short stories – Page 18 – Writing Wrongs

Write 1/Sub 1 check in: week 43 the one with the rift in the space–time continuum

Week 43! This week I wrote another practice flash for the next round of the Flash Fiction Challenge.

This week’s combination?

Drama / Mount Everest / a teacup

I almost didn’t do this. I mean, Mount Everest? Really? Then I pondered what might happen if I drew a similar combination in the actual challenge and decided it was in my best interest to at least try. I don’t know if it’s a story I’ll ever send out, but I did it, and in exactly 1,000 words, so there’s that.

I also spent some time this week shaping up stories to send out. Plus, I received a contributor copy for an anthology, signed a contract for audio rights, turned around a rewrite request, and had two acceptances–all in the span of 48 hours. It’s like I’m a real working writer or something.

And, in one of those weird coincidences, I had two acceptances this week, and both involve time. Keeping Time will appear in the November edition of Kazka Press. Just a Matter of Time will be part of volume 3 of Sucker Literary Magazine.

I’m excited about both, but especially Just a Matter of Time. Have you ever tried to find a home for a YA novelette? (The story is ~7,800 words long.) It’s no easy task, let me tell you. And also, let me tell you this:

Feedback I received from one market was I should dump the romantic aspect of the story (I’d been getting high marks for the “time” aspect of it). Yes, I know, I was trying to not only place a YA novelette, but essentially a paranormal romantic one at that. The trifecta of will not sell.

What aspect helped it with Sucker Literary? The relationship. I believe the editor may have used the phrase swoon-worthy.

I was going somewhere with this. Oh. Yeah. Editor feedback? Often very helpful. I did do some tweaks before my acceptance with Sucker Literary. However, it isn’t always right, or right for that particular story. Something to keep in mind.

Writing:

The Cure for Love Sickness ~ 1,000 words

Submissions:

Two Hammers
A Most Marvelous Pair of Boots
What Little Remains

Rejections:

None

Acceptances:

Keeping Time
Just a Matter of Time

Write 1/Sub 1 check in: week 42 the one with some practice flash

Week 42! This week I decided to do another practice flash since the next round of the Flash Fiction Challenge is coming up at the beginning of next month. So I reached into the magic hat (AKA the Flash Fiction Challenge website) and picked the following:

Suspense / cemetery / sewing machine

The combination screams out for a Halloween/sewing-a-ghost-costume kind of story, so I resisted that. Instead, I set it on the winter solstice and still managed to work in the sewing machine. It was good to stretch with a pure suspense tale as well.

Two rejections this week, but also two stories being held for further consideration, so it evens out. Also! I placed my 100-word story in a forthcoming anthology filled with other 100-word speculative fiction stories.

Writing:

The Longest Night of the Year ~ 1,500 words

Submissions:

Playing Soldier
Keeping Time
Rhymes with Orange
Five to Freedom

Rejections:

The Madness in King’s End
Rhymes with Orange (boomerang rejection)

Acceptances:

Leap of Faith

Write 1/Sub 1 check in: week 41 the one with a new goal

Week 41! This week I made my 78th story submission. I thought to myself, hmm, maybe I could make that an even 100 by the end of the year. Maybe I could. As I mentioned on Facebook, my battle cry is now:

Bring on the rejections!

Because, really, getting rejected does, in its own weird way, make that much easier. Also, I have a backlog of stories that I need to revise and send out. True, I have a few crazy ones (like the one I wrote this week) that probably won’t go anywhere. Still, I should at least test the waters with most of them.

My write 1 this week was crazy, so I put that word right in the title. Honestly, it has the feel of an accidental novel, one that needs historical research. So. Yeah. Not that I’m against 1) novels, 2) research, but I’m not sure I have the endurance for either at the moment. Still, it was fun to play in this particular world, and I will no doubt revisit it at some time.

Writing:

The Crazy History of Max and Em ~ 2,000 words

Submissions:

Straying from the Path
The Girl with the Piccolo ~ audio market (Yes, this one went right back out)

Rejections:

Playing Soldier
The Girl with the Piccolo

Acceptances:

None

Write 1/Sub 1 check in: week 40 the one with yet another quiet week

Week 40! Another quiet week here, at least as far as the writing goes. The kid stuff however? That’s getting busy. All sorts of scout stuff and conferences and so on. And there’s more of the same coming up.

This is where the power of write 1/sub 1 comes in. Nine months in and it’s pretty much a habit now, like exercise.

Writing:

The Maze ~ 6,000 words

Submissions:

Playing Soldier
The Girl with the Piccolo ~ audio market

Rejections:

Straying from the Path

Acceptances:

None

Write 1/Sub 1 check in: week 39 the one with the end-of-summer colds

Week 39! A quiet week to end September, and I’m grateful for that. The whole house (all of us, minus the pets) had some form of end-of-summer cold, to varying degrees.

I’m so glad the Flash Fiction Challenge was last week. I had an automatic submission for this week and plenty of time to peck my way through a new story.

This week I played around with a Puss in Boots retelling for a call for submissions I discovered. By doing so, I filled up the last pages of my notebook. My daughter was paging through it, somewhat amazed that I had filled in every single page, and asked: “How do you think of so many stories to write?”

