the cold weather or the holidays, but things moved slowly this week, even as the year speeds to an end. But I got my writing in, and I also hit my “stretch” goal for the year of 100 submissions.

Also, my contributor copy of Coffee: 14 Caffeinated Tales of the Fantastic arrived, and it is a thing of beauty. If you like science fiction and fantasy stories, and especially like coffee, be sure to pick up a copy, either in print or e-format.

Writing:

  • Simon the Cold ~ 1,300 words

Submissions:

  • What Little Remains
  • The Madness in King’s End
  • The Life Expectancy of Fireflies
  • The Price of Comfort and Joy (submission 100)

Rejections:

  • Doreen’s Muse

Acceptances:

  • None

Publications:

  • Ghost in the Coffee Machine in Coffee: 14 Caffeinated Tales of the Fantastic, available from UFO Publishing, but also in e-book form for Kindle, Nook, and Kobo.

Publication: Ghost in the Coffee Machine

My story Ghost in the Coffee Machine is now available in Coffee: 14 Caffeinated Tales of the Fantastic.

As the back cover says:

Coffee plays a major role in each of the stories collected in this book.

Brewed from such fine ingredients as magic, wonder, humor, and romance, Coffee serves up a unique blend of the fantastic you won’t be able to put down.

So, brew yourself a cup of coffee (or tea) and keep warm this holiday season. Available from UFO Publishing, but also in e-book form for Kindle, Nook, and Kobo.

 

Write 1/Sub 1 check in: week 49 the one with five rejections

Week 49! This must be the time of year editors clear their desks. Five rejections! Not only that, but the story I submitted for the Flash Fiction Challenge received zero points (as in none, nada, nothing). It’s one of those weeks where it pays to be an optimist.

I did a series of short writing/writing exercises based on the Writer’s Regimen, which I continue to love. Just when I think I’m not going to get anything, boom, something sparks.

I’ve also been thinking about Write 1/Sub 1 for next year. I’m thinking of moving to the monthly challenge. I do not want to slow down my writing pace, but I do want to revise that accidental novel, expand a few stories into the novellas they want to be, and I have a backlog of short stories I still need to revise and send out into the world.

So monthly it is, unless I start slacking. Then I’ll jump back on the weekly bandwagon.

Writing:

  • The Accidental Nickname ~ 300 words
  • Infamy Day ~ 500 words
  • Obstacles ~ 500 words

Submissions:

  • The Perfect Canvas
  • What Little Remains
  • Glass Slipper

Rejections:

  • The Perfect Canvas
  • What Little Remains
  • The Maze
  • The Burden of So Many Roses (reprint market)
  • The Life Expectancy of Fireflies

Acceptances:

  • None

Publications:

Write 1/Sub 1 check in: week 46 the one with a seaside ghost

Week 46! I was going to start this off with the phrase: another busy week, but yeah. I’ve used that. More than once. That being said, there was plenty in my inbox, on my screen, and in my notebook to keep me busy.

I worked on a couple rewrite requests, fought a mighty battle with a seaside ghost, and found a home for my flash piece A Measure of Sorrow, which will be in issue 16 of Luna Station Quarterly.

Yes, I got my write 1 in for the week, and 3,400 words of it no less. However, this story wants to be so much more, maybe even a whole novel. So … I ponder. For now. And the only reason I call it Seaside Ghost is it’s about a ghost and takes place at … wait for it … the seaside. Yeah. Not one of my more creative titles.

Writing:

  • Seaside Ghost ~ 3,400 words

Submissions:

  • What Little Remains
  • The Perfect Canvas

Rejections:

  • What Little Remains

Acceptances:

Publications:

  • Elvis Has Left the Building ~ shhhh, it’s not officially up on the Untreed Reads site yet, but if you want to grab a copy of Elvis Has Left the Building, you can get it for Kindle or Nook.

Write 1/Sub 1 check in: week 45 the one with boots

Week 45! A busy week since we were gearing up for a software release at work. Even so, I did write a flash fiction story and worked on summaries for Just a Matter of Time and Elvis Has Left the Building.

Plus, Timeless Tales has accepted the retelling of Puss in Boots that I wrote for their call for submissions. So, yes, A Most Marvelous Pair of Boots will have a home.

Writing:

  • Doreen’s Muse ~ 1,000 words

Submissions:

  • The Perfect Canvas
  • Breakfast in the Desert

Rejections:

  • Rules for Visiting Hades

Acceptances:

  • A Most Marvelous Pair of Boots ~ Puss in Boots retelling

Write 1/Sub 1 check in: week 44 the one where I keep time

Week 44! This was a busy writing week. My big goal was to complete a story for the Flash Fiction Challenge. The night before, I had a dream about the challenge and the topic assignment.

My “dream” topic?

Family outing / An  outdoor concert / a tennis ball

And yes, I realize “family outing” is not a literary genre. Even so, in my dream-state, I was brainstorming and drafting a story for this. It had something to do with Nazi Germany. Yes, a natural extension of the topic. Although it makes more sense when you consider that I’ve been reading Operation Mincemeat this week.

So imagine my relief when I woke up to find this as my assignment:

Horror / A tattoo parlor / High heels

Now that’s more like it. Unlike the last round, this suggested many story ideas almost immediately. While I don’t think the final story is scary enough for horror, I had too much fun to really care. Plus, if I don’t earn enough points to push me into the next round, I won’t have to worry about those crazy dreams about the challenge.

Even better, if I ever want to get a tattoo, I’m set.

Also this week, I doubled the word count on another short story, wrote a short poem/micro-fiction thingy, and received e-galleys for the coffee anthology and the proofed copy of my short story Elvis Has Left the Building.

And, of course, my story Keeping Time is live at Kazka Press. Click on through to read all seven stories this month.

Writing:

  • The Perfect Canvas ~ 1,000 words
  • Hurry Up and Wait ~ 100 words
  • Inside Out ~ 2,300 words added

Submissions:

  • Five to Freedom
  • The Maze
  • What Little Remains

Rejections:

  • Five to Freedom
  • What Little Remains
  • Two Hammers

Acceptances:

  • None

Published: