Sunday, January 15, 2012

What's The Word Of Today?

The word of today is "progress".

It may be only incremental, but it's progress just the same. So let's talk about the types of progress that I've made in the past month with my writing.

Blackness In The White Sand

I've made only minimal progress on this particular novella, in that I'd only gotten about three pages written in the past three weeks. On the positive side, I finally figured out how I want to write not only the climatic scene, but the ending as well. On the negative side, this means I have to spend some time studying the beginning part of the novella and write a few notes.

Line 21

I e-mailed another query, this time to a Texas based publisher (no, not the one that Travis Erwin recently published his memoir with) called Black Rose Writing. Hopefully they will find my query acceptable and intriguing enough to make a request for a few chapters.

I've basically written off Solstice Publishing as it's now going on six months and beyond a few answers telling me how far along they are in their slush pile (my novel is currently sitting at #198, and this was back December) I haven't heard thing one on whether they like it or not.

Short Story

I started exploring the Duotrope weekly newsletter near the tail end of November to see if I could find a few homes for a few of my short stories. I e-mailed a submission to an e-zine called "Popcorn Fiction" (no response); one to "Fringe Magazine" (on hiatus due to this unfortunate incident) and one to Cynic Magazine (again).

I also, in mid December, e-mailed a quirky horror story for U.K. based horror anthology. For those of you who have been reading this blog since 2010, you might remember a quirky horror story called "A Day At The Office" that I posted at my now closed short story blog. For those of you who don't recall that particular story, it was written in pretty much the same vein as the flash fiction I had posted here back in December called "Daddy?"

Anyways, I got a response about week ago from the main contact person at the publisher who said that they liked the story very much and that they were going to pass it along. Not sure if that means it's going to get published, but I'm elated over the fact that one of my stories made it pass the initial cattle call and is now being seriously considered for a horror anthology.

Like I said at the beginning of the post, today's word of the day is "progress" and even though nothing solid has panned out yet, the fact that I'm actually doing something concrete with my writing means that I'm still getting up, dusting myself off and throwing myself back into the fray.

And that, my friends, sums up G's latest adventures in writing for the past month.

14 comments:

  1. Good luck on the UK publisher! Hooray for progress! I need to make some ;)

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  2. R: Thanks. I could use a little luck to start off the new year with.

    And yes, hooray for progress. When I can move forward on anything, instead of sitting on my ass crying "woe is me", that my friend is progress.

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  3. Into the fray - good job and I wish the best for publication!

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  4. Lynn: Thanks.

    If I can make this happen then my only resolution for the new year will be fulfilled, which was to get at least one story published.

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  5. Good news on the story. Probably means it's been kicked up the chain of command to those who make the final decision so that is good news.

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  6. Charles: Thanks.

    Even if it ultimately doesn't get accepted, it's still a small feather in my cap just the same.

    I actually do like it when someone else, like an editor, enjoys one of my stories.

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  7. Nothing beats a little spark of interest. I'm happy for you.

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  8. I echo the good wishes towards potential publication

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  9. Chris: Thanks. At this point, I will take any little nugget of success that I can get and build off of it to the best of my ability.

    S.R.: Thanks. It's a good way to start off a rather bleak month (work-wise that is).

    Darth: Thanks.

    It makes me glad that I'm slowly but surely proving those naysayers wrong.

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  10. Any progress is good! You're making alot more headway with the writing projects than I am... I've started so many, left several in the dangling stage- come up with more new ideas I'll need time for-

    Hate going back to make the beginning more in tune with the new ending- deciding where to add the connections.
    I remember your office story- made me squirm! Bet it'll get in! Good luck waiting around... tough to be so patient!
    Seems like so much work to sell goods is required lately...

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  11. Snaggle: Thanks.

    I got quite of a few of those old stories sitting around, and I can defintely sympathize with you on that particular point of tweaking stuff to either make it fit or read smoother.

    But just the same, it's actually a blast in tweaking them because I can apply what I've learned since I wrote them.

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  12. Hey, that's encouraging news G:)) Well done.

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  13. Jane: Thanks.

    It's definitely the highlight of my year so far.

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Go on, give me your best shot. I can take it. If I couldn't, I wouldn't have created this wonderful little blog that you decided to grace with your presence today.

About that comment moderation thingy: While yes, it does say up above I can take it, I only use it to prevent the occasional miscreant from leaving thoughtless and/or clueless comments.

So remember, all of your comments are greatly appreciated and all answers will be given that personal touch that you come to expect and enjoy.

G. B. Miller

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