I'm still here

I have been taking it easy, with my writing, the last couple of days. It has been a good time to work around the house while Ann is home. Today is the last day of that and we are going to the dentist. I know, be still my beating heart.

I haven't been writing, but in true never give up writerly fashion I have been thinking of writing. Working through edits and re-writes in my head as I go about the household tasks that I have been more prone to do these last five days. I think I have come up with a better ending for the novella that I wrote and look forward to implementing that when I get to that part of the manuscript. I will be getting back to that starting tomorrow, between killing off the weeds in the driveway and pulling weeds in the strawberries. You can see just how exciting my life really is.

Still have heard no news from any editors in 5 weeks now. I don't recall my inbox being this dead, ever. Still, 2012 AD is closing to submissions tomorrow and they have managed to hold my story for a very long time. My guess is that my rejection letter got lost in cyberspace somewhere.

A quick note on 2012 AD

I noticed on Severed Press's website that they were temporarily closed to submissions on their 2012 AD antho. I shot off a quick e-mail to the editors asking what was going on and that I would post their response here.

Here is what they said: We have temporarily closed 2012 AD to restructure the submission guidelines. The description we provided is too broad and the submissions we received so far are barely, if it all, related to the Maya. This is our own fault, and hopefully by relaying our expectations more clearly, we will be able to get 2012 AD back on track. The concept of the Maya predictions are both interesting and timely. We still believe it would make a great Anthology. I apologize if you have started an original piece specifically for 2012 AD, but feel free to submit it anyway and we'll keep you posted.

I still haven't heard back from them so I don't know what that means for my piece or anyone else who may have sent them something and hasn't heard back.

Until later, have a good weekend.

Worth looking into

I sent off my story to Dead Bait and got a nice little acknowledgment letter back promptly. I thought about it a minute, checked my records and realized I didn't received any such thing for the 2012 AD story I had sent out last week. I wrote the editor and asked if he had received it. He had not. I was glad I asked. I promptly resent it and got a nice little acknowledgment letter. This is the second time this week where I have had to ask an editor the where abouts of a story and the second time I have gotten news that it was a) with an editor that was no longer with them or b) it hadn't made it there at all. What are the chances.

As I was saying. I did go over my Dead Bait piece yesterday. It read better than I thought it might. I changed a few lines, changed some words and some verb tense re-read it, changed some more things, re-read that and sent it off. I hope it doesn't suck. I really like the ending. I don't know what I will work on today. I think I have most of my short stories out of me for the moment but I am not 100 percent sure.

It made it down to -24 below last night (that is Fahrenheit) but by the time I had to take my daughter out to meet the bus it was 0. It almost felt warm. Almost. Speaking of my daughter, she lost her first tooth last night. The tooth fairy is much nicer than she was when I was a kid. I didn't realize inflation had gone up that much, either that or I got the cheap tooth fairy.

Happy weekend

Well, here we are on a Saturday and I am posting. Heck, just about everyone seems to be posting today so I don't feel so bad.

I have officially sent off my 2012 AD story, Fate's Hand in Mortal Affairs. I am pretty happy the way it ended although I hope it doesn't read like I wanted to finish it quickly and tacked an ending on it. I then got a good start on my Dead Bait story. I have re-used Mr. Calloway and a familiar pond from another story. I call it re-using but he is really just the set-up. We are introduced to him and he is already dead, or presumed so. I will be curious to see how this one plays out on paper.

I know what you are thinking, 'he told us he was only going to work on one short story a month and here it is the 10th and he is on his second short.' You are right, but inspiration struck and I hope future editors can enjoy the moment like I am.

Other than that I am planning a very quiet weekend. My wife ended up working and on call so the only things we will be doing this weekend include getting groceries and going to her companies post Christmas party, at which she will be on call. That should be fun for me if she gets called out in the middle of dinner.

By the way, I really hate the weather people around here. They were calling for snow in NorthEast Iowa, nothing for where I live in West Central Iowa and we got nailed last night with several inches of the white stuff which I will now have to get the snowthrower out for. Darn Weathermaps and their 'predictions.'

Do I hear Three?

Rejection number 2 came in yesterday. It was from Spinetingler and I don't feel too bad. I was competing for one of six spots with 60 other people they had narrowed the field down to. I had a 10% shot and I didn't make it. I looked it over, found a market I though might like it and sent it off. Burnt Offering is one of those stories that is hard to categorize. It is not a mystery but it does have some suspense, it is not totally mainstream, nor is it literary. It is definitely not horror or science fiction, and there isn't a glimpse of fantasy in it. I hope that, eventually, it finds a home other than my filing cabinet one of these days.

Today I think I will edit my 2012 story and get that off by Friday. I am sure there are a multitude of glaring errors that I can find at first glance and a bunch of not-so-glaring ones on second glance. I just hope I can find the majority of them before I send it off.

Maybe today I will hear good news from an editor. Or maybe I will hear nothing at all. Anything other than a rejection.

Is it morning already

I swear I need to get to bed early tonight. I have already been up for an hour and a half and that was after I was up way too long with my son last night. God only knows why he woke in the first place. I am getting way too old for this stuff.

The house is quiet now, my boy is sleeping (for how much longer I don't know) and the resident college student is still asleep as well. Everyone else in the house has either gone to work or school.

I am considering taking this time to edit my 2012 story, although I really want to start on my Dead Bait piece as well. I am thinking of using the character I used in the piece I sent to Devil's Food. He was an interesting character and he liked to fish so I think I can make something work. Plus I have the added bonus of already knowing the character (even though that could work to my disadvantage and I might not include enough about him to make him real in this story.) I think I can do it, especially if I know where the potential weakness may lie.

I know I am procrastinating my book Invasion but I can't help it. I feel I can jump back into a book easier than I can write short stories right now (damn my fingers. They aren't working at all today. I have to keep one finger on the delete key) I had better get a pot of coffee going and start the day. Good luck to everyone and happy Wednesday.

Day 2, 2009

Worked a little bit on my 2012 A.D. story. It doesn't have a title yet but bringing about the end of the world is kinda fun. I hope to finish it sometime this weekend and then have it sent off by the end of next week. (You will note how I am setting my sights low and taking my time)

Also managed to go deer hunting yesterday. I think I managed to walk about seven miles through the timber and I saw a lot of deer, unfortunately for me and fortunately for them, they saw me first so the only shot I got off was at one on a dead run (no, he wasn't a zombie deer) at about 60 or 75 yards. I would have to be a lot better shot with a handgun than I am to hit that target, and I don't care how big the critter is.

Other than that I heard nothing from any editor yesterday, although Michael Knost said that he broke his own record yesterday and accepted two stories yesterday. Unfortunately, I don't have anything out to him right now. Also apex is running a new blog today. One of their editors is talking about what it is like for her to go through the slush pile. Slush Lessons:

Well here is to a productive second day of the year and I wish all of you a merry weekend before the holiday season is officially over and we all must get back to normal.