What to do with all these new short stories?

AKA: How easily distracted I am (in a productive way this one time)

Not even quite halfway through short story month (May) I received a rejection on a short currently featured in my juggling routine. This led to some brief mourning the loss of Duotrope as a free site, and a resigned sigh as I referred to my own market spreadsheet hurriedly gathered in my final days on Duotrope.

This then led clicking on a link for a market to which I'd never submitted. There, a listing of tracking sites on which they were featured on caught my attention. So I clicked through to find a new site very similar to Duotrope. And there was great rejoicing.  The Submission Grinder has all the features I've been missing since January. I'm excited about submitting shorts again!

There's a joke about shipping my shorts in here somewhere but my brain is too fried to formulate it.

If you're a short story writer and are also reluctant to spend the few bucks you happen to make on a short story sale on a couple months of Duotrope membership, I highly recommend The Submission Grinder. They also have listings for novels and everything in between. Go on, check it out. It's free.

Writing Hard(ly) in May pt 5

Day 23: Using the idea I got over the weeked, I was off to a good start first thing in the morning. Then, 450 words in, I realized that my awesome idea wouldn't work in the pov of the person undergoing the physical change I'd implimented. It's hard to be the pov character when you're unconscious for a couple weeks while the interesting stuff is happening. So I had the idea to switch the pov to a new character observing the change. Just over 660 words in I was staring at a page of "meh". The light had gone out. Story fail.

Day 24: I still like the seed I had started with yesterday but it needs a new pot to grow in. Using a secondary prompt, I'm giving it a second go. Blarg 200 words in and this isn't working either.

Day 25: Gave up on the not-so-awesome idea. Tried something completely different. That didn't work either.

I think I've reached the point in the month were my brain is too focused everything else I have going on. When I sit down to write, I play out the story in my head enough to find out that: a) there's not enough conflict b) there's no spark of life in it, or c) nothing really interesting is happening. At any of those points, my fingers freeze on the keys and I realize I'm wasting my time that I don't really have to write as it is and I should just stop for the day so I can get done what I really need to get done.

Not that I'm giving up entirely, but unless something really grabs me, I'm going to focus on getting done what needs to be done so I don't have to be up working until 10pm.

I've ended up with what I think are a handful of fairly good stories and two full revisions that will allow me to get a couple more submissions into my juggling act soon. Yay for that!

Writing Hard(ly) in May pt 4

May is short story month for me for those of you just tuning in. In an effort to keep myself motivated, I'm reporting my daily progress.

Day 17: Was out on installation work most of the day so I wasn't even near a computer to get words in at lunch. In fact, I didn't even get lunch. Then it was a frenzy of packing and getting on the road with the kids for a Boy Scout family camping trip across the state. Though, I did brainstorm on the ending for yesterday's story.

Day 18: Figured I owed the kids some one on one time and I really needed a break from work so I didn't bring my laptop. There's no urge to check email that way. Of course, that also meant there was no writing. I don't to writing by hand. It's just a mess even I have to struggle to decipher.

Day 19: While watching an imax movie about butterflies with my daughter at the Henry Ford mueseum, I got an idea for my next short story. Spent the three and half our drive home outlining it in my head. Now I just have to find time to actually get it written.

Day 20: Playing a major round of catch up at work. I take a couple days off and work piles up. Boo! No writing. No breathing either. My allergies are awful right now.

Day 21: Okay, this is getting really frustrating. Allergies are better, however work is completely overwhelming and stressful.

Day 22: FINALLY. Thanks to some rain, an afternoon installation got cancelled, allowing me to catch up on some other work...which allowed me to sit down and finish the story from Day 16. It took me nearly until midnight to do it, but coming in at 3k, my character prompt story is done! Hooray!

Current monthly effort summary:
5 new shorts
2 shorts revised

Writing Hard(ly) in May pt 3

May is short story month for me for those of you just tuning in. In an effort to keep myself motivated, I'm reporting my daily progress.

