Work in Progress

2-0

robbrooks78@yahoo.com (Rob Brooks) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 03:17:00 +0000

Any hockey fans out there? The Red Wings are kicking some tail again this year, up 2-0 in the Stanley Cup Finals. It's looking to shape up nicely here in another few days.

What do you think of the title "Scheduling Conflict" for a movie? Does it intrigue you, make you want to go see it? Is it better than my current title, "Time Enough at Last," which is a play on the Twilight Zone episode? I'm having the hardest time trying to decide on a name for my screenplay, and that's really about all I have left to do.

Arkham Tales

robbrooks78@yahoo.com (Rob Brooks) — Fri, 22 May 2009 13:20:00 +0000

I know. Regardless of how often I say I'm going to be around, I'm not around. It irks me, too. So I'm going to be around more often from now on.

My story "Unnatural Blonde" is out this month in Arkham Tales #3. I haven't had a chance yet to read all the stories in this issue, but I'm sure they are all high quality material, based on what I've seen in the magazine so far. This publication is one of my proudest moments in writing to date, as this is one of the most professional places I've been published.

So swing on over and give it a read. Let me know what you think.

So what's going on with me? Not much. Still working too much. I've been reading more mysteries lately than anything else--a couple Ian Rankin books, Patricia Cornwell.

I've been working on my screenplay again the last few weeks. I really want to get that wrapped up soon and start getting it out there. Other than that, I'm just trying to survive. We'll see how that goes.

Watch for The Book Of Tentacles, due out in June. My story "Taking Root" will appear in it.

52 Stitches

robbrooks78@yahoo.com (Rob Brooks) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 15:32:00 +0000

Hey. I've been away from the blog for a while, but I haven't been idle. Well, I have been idle, but not completely. But before I ramble on any further, I'd just like to put a plug in for myself--my story "Baited" is up at 52 Stitches this week. Stop by and give it a read. Let me know what you think. Thanks.

So, I've been away. Trying to get back into the spirit of writing. I haven't done a whole lot of writing in that time, but I have been fleshing out an idea for a book, based on a short story of mine. I've always wanted it to be a novel, but the story as it was didn't really have the length for novel--novella maybe. There's not much of a market for novellas, so I squeezed the story into about 8000 words.

I've discovered what the story needed, and then realized where I got the inspiration. I'm going to have Part One, which is my current short story "This Devil's Song," to be followed by Part Two, seventeen years later, where they have to finish off the evil from Part One. Yeah, it's the same structure as Stephen King's It, available where all fine books are sold. The story isn't similar at all, though. I'm really excited, and I've done a lot of research into an aspect of the story I never considered before. It should be a lot of fun. I've started writing the prologue, but that's as far as I am.

As far as being gone, I've just got a lot going on right now. I'm trying to get back into the habit of coming back here regularly, but it's going to be hard. I'm tired all the time, and this isn't what I feel like doing. But if I'm going to be writing, this is important, as a way of keeping myself accountable. So I'll see what I can do.

I'm going to go take a nap now.

Recharge

robbrooks78@yahoo.com (Rob Brooks) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:59:00 +0000

My recharge is coming along nicely. I'm feeling a lot better, but I'm not going to try to do any writing till at least the end of next week. I discovered at the beginning of this week that I had 4 days of vacation time left over from last year that needed to be used up by the end of next week, so I took a couple days this week and I'm taking 2 at the end of next week, and I should get good and rested up.

I've had a couple of favorable writing experiences without even doing any writing. I got my contributor's copy of Necrotic Tissue's Malpractice anthology last week with my story "Minor Surgery" in it. It's a good looking book, and that made my day.

Last night I got an email that told me my 100 story "Interview with a Victim" was an Honorable mention in The Drabbler's contest, themed "What Your Alien Lover Wants You to do in Bed." I should be getting the contributor's copy this month some time.

So, I'm feeling better, but I'll give myself another week to completely recharge. Talk to you all later!

Feeling it

robbrooks78@yahoo.com (Rob Brooks) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 01:47:00 +0000

I've been in quite a funk lately. This happens every now and again, but right now, I am just not feeling it. I haven't written a word in a couple weeks. I just feel too exhausted to try. I have no writing motivation or desire. I barely ever come to my blog or check out the writerly blogs that I have linked here. It's like I don't want anything to do with writing, and I couldn't tell you why.

