My first pro sales!

I've spent most of this year focusing on the new novel, a clockwork historical based on the Acadian expulsion so I haven't sent out as many short stories submissions as last year.  It's hard to write (or edit) while the kids are home for the summer though so I've taken a break from the longer work and rewriting some of my short fiction which has at least one or two rejections.

I must be doing something right in those edits, I just sold two of this summer's revised stories! Both sales are to the same publisher for different anthologies they are printing this year. These are my first pro sales so it's extra exciting!

They will be out later in the year, a very quick turnaround time.

http://blog.flametreepublishing.com/fantasy-gothic/gothic-fantasy-successful-submissions-murder-mayhem-and-crime-mystery

http://blog.flametreepublishing.com/fantasy-gothic/gothic-fantasy-successful-submissions-dystopia-utopia-swords-steam

A very belated 2015 Recap

While I haven't blogged much, it's been a busy year!

I've had 2 short stories come out this year. The Saturday Evening Post published a second story of mine, "The Art of Forgetting" and Acorn Press published Snow Softly Falling, an anthology in which my story "Oh Christmas Tree" appears. This one is rather special to me, it was my first book launch and it took place in PEI so my Mom and some of my aunts and cousins were able to attend. Very exciting!

As for my goals of last year, I've reached a few-- mostly by getting out in the community more, attending book launches and readings and introducing myself to people.

I applied for a couple of different grants this year and I am thrilled that I made it to the final rounds in one and received a Writer's Reserve Grant from the Ontario Arts Council for the SF novel I started writing this year. (I used NaNoWriMo as a push to get most of the novel written in November and am almost at the end of the first draft now, 78k words and counting!)

Another story of mine made it to the finalist round of the Friends of the Merril contest! It's also garnered 3 personal rejections so I have high hopes it will be accepted soon.

Stats for this year:
72 submissions (I definitely hit my year's goal of 52!)
1 acceptance
3 held for further considerations (possibly a few more--it's hard to tell sometimes)
18 personal rejections
No new short stories this year--rewritten a few older ones and outlined 2 novels, one thriller and one SF historical.

I'm still not reading as much as I'd like and I'm still spending far to much time on facebook. I'll keep trying to increase the first and decrease the second. There are a lot of good books out there!

2014 Recap and Goals for 2015

A few of my writerly friends are posting year-end recaps and listing their writing goals for the year. I don't usually make resolutions, it's too depressing when I don't succeed, but I like this one. Achievable goals, that's a good motto for 2015.

So here goes.

Short stories submitted this year:  40
Wow... that's a record for me. Three were accepted giving me a 7% acceptance rate. I got a few VERY nice rejection letters this year too, the "it's almost there" kind that encourage me to keep writing.

New short stories: 3 brand new and 3 complete rewrites of older stories.

Larger projects:

• I rewrote Equilibrium (my first novel, a supernatural thriller) to get under the 'magic' 100K words. It started at 108K, shrank to 105K, was turned down by a handful of agents and is currently at 99K. After a critique buddy gets finished with it, I'm hoping to get it down even further.
• I finished rewriting my screenplay after losing the last 40 pages when I downloaded Windows 8 and my laptop died. It still needs work but the premise is sound, I think. It's a comedy about a ghost chef.
• I found a market for my novella, a fairytale retelling and sent it out. There isn't a very large market for novellas, unfortunately. Twice now it's been turned down but with lovely comments added so I'm still hopeful.
• I also applied for a writer's grant this year for my 2nd novel, The Gully Years. I didn't get it but maybe next year. Two of my short story sales came out of this novel.

Become a more visible member of the writing community.

• I attended my first convention, Ad Astra and went to Inspire, Toronto's Book Fair.
• I applied for a couple of slush reader positions and have been reading for Apex Magazine since September. I'm amazed at how much I've learned already.  There is a similarity to many of the stories Apex turns down: not starting in the right place and unsatisfactory endings.  I've spent the last couple of years focusing on my beginnings and quite a few of my rejection letters have said, "the end didn't work for me".  Which tells me 2 things... first, that the beginning DID work (they read the whole thing!) and second, I need to strengthen my endings.