Day 11: Um. No.

Day 12: Received two rejections on a couple shorts in my juggling routine. Spent some time researching new markets. While on one publication website I found a link to a new submission tracking site. Huge yay! Then I found some new places to send work to and submitted four stories. Oh yeah...writing. Not so much, but least this was the productive kind of distraction.

Day 13: Devolution wraps up at 6,000 words. Just in time, because here are some fun prompts this week that I want to try.

Day 14: A migraine morning. Monitor brightness turned down low. Using the write for a market spec prompt. One new 1,800 word short completed.  Hooray!

Day 15: Migraine still here. Blarg. Character prompt effort today. Got 1,000 words in before work took over.

Current monthly effort summary:
4 new shorts
2 shorts revised
1 new short in progress

Writing Hard(ly) in May pt 2

May is short story month for me for those of you just tuning in. While I'm not doing so well with the whole: write a new short story every day, I have been making some progress. I like progress.

Day 6: Got everyone out the door at 8am. Checked email, saw there was a prompt for the day...and never even got a chance to see what it was. Work took over, allowed me fifteen minutes for lunch, run required errands and finally was done with me at 9:50pm. Loooong day. No writing. :(

Day 7: I didn't sleep well, and after a long day yesterday, decided I deserved a little downtime in the morning. Work would be there in a couple hours. I wrote. My brain, being a bit fried from all the long days lately, suggested today would be a good time to rip into finishing up one of those rewrites I'd been meaning to get to. Mission accomplished. Coming in at 5,400 words, Healer is back in working order.

Day 8: Please refer to the previous long busy days where no writing happened. Though, I did do some thinking about another short that needs some plot redirection, so hey, that's something.

Day 9: Editing and revising of Devolution got underway to the point of deciding where I want to take the story. The original ending got a big "meh" from crit partners so I need to find a new spin on this thing. 2,300 words in and I finally was able to outline where I intend the story to go. This one might take a day or two to reach the end.

Day 10: Added 1000 words to Devolution. It's still needs a lot of words, but I'm still liking it and I can see the ending in my head.

Current monthly effort summary:
3 new shorts
1 short revised
1 short revision in progress

Writing Hard(ly) in May

So yes, May is short story month for me in case you haven't been following along. I'm attempting to follow some the supplied prompts this time, mostly because I only had time to gather a few ideas in my folder before May hit. With this challenge, prompts arrive in my inbox each morning. Gotta love that.

While I won't be sharing the fruits of my labor (they're not ripe yet, trust me), I will share my progress throughout the month.

Here's how week one is shaping up so far:

Day 1: 100 word story. Done during breakfast. Feeling accomplished today.

Day 2: Use a Flicker Photo for a story prompt. I found a picture of a cute little boy. Wheels are turning. 200 words in, work starts to pile up for the day. Then there's picking up kids after school, and a track meet that goes until 7:30pm. Out to dinner. Finish up some work. Oh crap, it's time for bed.

Day 3: Set aside today's prompt in the hopes of finishing up yesterday's. Can't decide on creepy, happy, sweet, horror, fantasy? Where the hell is this thing going? Screw it, get work done. Pick up kid 1, remember I have to create new parade props before next week wednesday. Take prop inventory at school. Go home and deal with customers for three more hours. Pick up kid 2 at 7:30pm. Make dinner. Go to store to by prop materials. Do some Google research for prints I need to make for props tomorrow. GAH! It's 10pm already! By midnight, a 1,500 word story is done. I went for happy and sweet. They can't all be dark or creepy.