I'm not about to discover the answer now. I hope I can overcome the funk here pretty soon. If not, I'll need to find a new title for my blog.

Break Time

robbrooks78@yahoo.com (Rob Brooks) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:11:00 +0000

I'm taking a day off from the day job today to catch up on a little sleep, write, listen to music, and just relax. Oh, and mind the kids, of course. I've gotten a good bit of writing done on my story "Masked," and hope to finish today. A first draft, that is. I want to rearrange the pieces a bit, so it'll still be a little while before it's "finished."

No "other news" today. Have a good and productive day.

Moonlit Path

robbrooks78@yahoo.com (Rob Brooks) — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 20:31:00 +0000

It's been a while, and it's been a crazy week. Valentine's Day means a heavy workload at my late night job at a world wide shipping company. I've had to go into the office a lot last week for my other job, and I've just been tired on top of all that. And then a tree fell on our house. It didn't do much damage, thankfully. The tree was only a few feet away from the house, so it just kind of tipped against it when the wind knocked it over, roots and all. The house held it up until I could get someone out to look at it. It really could have destroyed our house though. I'll see if I can find a picture I took of it.

Found some.

So I spent a good portion of my weekend chopping up the tree after the professionals took it down for me. It was a very romantic Valentine's Day.

In other news, my poem "Strange Seed" is up at Tales from the Moonlit Path. Give the site a read, there's some great stuff on there. And I really don't count my poem among those pieces. I like it less and less as I read it. That's my reaction to a lot of my work though.

The Responses Keep Rolling In

robbrooks78@yahoo.com (Rob Brooks) — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 22:00:00 +0000

Yesterday I got two more responses to submissions. One was a rejection from the Triangulation Anthology. The best thing about the rejection was that it came with reasons! Yes, they gave me a few reasons of what they didn't like about the piece. They made some valid points, which will definitely help me in placing the story somewhere else. Once I make the changes, that is.

The other response I got, just a few minutes later, was an acceptance of my poem "Strange Seed" with Tales from the Moonlit Path. I'd really almost given up hope on this one, but it turns out I didn't get the original acceptance email a couple months ago. The poem'll be going up in the Valentine's Day issue. The email I got was the editor trying to get final approval before it went to be posted on the site. It should go up sometime in the next week or two, so I'll post a link when I have it.

What else am I working on? Not much. I've been a slacker. But I want to finish my story "Masked" this week or next--this one could also fit the Triangulation Anthology theme, so I may submit it there first. If nothing else, their critique will help me out.

I've also decided that while I will continue to work on my screenplay "Time Enough at Last," I'm also going to work on turning it into a novel. I read in a screenwriting book about someone else doing that--it's basically a 110 page outline with most of the dialogue already written. Plus I'd really be able to expand upon some themes that I just can't fit into a 2 hour movie. I'm not talking about just novelizing the screenplay, but just using that as the framework for a much more in-depth novel. Should be fun. If I can just find the time for it.

2 in one day

robbrooks78@yahoo.com (Rob Brooks) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 18:44:00 +0000

No, not 2 acceptances. The other kind. Two rejections came in those morning in the span of about 2 hours. I was a little disappointed, although I didn't really expect either one to be accepted. But one can hope...

Still working on Masked. Haven't had much time to write the last few days. I may get a little time this weekend. We'll see. For now, I'm just letting the story run its course, but if I feel like it's wanting to grow a little bit beyond what I have dreamed up for it, I'm going to let it. I'm in the mood to do a little bit longer work. I'm just not sure if it's this story or not. Either way, a big chunk of February is gone already and I haven't finished any stories. I need to get jumping.

Have a good weekend.

Masked

robbrooks78@yahoo.com (Rob Brooks) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 00:12:00 +0000

I've gotten a good start in a dark fantasy piece that I'm temporarily calling "Masked." It's a lot of fun to write, which is why I'm working on it and not my Devil's Food story. I wasn't having a good time writing that one, so I put it on hold. I mean, if I'm not enjoying writing it, what are the odds someone will enjoy reading it? I think I just need a little more time to stew on it and get a little perspective.

In the mean time, "Masked" is a blast to write. It's got a crazy homeless guy, a reporter who's too curious for his own good, and mosquito men. Who wouldn't want to write the words "mosquito men"?

