Computer problems

So I've been having the other of all computer issues for the last week or two. I can barely log on to the computer at home, and I can't get to blogger while I'm at work. So, unfortunately, updates have been few.

Haven't heard anything back on the submissions front lately, so I haven't had to be disappointed. I've got a friend working on a website for me--I've got one, but it's just a template that Bravenet offers its free clients--such as myself.

Well, let's see, TV's wrapped up for the year. How was it? I was a little disappointed in 24. Lost boggles my mind--I'm really not sure what to think about it now. Heroes was a bit of a letdown; it just wasn't the grand face off with Sylar that I expected.

I'm reading Jeffery Deaver's The Devil's Teardrop right now. I'm not usually a big mystery fan, but Deaver's books are amazing. Each book deals with some certain subject that he must do tons of research on. Everything is so well done that I can't help but love his books. I recommend everyone try one. The Vanished Man was a pretty good one--dealt with magic. Great read.

I've been working on a new short story yet. I don't have a name for it yet, but it involves the same creatures that my book, "Following the Dead," does. (Not an official title, but close.) I think it's a creepy story, scarier than my book.

I've got another idea for a short story involving one of the creepiest things I can think of--tapeworms. I shudder just thinking about them. But I'm coming up dry when I try to think of ideas for another book.

Latest Submission

Remember those comics I mentioned the other night? Well, I was a little disappointed. Ultimates 2 #13 was kind of dull, like they were trying to squeeze too much in to finish the series in that issue. The art was pretty good, but way too much happened in too little space. I'm done with that one now, anyway. There will be an Ultimates 3 kicking off soon, but I don't think I'll be partaking.

All-Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder is...a different kind of book. After 5 issues now, the book is no further along than it was at the end of the first issue. Frank Miller is a genius, don't get me wrong, and he's writing one of the darkest, meanest Batmans ever. But...nothing is happening. There was very minute development in issue 5--the Justice League has decided it has to deal with Batman. That's it. (For those unfamiliar, the All-Star line of DC Comics is supposed to be a retelling of the early years of the characters. So this is the first mission for the Justice League.) One of the earlier stories was all about Black Canary--it didn't even have Batman in it. I enjoy the book, I guess, I just wish there were a little more story to it.

I sent in my submission of "This Devil's Song" to Weird Tales today. My wife looked over the story earlier this week and marked some good changes to it, and I whipped through those last night and got it all ready. Can't wait to hear back. I know it will probably be a rejection--Weird Tales is a pretty prestigious book, as far as horror fiction goes. That's where all the masters started--H.P. Lovecraft, Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein. The list of people published there is incredible. I don't want to get my hopes up, but I can't help it. There are other markets that pay better, but I submitted here first. I'd rather have the prestige of being published in Weird Tales than the money of being published elsewhere.

I guess I can expect a rejection, but I can hope for acceptance.

Now that I've gotten "A Place for Everything" back from Heliotrope, I have to try to find another market to submit that one to. It doesn't fit easily into any genre. It's not Speculative Fiction. It's just about a shrink who, throughout the course of the story, is slowly revealed to be nuts. It's got a lot of humor, but isn't comedy. I guess it could be printed in any mainstream publication. Any suggestions for me?

Heliotrope Submission

I got a response back today for "A Place for Everything." I submitted it to Heliotrope earlier this week, and got my rejection this morning. That makes two for that story.

Can't post much today, the wife is sick.

The Last Week

I'm so excited. As of next Wednesday, there will be no more TV to watch. I can't wait. I hate being addicted to so many shows. The Office ends tonight, Heroes and 24 on Monday, and Lost next Wednesday. My Name is Earl ended last week, and 30 Rock a few weeks before.

I watch way too much TV, but that all ends next Wednesday. I can't wait. In other news, I'm still waiting to hear back from several markets regarding short stories. I haven't started anything new yet--okay, I started one story, but I don't know if I'm going to finish it. We'll see. It might turn out to be okay. Or it might turn out to be one of those pieces that I sell to a e-zine for $5. Who knows.