Day 4: The weekend strikes. This means my normal morning quiet writing time does not exist. Ponder today's supplied prompt. It doesn't strike me to so I consult my own prompt list. Inspiration hits! Oh, but husband wants to work on the new garden fence right after breakfast. Damn. Okay, work on fence. Kids want to go play laser tag with their cousins. Arg. Spend three hours chatting with my sister while kids play and spend too much money on stupid arcade prize candy. When I return home, the fence project is still waiting, as is the parade prop project. Both those and dinner wrapped up and its almost 10pm. Again. I just start writing and the local festival fireworks begin. My writing room (on the second floor) is invaded so we can all watch the fireworks from the comfort of home (through the trees...almost a mile away, but without bugs, jostling for a good spot and annoying people). 1,100 words in and my eyes were closing.

Day 5: I spent an hour and a half in bed finishing up the short I feel asleep on the night before. It came in just over 2,500 words. I'm happy with this one, though it needs some smoothing out in places, as my mind informed me throughout the day as I was working. I did glance at the day's prompt, but then it was off to work for a couple hours, then the rest of the day went to completing the garden fence project and planting flower seeds. The day ended with yet another late dinner and some well deserved tv time with the husband. At least I got yesterday's story done.

May is short story month

It's May, and that means it's time for my second attempt at A Story A Day in May. This is where I set out with the intention to write a short story every day in May. Which means I should end up with 31 short stories. In theory.

This didn't work out quite so well last year, but I did end up with a handful of stories that I was happy with and have sold, or still have out in submissions. Because of my somewhat sucess, I'm giving it another go.

Will I write 31 short stories? Most likely, no. I will try each day to make something happen. That's the best I can do. If I end up with another handful of stories that work, I'll be happy.

As a back up plan for days when the ideas just aren't coming, I have a couple shorts that need revising. I'll pull those out and make some progress, or at least attempt to. I prefer to call it: Focus on Short Stories Month.

Well that's the plan. Wish me luck. In fact, even better, join me. Go on. Do it.

April A to Z Characters: Z

Z is for Zephros.

Zephros is a seed wizard from Solitude, a short story published in Tales of the Talisman. He must work the magic that the twenty-five wizards before him were unable to work. He is, as you will know if you read the story, is totally fitting character to end this month of alphabet fun with.

The lives of thousands depend on him doing what others before him were unable to do. Being a savior is a lonely endeavor and he must use all his wits to solve the problem his predecessors have had with the spell or the remnants of humanity will sleep forever.

No one wants a nap that long.

Likes: Fresh air, success, conversations with the food replicator.

Dislikes: Failure, being alone, endless meals of fortified oatmeal.

Thank you to everyone who shared this challenging month with me. It's been a fun ride through characters past and present.

Spending a little time with all of them has got my percolator working hard on fixing stories I haven't giving much thought to since setting them aside. Now if only my cloning machine worked I'd have time work on them all at once.

April A to Z Characters: P

P is for Paul.

Paul is the husband of Marion from Devolution, a short story currently in need of some extensive revision and possible expansion into novella territory. He's a good guy for the most part. He makes sure his wife has a nice home in their Plex. They even have a window. Thanks to all his work, they want for very little. The one thing he can't give his wife is a child. Not that he's unable. She's the one who can't clear the approval process. Mental unstability runs in her family and the last thing their orderly world needs is a drain on resources by caring for those who had no right to be born in the first place.

Paul does his best to get Marion counseling and find something more useful for her baby-craving mind to do. If she doesn't quit with her silly dreams and take her medication, he could loose his job and with it, the apartment with a view. He's not a bad man and she's not a bad woman but if you ask either of them, they'll probably tell you different.

Likes: Variation in his evening meals, a wife who comes to bed with him, and his job

Dislikes: Headstrong women, the uncivilized people who live out in the wilds, the thought of moving from his apartment.

April A to Z Characters: H

H is for Hemina.

Hemina is a tree dweller from Children of the Trees, published in Liquid Imagination Magazine. Her people are peaceful and live as one with the trees their goddess has given them. They trade with the ground dwellers from time to time to get things like cloth and grains they can not get from the trees and sky.