In other news, my day job is actually finally coming around to dealing with writing. I do auditing for an insurance company, mostly looking to see that customer service transactions were done correctly. For a while, that has also included compliance letters, so I've gotten to do editing along with auditing. But now I'm going to also be auditing/editing training documentation. I'll finally be using some of the skills that I've learned and practiced as part of my regular job. It's kind of weird. But I'm happy. Now if I can just find a way to parlay this into a full-time writing job, I'll be all set.

My wife's giving the boys a bath, and I just heard her say, "Don't you drink that water!" So I think it's time for me to go help.

What I'm Reading: I finally started reading Night Watch, by Sergei Lukyanenko. I'm only about 40 pages in, but I'm really enjoying the writing style and the storytelling. I don't think I've ever read a vampire book before that I liked, but I'm really enjoying this. It's a very different take on vampires. In a tough decision, I started reading this one instead of House of Leaves. I've got both out from the library right now, and this one seemed more fun to read, which I need right now.

The Day the Music Died

robbrooks78@yahoo.com (Rob Brooks) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 04:02:00 +0000

I don't know if anyone noticed or not, but today is the 50th anniversary of the Day the Music Died, when Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper died in a plane crash on the way to a show. It's always been a sad day for me--I'm a big Buddy Holly fan, and I'm sure that if he hadn't died, he would have become as synonymous with early rock and roll as Elvis Presley has.

So before you go to bed, listen to Don MacLean's "American Pie," a beautiful tribute to three fallen rockers.

Last Call

robbrooks78@yahoo.com (Rob Brooks) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:48:00 +0000

Yesterday I finished reading Last Call by Tim Powers, and my first reaction is sadness that I have waited until now to discover this wonderful author. This book was so much more than I expected.

The book was the winner of the World Fantasy award in 1990, but in many ways it reminded me of Stephen King's work--not in terms of style, but in content. It was as much fantasy as horror, full of magic and impending doom--Powers tells us towards the beginning of the book that a couple of characters are doomed to death. Their mission then is to try to save someone else before their own doom is at hand.

It's an exciting story with a great cast of characters. The characters really make the story--each one is distinct and individual. The story has a satisfying resolution and plays out great, full of twists and turns.

Can't think of anything bad to say about it. Go check it out.

January Redux

robbrooks78@yahoo.com (Rob Brooks) — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 20:07:00 +0000

February already. I got my first rejection of the month this morning. No big deal, I've been expecting it for a while.

Let's see what I got done in January:
6 rejections
1 acceptance
15 submissions still out

My one acceptance was the story "The Eye of the Monster" to Cemetery Moon magazine.

I wrote one short story, "Another Hole in the Head," which as been submitted to the Triangulation anthology, and one flash fiction story, "The Burned Card," which is also out somewhere. I also wrote a handful of haiku.

I got good starts on two stories--one for the Devil's food anthology and a dark fantasy piece that I'm very excited about. I should finish both this month.

My goals for 2009 include writing one short story and one flash fiction story per month, so I reached the goal for January. One of my other goals is to work on my screenplay, Time Enough at Last, and I did some of that this month, as well. I intend to finish up another draft of it this month then get it out to a few readers to see what they think.

That's all for January. I'm about to start working on that dark fantasy piece now and see what I can get done. It's a lot of fun to write.

Watch Out!

robbrooks78@yahoo.com (Rob Brooks) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:52:00 +0000

Thanks to my friend Andrew for forwarding this to me. Apparently, someone in Austin, Texas, hacked into a road sign and left this message for early morning commuters. Cracked me up. You can read the whole story here if you're so inclined.

I had the craziest dream about zombies one night. Apparently, the zombie virus came from vegetables, so as a warning, any town infected set up giant boxes like Chinese food comes in with giant tomatoes and spinach lying in them like a cornucopia. I lived in one of these towns. The Chinese food boxes looked like bill boards on all the tallest buildings. That part was kind of neat. BUT...then the survivors were having a dance and the men folk went out and collected up some girls for the dance, but they all turned out to be zombies, who really ruined the whole festive atmosphere. Weird dream.

Horror? Why?

robbrooks78@yahoo.com (Rob Brooks) — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 22:00:00 +0000

When I read news stories about the kind of terrible, brutal things that parents can do to their own children, it makes me stop and think. First, I want to cry for the lives of these poor babies that are lost, or permanently scarred, or screwed up in some other way. A two-year old shouldn't have to have parents that are so consumed with themselves that they they disregard, mistreat, or abuse an innocent babe.

It also makes me look at myself, and ask, "Isn't there enough real horror in the world? Why do you feel the need to add to that?"