So my "resolutions" this year:
1. Write every day. At least 1 page, preferably 2 or 3 (blog posts are acceptable.)
2. Submit a story every week. (52 in a year? I can do that.)
3. Apply for grants!
4. Read more. Novels, short stories. My TBR pile is completely out of control.
5. Rewrite screenplay, adding more comedic elements and find someone to help critique it.
6. Start querying Equilibrium again after the next round of edits.
7. Start outlining the new SF novel or rewrite one of the trunk stories that is salvageable.
8. Keep attending conventions and meeting other writers/editors.
9. Downgrade FB time to 1-2 hours per day otherwise I'll never have time for the rest!

Happy New Year!

A Halloween Treat: a short story to amuse

Hunted

A rhythmic thudding echoed through the tree trunks, bouncing off the leafy canopy. Crouched at the base of a tree, the woman froze, her hand almost touching a mushroom hiding in the thick leaf mulch. Terror held her rigid for a long moment before she leaped to her feet and ran, bare feet noiseless on the hard-packed dirt. She zigged through the green-laced shadows, harried by the sound. 

She had only one chance for escape. She ran faster, breath rasping in her throat. A sharp branch tore at her scalp. The stinging told her she’d left hair behind.

Gasping, she slowed down. Think! Think this through! Just because it’s close by doesn’t mean you’re caught. Be quiet and it’ll lose you.

She needed to calm her breathing, calm her heart-rate. The metronome of a quiet heart never caught its attention but galloping heart beats could. No-one knew how it heard a single heartbeat  but it did.

One, two, three, in. One, two, three, out. Her heart slowed and thumped away quietly now, hopefully invisible to the hunter searching for prey.

A flicker of motion to her left. She remained still, only her eyes betrayed her, leaping from shadow to shadow.

THUMP. THUMP.

She closed her eyes. If it got her, she didn’t want to see.

A melodic whistling sounded nearby. A catchy tune. Ba-da-da-dum. Ba-da-da-dum.

She pressed her lips tighter together, resisting the urge to hum along. It would hear that for sure, it was so close.

Thump, ba-da-da-bum. Thump, ba-da-da-dum. Thump.

It was right in front of her. She could feel its rancids breath on her flushed face. It was too late. A high-pitched singing joined the drumming and the whistles. Then a single, plucked note vibrated, adding to the song.

Her foot began to tap. She fought to regain control—it was her foot, dammit!— but it jerked up and down, keeping rhythm with the drum beat pounding through her body.

She was caught. A tear trickled down her cheek. She’d never see her family again. Their faces flickered behind her closed eyelids, Mother, Father, her sister, her friends. She would be lost to them forever.

But she could face it bravely. If she were done for, there was only one thing left to do. Curiousity compelled her to it. She’d heard such terrible tales of them over the years; horrid stories of the desiccated bodies they left behind, all the life sucked out, only a husk left. She had to see what these terrible monsters looked like. 

She opened her eyes, just a crack. Smooth pink skin. Round and glistening slightly. It loomed in front of her, an eyeless tube. Its gaping mouth was lined with rows of tiny white teeth.

Aghast, she realized she was humming along with its contagious song. Caught in its trap, she felt the life leaving her body, felt her skin crinkling, her very brain being devoured by the monster’s deadly song. 

Held by its eyeless stare, she swayed back and forth to the beat, mesmerized by the dreaded Ear Worm’s melody.

Writerly Questions

A friend and fellow writer tagged me in a blog hop so that I can answer the following questions:

1. What is one thing you've learned about writing that you wish you knew when you started?
2. If you could go back in time to witness one particular historical event (knowing that your presence wouldn't alter the timeline), what would you choose?
3. If you could delete 3 words from the English language, what would they be?
4. What is one piece of writing advice that you think is really overrated? Why?