When the ground dwellers are insprired by their god to find the female who will give birth to his physical body among the tree people, they invade. Hemina prays for help. If she is to save the world she knows from the god the ground dwellers seek to bring to life, she'll have to rely on her wits and the trees around her because her goddess isn't answering.

Likes: A soft rain, the gentle whisper of the trees, spending time with her father

Dislikes: Axes, fire, and Gods who call her Sweetling.

April A to Z Characters: E

E is for Emily.

Welcome A to Z visitors. I hope you enjoy this alphabetical parade through some of my characters.

Emily is a two year old kidnapped girl from my short story, Healer, which is currently in the virtual 'to revise' pile.

Emily was shot at a streetside playground by teen gang members doing a drive by. Her new mommy is afraid to take her to the hospital because they might figure out Emily has been kidnapped. When her new mommy hears about a healer named Jillian from the wife of a patient who has just been miraculously cured, the solution becomes clear.

But Jillian has just performed a major healing and she can't repair all the damage the two bullets have wrought on Emily's little body. Her new mommy is going to have her baby back and she won't take no for answer.

Likes: Her real mommy, learning to use the potty by herself, sugary treats.

Dislikes: Her new mommy, getting shot, driving long distances in the car.

April A to Z Characters: C

C is for Caroline.

Thank you to all the A to Z visitors who have joined me for this alphabetical parade of my characters.

This creepy little girl is from, Found, a short story published in Allegory Magazine. A five year old girl caught in an alternate plane of grey, Caroline seeks out a friend to keep her company. She wants to play, and in the grey, they can play all they want without anyone finding them or yelling at them to be quiet. Caroline could be the perfect playmate and the grey could be just the thing her new friend needs to escape his abusive father.

Likes: Not having to pick up after herself, reading books, having a friend to hang out with.

Dislikes: The times when her friend goes away, people who aren't nice to her friend and ruining the story by listing the other thing.

Now available: Found

I am happy to announce that the winter edition of Allegory is up and it includes my short story, Found.

For more about this story, check out my recent Next Big Thing post.

Beyond that exciting news, I'm enjoying NyQuil filled days and nights as I recover from this evil cough/cold thing that has been haunting my chest and lungs since New Year's Day. Thank you to the person who decided to come out to celebrate New Year's Eve despite the fact they weren't feeling quite right. I am now feeling quite wrong. Blech.

Beyond that, I'm making time to continue my reading spree, and I managed to edit a short and get it back out in submissions. I have two more short stories to put back into my juggling routine and then I'm set to dive into novel submissions. And revisions on several more.

One thing at a time. And right now...I think that thing is a nap.

The Next Big Thing strikes again

A big thank you to Stephanie Herman of The Wild Literati who hunted my lurking self down to tag me for The Next Big Thing blog hop. Stephanie was kind enough to do some critques for me on A Broken Race a while back...back when I had time to write and put work up for critique. But Jean, you say, didn't you just rediscover your writing time with NaNoWriMo? Well yes, however, this is my really busy time of year for work so we'll get to this whole writing thing, a rant on stupidity in a bookstore, and my one word New Year's resolution in January posts.

For now, I'm going to attempt to play by the rules for The Next Big Thing. And I'm going to break them immediately (You did see that I said attempt?) by using a short story instead of a book.

What is the working title of your next book?
Found, which is a short story for those of you who skipped the paragraphs above.

Where did the idea come from for the book?
I participated in A Story a Day In May this past May, and this was one of the stories that came to me. In a day. The whole thing just spilled onto the page...or screen as it were. This was one of the few days that month that my brain worked in coordination with my fingertips and I knew I was on to something good.