I don't know that I have a good answer for myself. Why do horror writers write what we do? Is it purely to create entertainment, for the purpose of an escape? Escape for the writer or the reader? Both, maybe? Does a writer write horror to try to chase away the thoughts that may be roaming in his own head, to chase those stories of murder and abuse away with a fanciful tale that, while it might be scary, he ultimately knows isn't real?

I don't think the answer is just that the horror writer likes to scare people. If that's the case, there must be an underlying reason for that as well. Who wants to scare people?

I think for me it's a little like Bill Murray's title character in the movie What About Bob? He would fake diseases, because as long as he was faking them, that meant he didn't have them. I think I tend to write horror, because, as long as I'm writing horrific, crazy things, they're not happening to my family.

I don't know. I can't think right now.

Weekend's Over

robbrooks78@yahoo.com (Rob Brooks) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 15:49:00 +0000

I managed to get my flash fiction story "The Burned Card" out in a submission, as well as my rejected Dead Bait story to a new market. Other than that, not much on the writing front the last couple days. Ironically, I get less done when I have more free time.

Our county library has book sales every other month, and yesterday was this month's. I went down and found a nice little assortment of books. I got a nonfiction book--Beyond Roswell--for a friend who is into aliens and such. I might need to read it before I give it to him. I also picked up the Rising by Brian Keene. I've read it, but don't own any his novels. After reading four or five of his now, I still don't know if I like him or not. I was also thrilled to find the book Earthquake Weather by Tim Powers. It's the sequel to the book Last Call, which I'm reading right now, and is one of the best books I've read in a long time.

Found a book called From Atlantis to the Sphinx: Recovering the Lost Wisdom of the Ancient World. Thought it might be good for some ideas. And one of my favorite books I got, which I stumbled across on the way out, is an over-sized 1941 edition of Don Quixote with illustrations. It's in mint condition, not even tagged as belonging to the library. Can't wait till the boys will still through a book without pictures on every page.

Also found a short story collection called In Dreams, which is "a celebration of the 7-inch single in all-original SF and horror fiction." Should be interesting. I love music and fiction intertwined. Which reminds me, I heard a song on the radio yesterday by Duncan Shiek. I remember him as someone from the late 90's who had a song called "Barely Breathing" that I didn't particularly like. However, his new CD "Whisper House" which is due out tomorrow, is a collection of songs that are actually horror tales. He worked with a playwright to write all the words. The song I heard wasn't bad at all. I'm interested to see how the rest of the album sounds.

EDIT: Just did a quick wikipedia search on Mr. Shiek (because, you know, wikipedia is always right) and discovered that the "Whisper House" songs are from an on-line musical that is soon to come out. so I don't know if the tracks are a concept album, telling one story, or if they are a 10 individual horror stories. Guess I'll find out.

Hold 'Em

robbrooks78@yahoo.com (Rob Brooks) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 19:09:00 +0000

Not much news on the writing front today. My back started aching so badly at work last night that I took the day off from my day job and have been lying in bed as much as the boys would let me today. I can move now, and sit in a chair, so that's a good thing.

I'm working on my Devil's Food short story, tentatively titled "Bad Day to Forget." However, one of my goals for 2009was to write a flash fiction story each month, which I have yet to do for January. I've got an idea cooking for a little tale involving a game of Texas Hold 'Em and a mysterious dealer. I'm thinking of calling it "The Burned Card."

The idea comes out of the book I'm reading right now--but only in that it involves poker. I'm reading Last Call by Tim Powers, and it's an amazing book. Guess that's why it won the World Fantasy Award. I'm not a fan of fantasy; however, this book takes place completely in our world, it just involves a certain amount of magic, interwoven brilliantly with science. I'm loving it.

So, I think I'll work on my poker flash story before I finish "Bad Day to Forget." The deadline for Devil's Food isn't until April 1 anyway, I believe, so I've got a little time. Maybe that one can be my February short story.

Dead Story

robbrooks78@yahoo.com (Rob Brooks) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 15:25:00 +0000

Got a rejection this morning from the Dead Bait anthology. My story features a lake monster, and probably isn't quite what they're looking for--it's more a story about the fisherman than the monster. The monster doesn't factor in until the end, and isn't ever fully seen. I still like the story, although I've had no luck with it anywhere. I'll give it a few more tries.

