Just received

...my 300th rejection. Didn't even sting.

Onwards we go...

My latest to-read pile

73-day rejection from Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, personal and with some comments that the ending felt too abrupt. I have a feeling that January is going to be the month where editors everywhere return to handle any and all submissions in their inboxes. Bring on the responses, I say!

And now, my to-read pile:



I'll list them in their appropriate groups since I seem to not understand that using a flash on glossy books means bad business.

For pure, bibliophilish enjoyment
A Feast For Crows by George R.R. Martin
Cast in Courtlight by Michelle Sagara
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (a re-read after seeing the film)
The Beach by Alex Garland (interest sparked after seeing the film)
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 2007 edited by Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link, and Gavin Grant (I'm taking many, many notes on this one)
Isaac Asimov's Halloween edited by Gardner Dozois and Sheila Williams (still reading even though I started back in October, gah)

For the Hugo list
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein

For review
The Servant of the Manthycore by Michael Ehart
Lace and Blade edited by Deborah J. Ross
Killswitch by Joel Shepard

Hmm, that should keep me busy for a bit. Once this stack is done I think I'll go through my shelves and find other unread books and make a new pile. But I will not make that pile now! No! I must wait! WAIT!

Rejectomancy shtuff

20-day rejection from Fantasy Magazine that reads, "No on this one, I'm afraid. For me the most effective part of the story were the roommates - they managed to be funny and weird and interesting in a really nice way."

I think tonight I'll take some time to send out the stories that have come back to me or the ones that are just sitting around collecting dust because I'm too hard on myself and reject my own work before they can even go out the door. That's a no-no. Must stop, must stop.

WOTF reject

89 days to receiving an Honorable Mention for "Old Spoons" for the 3rd Quarter of the Writers of the Future contest. Funny that I got this today as I just went to the postal office this morning to mail out this quarter's submission. Two subs to them so far, both HMs. Hopefully they'll like the latest story. Onwards, I say...

Busy mailbox

Let's see, let's see. My mailbox has been pretty bloated lately, stuffing itself with a bunch of different meals. First, it's been snacking on four different rejections over the weekend (mmm, needs some salt!). These were mostly forms and have no effect on me whatsoever. The stories will be going back out some time this week.

Next up, a hearty meal consisting of a free copy of The Princes of the Golden Cage by Nathalie Mallet and my contest prize, The Best American Comics: 2006. Yay, books!

And finally we come to dessert. My mailbox has no will power, and has decided upon an official certificate that marks me as a kickass member of the New Jersey Ghost Hunters Society. Yummers!

And even with all that, I'm thinking I should be getting a few more things in the mail this week. Still anxiously awaiting my contrib. copies for Murky Depths...

Rejecto!

Got in the mail yesterday from the Writers of the Future contest: "Your entry has received an Honorable Mention for the 2nd quarter 2007 Contest (January 1 to March 31, 2007). Achieving the level of Honorable Mention means that your story was in the top 10 - 15% of all entries received for the quarter and deserves special recognition as such."

Not a winner, but I've been told this is still very good. Oh well, already sent them a new story.

Progress notes for May 29, 2007

Whew, story is done. Time to let it sit for a few days and then I'll edit it with zero mercy.

"The Clouds are Calling"

New Words: 1,084
Total Words: 2,578
Pages: 7
Deadline: None
Reason for stopping: DONE
Stimulants: Some wine
Songs played loudly: "Tie the Rope" by The Format
Exercise: Walk at the park
Mail: Couple rejections, and an awesome card from my sister
Darling du Jour: I swallowed, listening to Tom's father ramble on about what he's done in life, what he has put together for his family, how his own father never thought he'd be anything—certainly not a housemaster—and that it was all too much and now there was nothing left to gain. I listened hard as he said it, trying to mishear the words, catch something in the background. Nothing.
Other writing-related work: Nada
The Internet is full of Things: Interesting post on the death of serious science fiction over at PopMatters.

Progress notes for May 7, 2007

Whew, had a really tough scene to write tonight. Hopefully that means it turned out well considering how emotionally tied to it I felt. Anyways, just one final scene to write and then I can call it an official first draft.

"The Songs He'd Sing"

New Words: 995
Total Words: 4,827
Pages: 12
Deadline: None
Reason for stopping: Mentally exhausted
Stimulants: Ice cream!
Songs played loudly: "Ideas" by Days Away
Exercise: Quick walk outside
Mail: A nice, personal rejection from ASIM that had been held to the final round ::snartleblast::
Darling du Jour: N/A
Other writing-related work: N/A
The Internet is full of Things: LOST is officially ending in 2010. So, they're stretching it out into three shorter seasons. Meh. I'll still watch, but I wished that Season 4 was going to be the final one. Oh wells.

Progress notes for May 2, 2007

For those that pay attention, you'll begin to notice some different book covers under the Currently Reading column over there --->. I have a couple of non-genre books that I've been wanting to read lately. It'll be weird not to be reading about elves, robots, and spaceships for a bit, but that's all right. So first up is Jodi Picoult's The Tenth Circle, which is to be followed by Matthew Pearl's The Dante Club.

