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Posts Tagged ‘short stories’

Exciting News…

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on June 14, 2013| 2 Comments »

Exciting news, I have the page proof for my forthcoming Nature story in my Inbox this morning. What, I forgot to mention that I had a story accepted for their Futures column? I’ve been busy so I’m afraid that fell through the cracks, but that doesn’t mean I’m not thrilled by the prospect, because I am. The proof looks great, and the artwork they commissioned for the piece is just terrific, capturing the essence of the story in one beautiful image. I look forward to sharing it with you soon!

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That Prada Writing Contest

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on June 3, 2013| Leave a Comment »

The Devil Reads Prada | Colleen Anderson

I want to send a quick thank you over to fellow SF Canada member Colleen Anderson today. She wrote to Prada to clarify the terms of their writing contest, which happens to have a €5,000 prize. Sounds good, right?

Sadly, not so much.

As Colleen makes clear with her post and the attached response from Prada, they are offering a Very Bad Contract. Not only will the winner have to give up all moral rights to their work (but hey, €5,000, right?) but Prada also reserves the right to make up new contest categories, assign winners, and take all of those writers’ rights as well… while paying them nothing.

Very Bad. As Colleen says, the devil’s in the details.

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Writing Tip: Crazy? Maybe. Constructive? Yes!

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 22, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Last night I was facing down a story that’s had me stymied for a while, a tedious rewrite I wasn’t sure was going to work. That uncertainty took up so much brain space I didn’t have the energy to actually write. I finally remembered that the best way around that sort of questioning is to turn off my critical brain, or at least keep it busy in another room. So I put on some music, loud, and sang along while editing.

That’s how I finished my dissertation. Something about the singing ties up my internal editor; he’s too busy trying to get the song words right to nitpick over the written words. There’s probably a neurological explanation for this but whatever, it works for me:)

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What Have I Been up To? Dr. Seuss Knows!

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 11, 2013| 2 Comments »

You can get help from teachers, but you are going to have to learn a lot by yourself, sitting alone in a room.
— Dr. Seuss, in “On Becoming a Writer,” The New York Times, May 21, 1986

In related news, I just got a terrific rejection. Yes, acceptances are great but there is a lot to be said for a rejection that offers praise while pinpointing the one thing that’s problematic. I’ve been asking myself what was missing from this piece for months and now I know. That’s helpful in terms of this particular story but also for future work over the long term.

So thank you, Every Day Fiction submission readers, for doing what so many markets can no longer take the time to do: provide useful feedback.

Onward!

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To Anyone Who Has Ever Wondered About the Vagaries of the Slush Pile…

Posted in Funny, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 20, 2013| Leave a Comment »

The New Yorker Rejects Itself: A Quasi-Scientific Analysis of Slush Piles

… I grabbed a New Yorker story off the web (no, it wasn’t by Alice Munro or William Trevor), copied it into a Word document, changed only the title, created a fictitious author identity, and submitted it to a slew of literary journals, all of whom regularly grace the TOC of Best American Short Stories, Pushcart Prize, O’Henry, etcetera and etcetera. My cover letter simply stated that I am an unpublished writer deeply appreciative of their consideration.

That was it. I sowed the seed, and waited.

As for the result, please sit down and place your Starbucks Venti on a secure surface.

Dear reader, every single one of these journals rejected my poor New Yorker story with the same boilerplate “good luck placing your work elsewhere” auto-text that has put the lid on my own sorry submissions.

Oh my.

Obviously I’m not the only one who has ever wondered how overworked slush readers can stay consistent in the face of all of that precipitation. Author David Cameron’s quasi-scientific study (sample size: two) concludes, quite sensibly I think, that “slush sucks.” Now, I can either be depressed that even previously published stories can’t get published in some markets, or, well, not.

Rejections are inevitable, but I have to say that this makes me feel a bit better about my own.

Chin up, folks, and soldier on. The good news is, it’s not just you.

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A Duotrope Replacement, & It Looks Good

Posted in Reviews, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , on March 14, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Like many I was disappointed (if not terribly surprised) to see Duotrope go to a paid subscription model. This market database and submissions tracker is a great service, no mistake, but the subscription barrier felt a little high. There are some potential substitutes and while I was able to put together a system for story research, tracking, and submission, the process took time. Time I’d rather spend working or sleeping.*

What’s that? You know I’ve found a replacement and you just want me to spill the good news? Well then:)

Welcome to The Grinder, from the good folks at Diabolical Plots. It is a market database and submission tracker with Duotrope-style summary data and response time statistics. Those statistics will improve as more users add submission info, but I was surprised that after just a few months their data look similar to what I remember from Duotrope. And if you have an unaltered .csv export file of your Duotrope submission records, The Grinder has the option to import that information. See this summary page for more details on what it can do. And did I mention this service is free?

Drawbacks? It’s in beta so they are still building the market list and some of the features you might expect aren’t yet in place. (For example, I can’t find the Favorites list but as I just started using it that might be me.) It’s currently for fiction only but plans are in place to expand to non-fiction and poetry soon. These issues aside, The Grinder has a lot going for it, and the team seems genuinely interested in user suggestions and making improvements.

If you are in the market for a market list and submission tracker, this looks like a very good option.

* Or enjoying a frosty glass of some adult beverage with friends. Because there’s more to life than working and sleeping, people!

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Feeling a Little Like Nero…

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on March 5, 2013| 1 Comment »

I’m fiddling. I have several stories in progress, some of which are really quite close to completion, or should be. Except that I’m fiddling. I’m spending way too much time trying to get it “right” and not enough time trying to get the work done. Because it’s never going to be perfect.

Parkinson’s law: Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.

What I really need is a deadline.

Perhaps I should decree March my personal “Short Story Finishing Month,” or ShoStoFiMo. Yes, that should do nicely.

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More With the Free! This Time From Mary Robinette Kowal

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , on February 13, 2013| Leave a Comment »

More free stuff available, this time it’s Mary Robinette Kowal putting out a novelette in honor of her 44th birthday (it was on February 8th, but better late than never). Here’s her intro to the piece:

This is “The Lady Astronaut of Mars,” which I wrote for Audible.com’s anthology, RIP-OFF!, edited by Gardner Dozois. It’s a fun anthology. Each story starts with the first line of a classic novel. Mine starts with the first line of The Wizard of Oz.

Happy belated birthday, Mary, and thanks!

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Free Download: Stupefying Stories’ “The 2013 Campbellian Pre-Reading Anthology”

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on February 12, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Oooh, shiny!

If you are at all interested in good writing or genre fiction, check out Stupefying Stories’ “The 2013 Campbellian Pre-Reading Anthology.” The name is a bit of a mouthful but get past that and you are in for a treat. This collection contains 80 short stories by authors eligible for this year’s John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer award, and all free free free.

Limited time offer, get yours today!

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Excerpt From A NaNoWriMo Notebook

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on February 11, 2013| Leave a Comment »

** This happened in November but it fits so perfectly with my current mood that I decided to post it today.**

It was a fine day, although just before I started work on my novel the cat got out of the yard and I ended up with sixteen bandages and a lot of bleeding. Nothing too horrific, just lots of scratches and some annoying flaps of skin, but I am now pleased to know that I am the sort of person who can have four bandaids on one hand and still write almost 3,000 words. It was actually really satisfying, I must say.

That brings to mind a Neil Gaiman quote that I hope serves you as well as it has me:

“When writing a novel, that’s pretty much entirely what life turns into: House burned down. Car stolen. Cat exploded. Did 1500 easy words, so all in all it was a pretty good day.”

Finish the damn story. You’ll be happy you did.

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