I did get a good start on my Devil's Food story. I've got a good direction, and some unpleasant ideas to include. Can't wait to finish it. I hope I can get it within the word guidelines, but if not, at least I can still submit it elsewhere. I'm trying to adhere to the guidelines a little more closely for this anthology, and the threat of being eaten will be very prominent in it. Unlike my lake monster.

No writing here

robbrooks78@yahoo.com (Rob Brooks) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 19:16:00 +0000

No time to stop to write...got a new book of sudoku. Can't...stop.

I don't even like sudoku that much. But I can't seem to stop doing them. I did get a start on my story for the Devil's Food anthology. Now that I've got a start, I should be able to get moving on it. I don't think it'll be very long, maybe 2k-2500 words or so. Wait, I need to check the guidelines again. I've suddenly got the feeling that the minimum length is 3k. Great. Now I'm back out of it. Where's my sudoku book?

And It's Off

robbrooks78@yahoo.com (Rob Brooks) — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 04:45:00 +0000

I've spent the last couple hours going over my story for the Dark Glass anthology. I saved the title,"Another Hole in the Head," but changed quite a bit of other stuff. I managed to cut out about 1000 words, but added in 500 new ones or so. The story came out around 3600 words.

I just emailed the story out, and I feel good about it.

One of my writing goals for 2009 was to write a short story a month. I've got January's done, and may have another in me yet--the ideas are starting to fill out for my Devil's Food anthology. We'll see. I wouldn't complain about going above and beyond my goals.

One of my other goals was to write a flash fiction story a month as well, so I still have one of those to do, too. No ideas on that front yet.

It's going on midnight here, and I've got to ready for work. Fridays are the worst night. We start at 1:20--about an hour later than usual--and are done by 3 or 3:30. Hardly worth the gas.

Stitches

robbrooks78@yahoo.com (Rob Brooks) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 20:16:00 +0000

No, this is not a post about the latest story posted on 52 Stitches. Although it is quite a tasty treat. Give it a read.

Yesterday my two year old fell and bonked his head on the coffee table. He opened up a big gash on his top eyelid. My wife took him to the doctor's office and he had to get five stitches. This is the first time either one of our boys has had to go to the doctor because of an injury.

I felt bad for the little guy--that seems like a lot of a two year old to go through--but he was fine with it. He stopped crying within five minutes of the fall, and didn't cry about it again. He actually fell asleep while the doctor was stitching him up.

So, with the drama going on around here yesterday I didn't get much writing in. But today I did finish up the first draft of my story for the Triangulation: Dark Glass anthology (temporary title: "A Hole in the Head"). It topped out around 4000 words. It's in a pretty rough form right now, so it will definitely get some major editing in before I submit it--I do only have two and a half months to get it in, so I better step on it. [EDIT: I just realized I have a huge scene that does nothing in the story and is repeated very similarly later, so, yay, there's 500 words to cut right there.] In the mean time, I'll finally be able to start on that Devil's Food anthology story.

I'm having a good time with my haiku lately. I've got 13 out in submissions right now to 4 different markets. Unfortunately, most of these have long response times, so I probably have a couple months yet to hear back on most of them.

Dark Glass

robbrooks78@yahoo.com (Rob Brooks) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 03:54:00 +0000

I didn't get any submissions out yesterday, but I had a pretty good writing day nonetheless. I've been working on my story for the Dark Glass anthology, and added about 1700 words, getting me up to nearly 2500 words. Feels good to do a little actual writing. I've got a pretty busy day ahead of me tomorrow--Besides work, I have to make a batch of meatballs for a pitch-in at my night job, I need to renew my driver's license (expired nearly 3 weeks now), and I have to pick up my new glasses which just came in. But I may still have a little time to work on my story and maybe finish it up. I hope so--I'm really excited about it. That's the best writing, when it's fun and exciting.

I also worked on a couple haiku. Wrote two, edited a few others, trying to perfect them. It's true that in a short story or even a book, every word is important, but it's even more true in a poem where you may only have 10-15 words to tell your story. Each one has to be loaded with meaning.

I'm hashing out a rough outline for my Devil's Food story as well. I believe the guidelines state there needs to be the peril of being eaten in the story. The hard part for me is going to be keeping the peril in there. We'll see what I can come up with.