"The Songs He'd Sing"

New Words: 416
Total Words: 2,823
Pages: 7
Deadline: None, la la laaa
Reason for stopping: LOST is coming on and it's a John Locke-episode! MUST-WATCH-TV!
Stimulants: Is an apple stimulating?
Songs played loudly: "I Don't Love You" by My Chemical Romance
Exercise: 3,837 steps
Mail: One form rejection
Darling du Jour: "Are you going in the fridge tonight?"
She clicked her tongue. "No. No, not tonight. Too risky."
Other writing-related work: Nothin'
The Internet is full of Things: For those of you that have deep, emotional connections with computers (much akin to old ladies and their cats), do not watch the video below. The violence level in it would be labeled THREAT ORANGE.

Pi time

Happy Pi Day, everyone!

Speaking of mathematical constants, here's a list of a number of things I need to do:

• Review Robotika by Alex Sheikman and Joel Jason O'Chua, which should be up in a few days or so.
  
• Read and review Dreadful Skin by Cherie Priest.
• Read and review Brasyl by Ian McDonald.
• Er, try and do a Greenhorn comic to make up for the one I didn't do this week. Maybe. We'll see.
  
• Finish a story (either "The Morning Gift" or "The Lady of Jeweled Dreams") to submit to the MZB's Sword and Sorceress 22 anthology.
• Work on rewrite of "The Farrah Job."
• Hey, how about I not waste all my time playing Rogue Galaxy and trying to make every stupid sword from every stupid item I find? Hey, how about that? Huh?
  
• Continue work on shh secret project.
• I've run out of coffee creamer. ::cries like a loon::
• Gawd, I'm no longer even listing things to do here, just complaining off the cuff.
• What's with the weather lately?
• I want a kitty cat.
  

In other news, got a 16-day "after careful consideration, we have decided not to accept..." from The Town Drunk. Bah! This story keeps getting close at every place I send it. Either that means it has a chance elsewhere or I need to sit down with it and re-read the sucker. I'll try one more place for now. I'm a masochist, I guess.

Ack, LOST is on!

Sick, blogs, and a rewrite

Being sick is no fun, especially when there's no good TV marathons on. Hum-bug. Anyways, SF Signal has a neat section of their web site devoted to sf/f writers that blog. Check it out. And, uh, why didn't I know that Paolo Baciqalupi blogs? Sheesh. I feel so out of it now...

Got a rejection and rewrite request today as well. Going to ponder the rewrite as the story will need an entire new ending, which, for me, is the hardest part. Give me some time, folks, give me some time.

Progress notes for February 20, 2007

"The Morning Gift"

New Words: 605
Total Words: 2,083
Pages: 7
Deadline: Submission period opens on March 23
Reason for stopping: Tired. Got most of the plot figured out, but I know already that I'm going to have to go back and flesh out a lot of backstory. Ugh.
Stimulants: Two cups of coffee with hazelnut creamer
Songs played loudly: "Bend and Not Break" by Dashboard Confessional, "Stuck in a Moment" by Mika
Mail: Couple rejections yesterday, got Farthing #5 today.
Darling du Jour: They all blur as one, he'd said one morning to her and the others. That's when he made Erlon One-Eye. And No-Nose. Halfears. He'd done worse things as well.
Other writing-related work: Jotting things down for a review of Justina Robson's Keeping It Real.
The Internet is full of Things: The Barenaked Ladies' latest video for "Sound of Your Voice" might have cost the band only $3.45 to make, but that's cause they're some smart Canadians. Check it out!

Progress notes for February 16, 2007

"The Morning Gift"

New Words: 402
Total Words: 919
Pages: 2
Deadline: Submission period opens on March 23
Reason for stopping: New bottle of wine beckons!
Stimulants: Absolutely nothin'.
Songs played loudly: "Just Take the Money and Leave" by Inkwell
Mail: A 3-day "some nice touches, but we'll have to pass" from the VanderMeer anthology. Also, Eugie's sending me Farthing's fifth issue to review.
Darling du Jour: "I should've burned your throats off," Lord Senli said. "Or sewn your lips together. Either would have pleased Halu Haekamel."
Other writing-related work: Nada.
The Internet is full of Things: Woman Allegedly Ties Up Valentine, Drinks His Blood. Sucks when your Valentine is a vampire, huh?

I guess an update...

Not much to really update on.

Writing news
~ 150-day rejection from Aberrant Dreams with nice comments and encouragement to submit another story.

~ 23-day rejection from The Sword Review with some love it/hate it remarks.

~ 1-day rejection from The Town Drunk.

Sent out a couple stories last night. Other than that, I've been trying to catch up on my reading. I've got some books to review for FantasyBookSpot, and then on the side for pleasure, both the new issues of Shimmer and F&SF have arrived, tempting my eyes to devour them.

Also, The Girlfriend got me this for our anniversary/Valentine's Day celebration:


It's awesome.

Well...

Not much of an update, but thought to share regardless.