What genre does your book fall under?
Horror? Paranormal? Young Adult? We'll just settle for Speculative Fiction

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
An innocent looking little boy. No one in particular.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Little Adam MacIntire discovers a special place to play with his new friend Caroline, a place where no one can hear or see them.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
Found is scheduled to be published in the January 2013 edition of Allegory

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
A couple hours. That makes it sound so easy. It's not really. It just happened to be a good writing day. If you want to see why I don't have 365 other short stories waiting to be published, check any of my May 2012 posts for details.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
No quick answer springs to mind. I'm sure there are some, probably many, but I haven't read anything similar recently enough to have memory of it.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?
Every parent's fear of losing their child in a store. Been there. Sweated heavily, heart pounding, frantically searching. No sir, not fun at all. Then I wondered what the child was thinking and doing while mom was freaking out. Oh hey, I had a story to tell.

What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?
Hiding is all fun and games as long as someone will eventually find you.

And now we get to the portion of the post where I tag a few fellow writers. I'd normally tag Ian over at Views from a Bald Patch but he's already participated and had tagged me back in November. So I'm going to nudge Ray Veen since it looks like he's got a project in the works and Ryan at A Dark Corner of the Mind because well, he needs to tell the world more about this book he's been editing for almost a year now.

Children of the Trees is live

It's been a busy month around here. Not only with NaNoWriMo, but with short stories. I have two bits of good news to share today.

Children of the Trees is now online in Issue 15 of Liquid Imagination.

Also, I'm happy to announce that my short story, "Found" has been accepted for publication in Volume 20/47 of ALLEGORY which will be live on the web in January.

Thank you to all of my wonderful critique partners who helped me get these stories fleshed out and cleaned up. I guess this means I need to get some more stories out in submissionland now that NaNo is over.

Another story to be published

Happy news time! Children of the Trees, a short fantasy story, is to be published in the upcoming edition of Liquid Imagination. It's due out in November.

When Hemina's body and her tree dwelling people are attacked by a God in need of a phsyical form, she finds that her Goddess is missing and someone has to take up the slack.

All work and no writing makes writers twitchy

Apologies to my usual blog haunts. I have not had the freetime to hang out in my beloved internet. Blame work. I do.

While I love the ability to pay bills, the lack of writing time is really getting on my nerves. I pity the character who gets their wish to have me work on their story next. I have a good deal of pent up aggression to vent into words. People might get hurt. No, I'm kidding, they'll certainly get hurt. Hell, they'll probably get killed.

I could really use a good fight scene right now. In the mood I'm in, I wouldn't place bets on which side would win.

Mermaids might suddenly find the ocean dry pumped for a good scrubbing.

Samarah, you might find the middle is one bloody fight after another with no sex until the end, which as I recall, there wasn't much sex at the end. Your patience is hightly recommended.

Jackson, your story includes a lot of blood and gore. I don't think I could make that more depressing, bloody or gory than it already is, but hey, do you really want to challenge me on that?

Bruce, my dear knight, your story already doesn't end well for you, suffice it to say, the middle will likely not be any more pleasant. What with the excess body hair, the flock of godly sheep, and your empty-headed twit of a girlfriend...say what if she talked a lot, really loudly, until she drove you all into madness? I'm open to changing up the ending. What do you say?

Maribella, I'd recommend not making any demands right now. I'm much more in the mindset of your uncle at the moment.
You don't want me writing about babies right now, Marion. I guarantee it would be some deformed, demon-possessed creature dead set on bringing about the end of your world, and while it wouldn't provide much resolution, I'm inclined to let the baby win.

Which brings me to Vayen and the gang. Really? Do I need to even go there? You know what this mood is like first hand.

Deep cleansing breaths and all that. Ahem. Yeah.

Percolator In Action

From my backyard: A cecropia moth visited our trampoline.

While I haven't had a change to write a darn thing lately, the time away from doing so has allowed my subconscious percolator to do its thing. Three things I've accomplished this week without physically accomplishing anything (writing related):

1. At long last, I've happened upon a title for the sequel to Trust. Now called: Chains of Gray. That only took several years...