I don't normally outline, but I never would have completed even one draft of my novel The Dead Gods if I hadn't outlined to some extent. When I do decide to outline, it's just a basic point-by-point outline, one quick line with what happens in the scene. For my book, I wrote out a synopsis of the plot first, then "outlined" twenty or so scenes, that way I had some flexbility--if I changed my direction, I wouldn't have to reoutline the whole thing. It worked out pretty well for me.

Another One Bites the Dust

robbrooks78@yahoo.com (Rob Brooks) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 15:25:00 +0000

I got a rejection back for my story "Personal Demons" this morning, and I think that might be it. It's not a great story--I wrote it specifically for a market to try to fit into a shared world of theirs. Didn't work out, so I changed characters' names and reworked the premise just a bit. Still doesn't really work. So...I think that story might be going out to pasture.

If anyone's keeping count, that's 1 acceptance, 3 rejections on the year. $0 writing income.

I've had a concept in mind for a story for the Triangulation: Dark Glass anthology for quite a few months, and I finally started on that last night around midnight. I like to try to come up with odd ways of interpreting themes. I hope this one will be as unique as some of my others.

Just as a side note, I read a study recently that said that night time people are more creative (I just thought of this because I was up late writing). I don't think I qualify for what they were talking about in the article--they said that your creative peak tends to be close to dawn. I've noticed that I do some of my better writing late at night, and I often get ideas while I'm lying in bed waiting to fall asleep. Last night I finally got an idea for the Devil's Food Anthology. I thought about it, planned some scenes out, then fell asleep. I checked the Devil's Food guidelines this morning, and it turns out my idea probably doesn't qualify. It was a little more humorous than they want. But I might be able to salvage it yet. We'll see.

Jack's Back

robbrooks78@yahoo.com (Rob Brooks) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 03:31:00 +0000

I've had a really productive weekend with my writing. I've gotten three submissions out--I submitted my story "Classified," as I mentioned the other day. I also touched my story "Vestigial" and sent it out to Shock Totem. And I spent a good portion of today looking at my story for the Dead Bait anthology. It was over 750 too short for the minimum word count, but I worked it over and managed to get it nearly within the goal. I think I added some more voice to it--sometimes, just adding some voice adds a lot of words, depending on the voice. My character is a retired man from the country, so I used a bit of a folksy voice, which lends itself to a being a little verbose. I didn't just add words for the sake of adding them, I only put them where they sounded natural. I also added on to the ending, which in turn made me add a little more in the middle to tie it together.

Anyway, I think it works, and I think it's a better story. I retitled it "The Hook" and sent it in to Dead Bait today.

And the weekend isn't over yet. I'm going to work a little longer. I've got a few poems that are calling out for some revision. I also still need to write a flash story and a short story this month, as per my goals for the year. Even though I submitted three things this weekend, they were all old. Need to catch up.

Also, just have to say how great it is to have 24 back on the air. It is one of my favorite shows currently on TV. The last season ahd some ups and downs, but tonight's episode was mostly all good. Jack Bauer is the man.

Re-subs and Re-writes

robbrooks78@yahoo.com (Rob Brooks) — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 04:09:00 +0000

I edited my story "Local Singles Meet" down a couple hundred words, retitled it "Classified," and resubmitted it to Strange Horizons. Probably a bit of an ambitious market for me, they can't say yes if I don't ever submit to them. They've got a pretty low turn-around time, so it won't hurt me too much to have it to them for a little while. In the mean time, I'll get my back-up markets ready.

Today I looked at my story "Like That Old Pike," which I thought might work for the Dead Bait anthology, and discovered that not only was it under the minimum word count, but it's 700 words under! It's practically a flash story at a brisk 1300 words. I don't know if I can beef that up without making it all filler. I'll need to find a way to tie in a whole new story line or something.

I've got another story, "Vestigial," that I need to find a home for. It was accepted by a magazine a little while back, but due to several changes in the conditions after it was accepted, I withdrew my story. No, it was not over artistic license. They changed the printing method and then the payment after it was agreed upon. So I'm off to find a new market to submit it to.

Even though I'm home all day, it's hard for me to do anything on the submission front, because all my writing is on my home computer, and I'm using a work PC all day. I need to get a router so I can be on-line on both at the same time, then it would be no problem. (Or just back up all my work on a flash drive, so I don't lose it all. I'm really bad about backing things up.) Anyway, it's hard to get any submissions done after work when my wife's home because I take a nap before my other job, and then my wife likes to spend a little time with me for some reason. Don't ask me why. So weekends need to be my time to submit and write. And instead I'm blogging. Gotta go.