CURRENTLY READING: An anthology called Best New Horror, from 2001. It's got some good stories in it, and it's got some that I have no clue why they were picked. But it gives me hope to read those stories--if those can get published, so can mine.

Also, yesterday two comic books that I've been waiting almost a year for finally came out: All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder #5 and Ultimates 2 #13. I can't believe the wit was so long, and I probably won't be picking up further issues. But I can't wait to read these two. It's the last issue of the Ultimates 2.

Non-Horror

So far, just about everything that I've written, that I've included on this blog, has been horror, or some form of Speculative Fiction. My book is fantasy/horror, and my poem "The Void" that's in Daikaijuzine is sci-fi, but everything else has been horror.

I just finished polishing a short story that I wrote a few months ago, just before I started writing my book. It was called "Cluttered" then, and I submitted it to Glimmertrain. Rejected, eventually. I edited it some more and renamed it "A Place for Everything." It's about a shrink who's got some serious problems. He's a little, um, crazy. Anyway, it's a fun story, and has absolutely no SpecFic elements. I'm going to start submitting it again, and see what turns up.

Which means that I'm now currently working 4 stories--"A Place for Everything," "This Devil's Song," "The Eye of the Monster," and "Carrying Demons." I'm going to be working these 4 very hard, and see what I can get done. I'm trying to submit to markets that either respond quickly or allows simultaneous submissions, so that I can get to as many markets as quickly as possible.

I'll try to keep you updated on my submissions.

My "Cluttered" rejection was pretty impersonal, just a form. I've only ever gotten one or two rejections that weren't a form or a "doesn't fit" answer. What about you? Any good rejections? Any crazy notes form editors? Good rejections stories?

Fiction Submissions

Recently, I talked a bit about submissions, and where I was going to send my most recent story "This Devil's Song." I thought today I would go through some of the things that I've got out there right now, see what the status is.

I've got two short stories I'm currently submitting. One is "The Eye of the Monster," which is out to two different publications right now. I submitted it to Dark Wisdom in November as "Where Monsters Die." I would assume that they weren't going to respond, except that I just got a response to a poem that I sent them a month or two before this story. I renamed the story and sent it to Wicked Hollow on April 26. I've probably still got at least 2 months before I hear back from them.

This last is the sixth time I've submitted the story. It's about a man who has found out that he as six months left to live--the original title was "Six Months." He's dying of cancer a call from someone who says that he may be able to save him--for a price. The caller claims to be Cancer, and tells the protagonist Tim he wants him to knock off a few people that Cancer can't get to. It was also submitted as "A Raging Monster" and "Where Monsters Die."

The other short story I'm currently marketing is one currently called "Carrying Demons." I wrote it for Quill-Pen.net. They are a pulp style magazine, and I wrote this to fit into a storyline they had, set in a post-apocalyptic world. It's about people who have banded together in a small town, but have to go out, braving the raiders and zombies to get supplies elsewhere. After Quill-Pen rejected it, I changed the names of all the characters and some of the situations, since Quill-Pen created all that with their storyline. I changed the name from "The Rigbyville Raiders to "Carrying the Demon" and finally "Carrying Demons." It's been submitted to Intergalactic Medicine Show, All Possible Worlds, and Spinning Whorl.

I'll go over some of my other submissions on another day. I think doing this will help me keep sending things out. Even though I'm currently submitting only two stories, soon to be three, there are many more that I have submitted and had rejected, and not resubmitted.

Do you have anything you're submitting to a magazine or e-zine? Which ones do you submit to regularly?

This Devil's Song

Okay, I've finished my story, which I've decided to call "This Devil's Song," a phrase I use once in the story. I've woven a good amount of music into the story, which I think has a neat effect, and music turns out to be a key factor in the book. I still really want to write this as a book some day, because I had to cut out so many ideas to make it a short story. Not as much character development as I would like either. The scary thing is, at almost 8,000 words, it's going to be hard to find a market that would place it. I may have to cut out as much as 4,000 words.

In many of the professional markets I was looking at, 4K words is about the limit. There are a few I'm going to try--Weird Tales and Brutarian will be my starting points. I've got another short story that I've been submitting called "The Eye of the Monster" that I submitted to Brutarian a few months ago, but it didn't fit their style. Maybe "This Devil's Song" will.

