One of my favorite times of the year

Tax season is upon us.

I received my first filing papers yesterday. I know, everyone out there thinks I am nuts but this is something I have enjoyed since college when I did, pretty much, everyone's taxes on my dorm floor. Its not that they couldn't do the math, they were scared of the I.R.S. I don't know how many times I had to reassure them that the chances that the government was going to go after a college student if they forgot to put down a weeks worth of tips in their taxable income was slim to none. The sad part is that most of them filed an EZ form which was simple math. I had been filing one since I was 15.

I have never been scared of the I.R.S. I follow the rules that are laid out in front of me and I follow them. Now I know that several politicians who are in charge of writing our tax code can't seem to follow the rules (Charlie Rangel) but if I have a question about a deduction I will look it up on line, or call the number (which you will wait on hold for hours) just to get back a few dollars.

I have always reveled in the numbers (even though me and math class don't get along), and when I got older and bought my first house I reveled in the deductions. I did the same thing when I started my first business. 'Save that receipt,' I would holler to my wife. 'We can deduct that.'

Don't worry, my wife thinks I am nuts too but she does like it that she doesn't have to hire an accountant.

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.

one down, many to go

Received my first rejection yesterday, of this year anyway. I have sent it off to one more market and then I am retiring that particular story. I happens to be a very niche story so after this next market get back to me it is done. Unless a new market pops up on the radar.

Actually yesterday was an interesting day for the old inbox. I could tell everyone was back to work and looking over everyone's blogs because I had to run to Omaha and when I got back in the afternoon I had over 30 messages waiting for me. Of course one was the rejection and four were spam but the rest were interesting little tidbits.

I also received the first part of my order from Apex Publications who, coincidentally, is still on their drive to earn $2500 by the 9th of this month. They are half-way there and they have some very good deals going right now. I am really enjoying the old issues of the Apex digest I ordered. I am thinking of completing the set now.

I am a little behind schedule to finish my 2012 story right now. We ended up spending a family weekend pulling down Christmas decorations from the house and as I mentioned earlier, I ran to Omaha yesterday. We are hosting a college student for a couple of days. It is my wife's cousin's oldest boy, Joe. He is a good kid, despite being a Nebraska Cornhusker. I believe my writing will suffer as he is actually a pretty good conversationalist and he doesn't take a nap like my boy. He is from Idaho and couldn't afford to go home for the holidays so he is staying with family until he can get back into the dorms.

I think I can get a couple of hundred words written before he wakes up, now that my hands are warmed up and the coffee is done brewing so until tomorrow. Happy Tuesday!

Playing pool, shooting skeet and motorcycles

Natalie want to find out seven things about me. I am going to make her wait until tomorrow. Today I want to talk about the - just kidding. So without further ado,
Seven things about me you might not have known.

1. I still have a valid motorcycle license even though I no longer own a motorcycle. My mom wouldn't let me get a car when I turned 16 but she did let me get a cycle. (go figure, she said I had more experience riding than driving) My first bike was 1978 Kawasaki km100 when I was 13.

2. I am the oldest of four children. I have one sister who is only eleven months younger than me. My little brother is ten years younger than me.

3. I went to three different colleges before I got a single degree. I transferred from Iowa State in Ames to follow my soon to be wife. I ended up with a Bachelors degree in fine arts with an emphasis in creative writing, because I can't even draw stick people correctly.

4. I used to shingle houses for a day job. I have only fallen through one roof and off of one other.

5. I used to manage a pool hall/arcade. My clients were mostly drop out and hooligans. I have had at least two knives pulled on me and one trash can thrown at me. I liked that job.

6. I am an avid pool player. I have a table in my basement and I shoot with McDermitt cues. I have two of them. One is worth about 400-600 dollars and the other is worth about 350. I use triangle brand tips and carry my own cue ball with me to pool halls; just in case.

7. I used to be an avid skeet shooter but I haven't found the time or money to do that lately. I used to be pretty good at it too. Nothing like dusting a target that is flying away from you at 60 miles per hour.

I am not going to pick seven more people, but if you want to try it it was fun. Okay Natalie *sigh* I admit I had a good time doing this so you are off the hook with me. I forgive you.

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.

It doesn't feel any different

so here we are. 2009. Yep. Still feels the same, tastes the same, even looks the same. I am sure for the next couple of weeks my check writing hand will still be thinking it is 2008 but in the meantime we can be sure it is 2009. Everyone says so, so it must be true.

Yesterday marked a milestone in my blogging. 100 posts. I didn't realize it until my wife went to read Carrie's post and I saw that magic number sitting in the corner of the screen. 'Wow,' I thought to myself. 'What if I had devoted that time to writing actual stories instead of useless nonsense?' I quickly banished those thoughts from my head and tried to think of my post for today.

Here it is.

Yep.

Not a lot is different, after a whole year has passed and 100 posts. I look forward to a batch of acceptances and rejections this year but none have arrived so far. I am waiting for the onslaught. Bring it on.

Come on editors. I can handle it. Really.

Hope everyone has a great day.