1. I really wish I'd known the value of talking with other writers when I first started. They've encouraged me, taught me so many things, and kept me going when I wanted to give up. I'd have joined a writer's group much earlier.

2. Some of the things I'd like to see if I was companion on the TARDIS: taking a voyage with Capt Janeway, visiting the Burrows, watching the Doctor defeat the Silence... wait, you meant non-fiction historical events? I'd rather travel in fictional lands but if it has to be non-fiction, then biblical events would definitely be top of my list, or maybe First Contact, whenever that is.

3. I wouldn't get rid of any words. I may not like their meanings but we still need the words themselves to describe the ideas. I'd rather get rid of the NEED for misogynistic, racist or otherwise insulting words.

4. The most overrated writing advice: "write what you know." If everyone wrote only what they knew, we would never learn anything. That being said, I can certainly write with greater authority when I know my subject very well.


Thanks for tagging me, Christina!

http://christinavasilevski.com/blog/#sthash.lOxRscWz.dpbs

Musings

The past couple of years, I've been making a big effort to be professional about my writing. Dreaming is lovely but persistence is far more effective. I've been writing for a very long time but if I hadn't started sending stuff out in 2011, I wouldn't have had my few pieces published--a  big thrill whether they are considered professional sales or not. I'm piling up the rejection letters but it's the acceptance letters I reread when I need a lift. (Actually, I reread the personal rejections too, I've gotten awesome feedback from some very generous people!)


Being professional doesn't just mean increasing the hours I spend writing. It means meeting people. I went to my first writers' convention this year (yay Ad Astra!) but mostly its been online. Twitter and Facebook are part of the digital playground where writers, editors, agents, and publishers interact. And I've been reading dozens of articles on how to edit, submit, write a query letter or a synopsis or a grant application. I sometimes feel like Alice falling through the rabbit-hole, there is so MUCH to learn.
 

The first thing I learned, the thing that amazes me over and over again, is how friendly, open and helpful everyone is! Whenever I have a question, someone is more than willing to share their industry knowledge with a middle-aged newbie. I've seen total strangers cheer each other on, give e-hugs of commiseration, applaud others' successes. There's an occasional sour spot--the battles for equality and diversity are still raging, I've put my two cents in a couple of times but the overwhelming sense I have is that the literary community is inclusive and welcoming. That's a relief, because I plan to spend a lot of time here.

Sometimes I wish I started earlier, like in my 30s or even 40s. I heard about a man, Harry Bernstein, whose book "The Invisible Wall" was written at age 93 and published at age 98. He said, "My 90s were the most productive years of my life."

I've still got a few years left ahead of me.

Ad Astra 2014

I survived my first writer's convention!

Ad Astra's been running for a few years but I've never been able to convince myself to go (not to this one nor any of the others I keep reading about)... because you know, they're for 'real' writers.

But with 3 short stories published, I can't deny it: I am a real writer. And after hanging out with other scribes for most of the weekend, I also know I'm just as conflicted, guilt-ridden and doubtful of my ability as any other writer out there.

Linda Poitevin,author of Sins of the Angels

 So... I went.
I had a blast! Met a great group of writers and fans of all ages and stages, pubbed and unpubbed, old pro and newbie, novelists and poets, cosplayers and panelists. As a new friend and member of my critique group said recently, "I have found my people."
And they're wonderful.

One of the Dalek conventioners

I attended a few panels, listened to some amazing readings, chatted at parties, and wandered through the dealer room buying books. I exchanged pleasantries with a few of my favourite authors and met a few more who instantly catapulted to the top of my TBR list. I was awed by the depth and breadth of talent in one convention center. And by how friendly and welcoming everyone was.

The only fly in my particular jam jar was heading home a day early because my whiplashed neck and arthritic back couldn't quite keep up with my desire to stay.  Next year.  Oh yeah, I am definitely doing this again.

Some of my loot...