These are my main completed works that I will be submitting the most right now. I'm going to try to post regular updates about submissions and rejections, as well as any new writing that I do. I think I'm going to stick with short fiction for a while, until I get closer to finishing my book. Once I completely finish it and start submitting it, I'll start on a second novel.

I really like writing short stories, and realized how much I missed that when I wrote "This Devil's Song." Short stories are satisfying because you can finish them in a relatively short time. I really only worked on this one as a short story for a week or two, as compared with three months just to write the first draft of "Following the Dead" (or maybe it's still "Doorways"). It's nice to be able to complete a whole work so quickly, and be able to market it right away. Don't have to try to find an agent, just find a market for it and submit.

I like to use Ralan's web site. There are a ton of markets listed, and all are speculative fiction.

Update

Just a quick update: I finished my first draft of my "Hemlock Lane" short story today, weighing in at 8,000 words. It came out well, but still needs a little sprucing up in the editing phase. I still think it would make a nice novel. Maybe someday.

For now, it's a good story. I can't wait to try to find a place for it.

What are some of the things you're trying to find a home for right now?

A While

Wow, I know it's been a while since my last post, but I'm going to try to do better. Part of the problem is that I can no longer access blogger from my work. It's been blocked. I'm going to have to figure out how to update the blog via email. Shouldn't be too hard.

I'm still waiting on the wife to start editing "Doorways" (Possible Title Alert: "Following the Dead." Is that catchy? Evoke any images?) . I'm making good progress on the "Hemlock Lane" short story. I'm almost up to 6,000 words. I'll probably hit about 8K in this draft. My main goal when I edit this one will be to set the tone a little more, add a little description that might make the story a little spookier.

CURRENTLY WATCHING: Heroes. I love that show. If I could only watch one hour of TV a week, it would be Heroes. Lost is back on my good side as well. Thank goodness 24 is almost over. I like the show, but it just wears me out. I hear they're going to make some changes to the format next season. Will it be 24 days? I thought it would be cool if they did a 24 prequel. They could place it before Season 1. Nobody will know that Nina is a spy, Tony will still be alive, as well as George Mason and Ryan Chapelle. I think it would have a lot of possibilities.

Rest

I slept so good last night. I can't wait to sleep in my new Sleep Number Bed some more. I thought my sleep number was 45, but I think I'm really a 40. Either way, it was great. Only problem is that the bed kind of smells. It's got that new bed smell. Like plastic. Not sure what to do to air it out. I'd hate to sleep in my old bed until the new bed smells better.

Got a little writing done. I'm up to 1,700 words in my short story "Hemlock Lane." At the rate I'm going, I think it'll end up being about 8-10,000 words. It's harder to find markets for a story that size--most short story publishers that I've found want it under 5,000 words--but I can't try to write to fit into a specific word length. I have to let the story tell itself.

I might get a chance to write a little more tonight. I'm currently reinstalling Microsoft Office on my computer, so hopefully it'll work again and I can get some things done.

CURRENTLY READING: The Ferryman by Christopher Golden. I've been reading it for 2 days now, and I'm having a hard time getting into it. I think it's just me, though. I'm eager to get a chance to read for more than three minutes so I can try to enjoy the book.

RECENTLY WATCHED: Evil Dead II. Watched it this morning. I'm watching the whole Evil Dead trilogy in reverse order. I've seen Army of Darkness a couple times now, now I've seen Evil Dead II. Now I just need to see the first Evil Dead. I really enjoy the movies, though. They're funny. Really funny. Maybe "campy" is the word. I always called it "cheesy," but I think when you're being cheesy on purpose, it's called "campy." Whatever. Either way, they're tongue in cheek horror movies. They don't take themselves too seriously. I love Bruce Campbell, I wish I could see him in more things. I do like each of his cameos in Spiderman and Spiderman 2.

Don't forget to check out my recently published poems--"The Void" at Daikaijuzine and "Between" at Chimaera Serials. Then come back and tell me what you think.