~ 14-day rejection on "Helen Goes Shopping" from Abyss & Apex after resubmitting it. Oh well. After a few more tries with this one, I'm probably going to trunk it and work on other ideas.

Phooey...

Writing news
~ 78-day form rejection for "The Dead Forest" from Orson Scott
Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show.

In other news, half of the critiques for "When It Burns, It Burns Like a Star" say my story has no point and they hated it, while the other half liked it and said it really made them think.

Humph. Well, I'm just going to completely rewrite it as a novella. And that's my decision.

Woot woot still...

Still on a first sale high. Mailed out my contracts yesterday for Shimmer. I have to work on writing a short bio for them. I wonder what I'll come up with.

1-day personal rejection from The Town Drunk. I don't think I have anything else to submit to them yet. Maybe I can whip up a story before their reading period ends. How in the heck does Terry Pratchett write humor so well?

280+ day personal rejection from Black Gate. The editor, Mr. O'Neill, had some nice things to say about my piece, but confessed that it wasn't as original as the others he was currently looking at. Considering this was the very first story I ever wrote, I'm quite pleased with this rejection.

Anyone have any advice for keeping things organized? I have a folder where I keep all my rough drafts and earlier versions. I figure I'll make a folder for all my contracts and maybe another for the final printed copy. Any ideas?

I know it's spelled Le Guin...

Top of the Monday mornin' to y'all!

First up, check out my review of Ursula K. Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea over here!



Unfortunately, Le Guin's name was entered spelled wrong into the FBS database and I'm sure it's too late to change it. Oh well...I'm sure she's used to it. It tis a tricky name, yes.

Writing News (dum dum duuuuummmmmm)
- A one-day rejection from Shimmer on "The Dealer's Hands". Suggestions were made and they offered to look at it again after a rewrite.

- A four-day rejection from The Town Drunk on "Dragon Speech". They seemed to like it at least and did offer some suggestions. My only problem is I can't tell if they want me to rewrite it and send back or not. Taken from rejection letter:

We encourage you to expand this story and have more fun with the dragon -- and we would like to see what you come up with.

That line there makes me think that it'd be OK to resubmit later after a rewrite. I don't know though. Anyone want to help me out?

- Still waiting to hear back from The Sword Review, among lots of other magazines. We'll see how this all goes...

Nicest rejection yet

Yesterday, I received a rejection letter in my email for the story "Helen Goes Shopping" that I submitted to Shimmer. Editor J.L. Radley sent me the nicest rejection I have gotten so far.

It's a weird feeling -- I'm quite happy with this rejection. Sure, I'm dying to get a story published, but you have to take everything in this business with a grain of salt. Just getting a personal response is a high point in an author's career. I'm sure my story could have easily been skimmed, and replied to with a "Sorry, but we're going to have to pass."

But it wasn't just skimmed. It was read.

I wonder if the big namers ever got this way in the beginning? I can hardly imagine Terry Brooks or R.A. Salvatore smiling gleefully as they read that their story was rejected. But for me, it's almost good enough that he said he liked my opening and took his time to thoroughly critique the story for me. He raised many red flags about what I had done wrong concerning P.O.V. and wished me good luck with it in the future.

I plan on editing "Helen Goes Shopping" a lot, but when it's finished again, I'm sending it right back out into the world.

Current submissions

Since May 2005 hit, I've been hard at work producing several short stories. At the moment there are seven of my stories out in the United States--hopefully being reviewed by nice slush readers, and even more hopefully being picked for their magazines.

1. "Dragon-elves" is a 10,000 word fantasy novelette about a young boy hiding in the woods after his village is attacked by a trible of cruel elves. It's up to him and another escapee to rescue those still alive from his village. It is currently under review at Leading Edge.
2. "Drinking of Ales" is a humorous short story about a trio of trolls that come to a local village in hopes of tasty their fine collection of ales. It is currently being queried at SFFH.com.
3. "Escape" is a 10,000 word fantasy novelette about a former Royal Guard of the king who wakes up inside a prison cell in the middle of the words. Her only chance of survival is in her escape. It is currently under review at Aberrant Dreams.
4. "Chance on Catella" is a science fiction short story about a world where taking chances can cost you your life. It is currently under review at Terra Incognita.
5. "Some Things Just Don't Sell" is a horror short story about how in order to keep one's hope and sanity, they have to hold on to what they've known all along. It is currently under review at HP Lovecraft's Weird Mysteries.
6. "When It Burns, It Burns Like a Star" is a science fiction short story about having faith even when all points to not. A priest must decide what is truly right; help an escaped criminal destroy an entire prison, or pray for the best. It is currently under review at Glimmer Train.
7. "Helen Goes Shopping" is a quirky science fiction short story about a young woman by the title's name who, unfortunately, discovers the exact date of her death. It's a shame that she has only a week to live, and what's a girl to do without a coffin? It is currently under review at Shimmer.
   

A few of these stories have all ready been returned with nicely written rejections, but as the saying goes, "a story generally won't be published until you've hit 50 or more rejections."

Here's to a few more then!