I told her I didn’t know. And actually, my best writing happens when I don’t think, or at least, not too hard.

Writing:

Puss in Boots retelling ~ 2,000 words

Submissions:

Five to Freedom

Rejections:

Alliance

Acceptances:

None

Write 1/Sub 1 check in: week 38 the one with more milestones

Week 38! Well, September is shaping up rather nicely. Two milestone acceptances this week. Two! I know, it’s crazy times around here.

First, I sold audio/reprint rights for The Secret Life of Sleeping Beauty to Cast of Wonders. I can’t wait to hear what they do with the story.

Then, the next day, I find out that my poem (yes, poem) Land of the Free (Haircuts) will be part of Proud to Be: Writing by American Warriors, Volume 2. The anthology is a partnership between the Missouri Humanities Council, Warriors Arts Alliance, and Southeast Missouri State University Press.

Like I said, crazy times.

My write 1 for the week was the Flash Fiction Challenge. What did I end up with? Take a look:

Comedy / a rain forest / water balloon

My first draft ended up at 999 words. I played around with it a bit, then put it away to compost overnight. I’ll take a last look later today, proof it, and send it off. I don’t know how funny it is. I think, at most, it’s lightly humorous (and that’s a stretch). But! It’s done! I did it! And it was fun to write. And really, you can’t ask for more than that.

Since that was my write 1 for the week, I spent time getting stories from my notebook into electronic form. I now have three more to shape up and send off in the near future. Plus, I started a longer short story.

All in all, not a bad week.

Writing:

Five to Freedom ~ 999 words

Submissions:

Just a Matter of Time
Filling the Space

Rejections:

The Patron Saint of Lost Things ~ the editors mentioned that this did make their short list, so that was nice.

Acceptances:

The Secret Life of Sleeping Beauty
Land of the Free (Haircuts)

Write 1/Sub 1 check in: week 37 the one with a big cup of ghostly coffee

Week 37! More big news this week. Ghost in the Coffee Machine will be part of the COFFEE: Caffeinated Tales of the Fantastic anthology, due out later this year (in time for the holidays)!

My write 1 for the week was another flash challenge assignment, which was:

Open/ A rooftop / press-on fingernails

I came in at 2,000 words or so. Not quite a flash, and I’m thinking this story needs a bit more, but I really like where it ended up, press-on fingernails and all, so there’s that.

In fact, I counted up the number of draft stories I have and it came out to nine. Nine! This does not include the story with the glass eye. Yeah, that one probably isn’t making it out of my notebook.

I have four draft stories in electronic form and five still in my (paper) notebook. I need to carve out a little time and get the rest of those stories into electronic form so I can start sending them out.

Writing:

What Little Remains ~ 2,000 words

Submissions:

Alliance
Straying from the Path
Rules for Visiting Hades ~ an old story submitted to a journal doing a “resurrection issue”. They want stories from defunct markets that are not currently archived online. This story fit the bill (in those terms–it may not be to the journal’s taste).

Rejections:

Straying from the Path ~ an “almost for us” rejection from Daily Science Fiction. Oh, so close! Back out it goes.
Filling the Space

Acceptances:

Ghost in the Coffee Machine ~ will be published in COFFEE: Caffeinated Tales of the Fantastic. Out later this year! Pre-order early! Pre-order often!

Write 1/Sub 1 check in: week 36 the one with the Mad Scientist

Week 36! My big news: I sold another story. The Short Sweet Life of My Invisible Prom Date will be published in an upcoming issue of Mad Scientist Journal.

It’s such a quirky little story that I’m very pleased it managed to find a home.

My write 1 for the week was another flash challenge assignment, which was:

Comedy/ A space station/ Onion rings

Again, while I don’t plan to ever look a gift story in the mouth, this one came in at about 3,000 words (you’ll note the trend–longer, not shorter) and it in no way resembles a comedy (despite those onion rings). This upcoming week I hope to write an actual piece of flash fiction. We’ll see how that goes.

Writing:

The Ways of Goodbye ~ 3,000 words, I’m not overly fond of this title, but the only other one I can think of is: Onion Ring Story.

Submissions:

Playing Soldier

Rejections:

Alliance

Acceptances:

The Short Sweet Life of My Invisible Prom Date ~ will be published in Mad Scientist Journal: Winter 2014, in early April 2014.

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.

Write 1/Sub 1 check in: week 31 the one with the surprise acceptance

Week 31! This week, I conclusively proved that staring at your submission tracker does not make editors respond faster. I stared at that thing all week long, and it wasn’t until Friday that I received any type of response.

Of course, one of those responses was an acceptance from Kazka Press for their Sax & Violins (and Other Tales of Music) issue. And seriously, I was not expecting this. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t pleased. I’ll write a bit more about it when it goes live on the Kazka Press site later this week. It’s a combination Write 1/Sub 1 and the Writer’s Regimen story.

Writing:

Shadow Creatures ~3,500 words. Mind you, this is not the story title, just a placeholder to remind me what the story is about. Apparently, it is about shadow creatures; that could change.
Blog post challenge

Submissions: