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Here’s what I’ve accomplished this week: I finished the first draft of my story submission for Wyrd Warfare, due August 21st, and have set it aside to edit in the coming weeks. I wrote the next story for Deep Blue, due in October. It is still 1000 words short (4000/5000) but I will go back…

The past week there has been more to write about than there has been time to write. I’ve tried to capture most of it in shorthand notes in the writing journal I keep with me in hopes that the inspiration will still grip me when I come back to it at a later date. Friday…

It continues to be fun writing stories for Raconteur Press. Their monthly anthology themes and 5000-8000 word count continue to challenge me in good ways, forcing me to grow as a writer. But at some point in the journey, I need writing credits on my resume from other publications. To that end, this week I…

Life is great at throwing stuff at you, trying to distract you from the task at hand. And some of those life things need to get handled. Sometimes, it’s going to slow you down. The trick is not to let it derail your intentions entirely. Keep plodding forward as best you can. Last Friday, I…

Whoosh. That’s the sound of a deadline rushing past. June was my target date for self-publishing Soiled Undies. Oops, looks like I missed it. What’s the holdup? Layout mostly. I do not want to do it. Not if I can avoid it. Writing is fine. Editing is okay. But I hate technical work. I considered…

Last week I submitted The Spirits of Innovation for the anthology Arcane Intelligence and wrapped up the first draft of The Nuclear Option for the Killer Kaiju anthology. This week I began editing Uncle Jake’s Follies for Hold My Beer Heroes. I also queried the publisher Rogue Phoenix Press regarding my novel Soiled Undies &…

Last Friday was a banner day. It began with the very encouraging rejection letter that I shared in my previous post and was followed later that day by the news that my story Winter Ghost had been accepted for publication in Raconteur Press’ upcoming Wyrd Warfare 3 anthology. Author contract signed and returned. Waiting for…

Most of my week was spent at a conference in Chicago, so although I continued my 1000 words per day writing practice, I abandoned my editing duties. I now have 3 days until the deadline on the 10k Sword & Sorcery story and a week for my 5K spec fiction story submissions. The good news…

My favourite writing quotes of the week: “Don’t get discouraged. After receiving 48 rejections, I finally received my 49th.” “Don’t use AI to help you write your story; use alcohol and despair like nature intended.” Still writing. 1000 words per day. But more time spent on editing right now as submission deadlines loom. My 10,000-word…

30:1, that seems to be the ratio. For every 30 rejections, I get one accepted story. Some rejections hurt more than others. This past week I finished my draft of Uncle Jake’s Follies for submission to an upcoming anthology in July. I have also been working on editing/expanding Ghost Drivers and a longer Sword &…