2. I've discovered that I seem fond of two themes throughout several of my stories--which are otherwise unrelated. One is the color gray (or grey, as I prefer to see it) having some significance in various ways. The other is genetics - either the manipulation of, breaking down of or restrictions based upon them. It started with Trust, then went in another direction in A Broken Race and splintered into Devolution. Now its continuing on in the as yet untitled (Egads, yet another project to title. Let's hope that doesn't take years, shall we?) prequel to A Broken Race. Neither thing was intentional in its multiple manifestations. Giving the percolator time to wander through my stories while my body was busy allowed it to make these connections and point them out to me. At which point I profoundly said, "Huh. Weird."

3. I've had time to work on troubleshooting the aforementioned Devolution. That short story has been languishing in my 'rework' folder for well over a year. I've got the conflict down its just finding the right *bang* for the resolution that totally escapes me as of yet. It's not a twist kind of story and that might be what's tripping me up. At least this gives the percolator something to chew on while the rest of me is off in worker drone mode.

Have you noticed any unintentional repeating of things in your stories?

Camp, edits and balls

Trala runs screaming through the paper-lined paths. "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!"

"What the heck are you talking about?" Delilah asks, peering upward. "Holy crap. She's right. Run!"

Nekar stands his ground beside Ms. Wildstar. They both watch as a wad of cloth plummets to the floor. Nekar gives it a minute to settle before examining it closer.

"Why the mass of terrycloth?" asks Blue.

Ms. Wildstar shakes her head. "It's a towel."

Nekar extracts a crumbled post-it note from within the wad and straightens it. "She Who Taps the Keys has officially thrown in the the towel on Camp NaNo." 

Delilah creeps out from the paper wads. "She finished?"

Blue holds up his translator. "Perhaps you should get one of these." He sighs. "It's a phrase meaning-"

"What's on the post-it note?" asks Ms. Wildstar.

"Story titles." A steady whump, whump, whump sounds overhead.

Trala takes another hysterical lap. "The sky! It's falling!"

Blue snakes out a tentacle and trips her. He whistles to himself as he backs away. 

"Is she submitting again?"

"Five stories at once. Hence the juggling. If you hear any hint of swearing. Do run. Worse than the sky, balls will fall on your head."

Ms. Wildstar nods. "That explains the editing snow of random words that fell thickly over the weekend." 

Nekar reaches over to pluck a shred of paper from her hair. "Hey, you got a nod on you."

"Oh god, get it off!" She shudders. "They were everywhere! I thought I'd burned them all."

"We should make sure there aren't any more laying around. The damn things breed like dust bunnies." Nekar leads Ms. Wildstar into the pathways.

May writing challenge summary

Blooming in my yard today: Sweet William 

So what did I get out of this crazy A Story A Day In May challenge? Aside from the stress of realizing there was no way in hell I could work long days AND come up with a story idea AND write it to completion every day, I managed to birth five short stories I'm pretty darn happy with, one so-so story and five starts that either I ran out of time to work on this month or didn't go anywhere. My percolator also got quite a workout.

Was it worth trying? Yes. I wrote more than I would have if I hadn't roped myself into participating because I felt I had to write because I said I would no matter how darn busy I was.

Would I do it again? Perhaps. But only if I went into it prepared with my own prompts/ideas for each day I planned to write (you don't have to write every day and I had at least intended to take Sundays off). The provided prompts didn't work for me / didn't inspire me / sounded like things I would normally avoid writing or complain about in a critique. I'd hoped to work with at least a couple of the provided prompts but not a single one lit a creative spark. Perhaps my spark is just fickle - it was certainly lacking in fuel even on a good day.

So what did I end up using for prompts?
Tickle and A Little Thing Like Death came from upcoming magazine prompts.
Sunset Cruise was inspired by my recent reading of Friedman's Fables.
Taking a Breather was inspired by a 100 word story I wrote a year ago. Though, it completely twisted from what I set out to write. I love when that happens.
Found came straight from the percolator. I sat down. Words came out. And as a bonus, they made sense! It's pretty awesome when that happens too.

Tune in during June to follow my trials and triumphs of participating in Camp NaNo.