Look at me! I'm revising!
I realized a few days ago that the reason I'm not really happy with Blood and Taxes is because the ending is all wrong. Or rather, the ending is right, but the build-up to the ending is wrong. Someone locks Ana in a closet. Someone else helps her escape. Whee!
So I'm rewriting it and I'm mostly done already. Ana takes a much more active role (which is something I was concerned about from the start) and it's also much shorter. Hurrah for brevity!
I think I'm ready to plunge deeply into my next project. I've been picking and pecking for months and months, thinking I was just being lazy. I think I was just recharging. I mean, I wrote two full-length novels and a novella between September of last year and February of this year; I think I'm allowed some recharge time. But now I've got that itch to really jump in and write write write. Thank goodness!
Monday, August 10, 2009
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Yay for Olive Lemon!
Catherine J. Gardner's chapbook "The Sour Aftertaste of Olive Lemon" is now on sale at Bucket O' Guts Press! I can't wait till I get my copy! Of course, I just ordered it like ten minutes ago so it'll be a few days.
Look, here's the awesome cover, which I totally stole off her blog:
Look, here's the awesome cover, which I totally stole off her blog:
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Attrition
Jim Baen's Universe is closing. Geez. The SFWA Pro markets list was small enough already; now a fantasy writer is down to five markets that accept fantasy and are open to submissions. Five!
Not that I'm particularly keen to join SFWA. But I'd like the option, so I can sneer and refuse to join.
Look, here's the list, with my notes in bold. The italicized markets are ones that are open and accept fantasy. Note also that even if all these markets were accepting subs, there are still just seven that accept fantasy (although several of them say they accept dark fantasy, which means they're horror markets).
Analog Science Fiction and Fact [sf]
Asimov’s Science Fiction [sf]
Apex (starting with June 2008 issue) — NEW Added July 7, 2009 [sf]
Baen’s Universe [closing permanently]
Brutarian [horror]
Cemetery Dance [horror; closed to subs]
Clarkesworld Magazine
Chizine [horror; closed to subs]
Cosmos [sf; closed to subs]
Dark Wisdom [horror; on indefinite hiatus]
Dragon [takes all rights; I'm frankly shocked they're considered a pro market]
Fantasy Magazine [closed to subs]
Flash Fiction Online NEW added Feb 2009
Grantville Gazette (starting with May 2007 issue) NEW added Feb 2009 [specific alt-hist world]
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
Odyssey – Adventures in Science [sf; for children]
Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show
Pedestal Magazine [lit magazine, will accept genre work if it meets their criteria for lit]
Realms of Fantasy [closed to subs]
Strange Horizons
Subterranean Magazine [invite only]
Tor.com — NEW Added July 27, 2009 [invite only]
Writers of the Future Anthology [contest]
The sad fact is that very few markets can pay pro rates--set by SFWA currently at 5 cents a word, minimum $50--because they're just not getting enough subscribers. Jim Baen's Universe is closing for that very reason. Sometimes I wonder if non-writers even read these magazines anyway. I think they continue to exist largely because wannabe pro writers buy them to study the stories, in hopes that one day they too can be published in a pro market, at which time they'll be read by a new generation of wannabe writers.... Not that they don't publish good stories, but the audience seems kind of limited.
I dunno, I've had a cruddy day--one of those "if anything can go wrong, it will" days, and tomorrow isn't going to be any funner. I'm being even more cynical than usual. BUT! I did get my comp copies of two magazines that I have stories in: New Fables #3 and Beyond Centauri #25, both of them very pretty magazines produced for people who buy them to read for enjoyment. I know because New Fables is a furry magazine (they pay 1/2 cent a word) and Beyond Centauri is for kids (they pay a flat fee of $2, $3, or $6 depending on story length), and both furries and kids are sincere consumers of fiction. It's sort of refreshing, although it's not exactly paying for my trip to DragonCon.
Not that I'm particularly keen to join SFWA. But I'd like the option, so I can sneer and refuse to join.
Look, here's the list, with my notes in bold. The italicized markets are ones that are open and accept fantasy. Note also that even if all these markets were accepting subs, there are still just seven that accept fantasy (although several of them say they accept dark fantasy, which means they're horror markets).
Analog Science Fiction and Fact [sf]
Asimov’s Science Fiction [sf]
Apex (starting with June 2008 issue) — NEW Added July 7, 2009 [sf]
Baen’s Universe [closing permanently]
Brutarian [horror]
Cemetery Dance [horror; closed to subs]
Clarkesworld Magazine
Chizine [horror; closed to subs]
Cosmos [sf; closed to subs]
Dark Wisdom [horror; on indefinite hiatus]
Dragon [takes all rights; I'm frankly shocked they're considered a pro market]
Fantasy Magazine [closed to subs]
Flash Fiction Online NEW added Feb 2009
Grantville Gazette (starting with May 2007 issue) NEW added Feb 2009 [specific alt-hist world]
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
Odyssey – Adventures in Science [sf; for children]
Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show
Pedestal Magazine [lit magazine, will accept genre work if it meets their criteria for lit]
Realms of Fantasy [closed to subs]
Strange Horizons
Subterranean Magazine [invite only]
Tor.com — NEW Added July 27, 2009 [invite only]
Writers of the Future Anthology [contest]
The sad fact is that very few markets can pay pro rates--set by SFWA currently at 5 cents a word, minimum $50--because they're just not getting enough subscribers. Jim Baen's Universe is closing for that very reason. Sometimes I wonder if non-writers even read these magazines anyway. I think they continue to exist largely because wannabe pro writers buy them to study the stories, in hopes that one day they too can be published in a pro market, at which time they'll be read by a new generation of wannabe writers.... Not that they don't publish good stories, but the audience seems kind of limited.
I dunno, I've had a cruddy day--one of those "if anything can go wrong, it will" days, and tomorrow isn't going to be any funner. I'm being even more cynical than usual. BUT! I did get my comp copies of two magazines that I have stories in: New Fables #3 and Beyond Centauri #25, both of them very pretty magazines produced for people who buy them to read for enjoyment. I know because New Fables is a furry magazine (they pay 1/2 cent a word) and Beyond Centauri is for kids (they pay a flat fee of $2, $3, or $6 depending on story length), and both furries and kids are sincere consumers of fiction. It's sort of refreshing, although it's not exactly paying for my trip to DragonCon.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Comfort reading
August is probably the most stressful and exhausting time of the year if you work at a college, which I do. Today I got growled at by a student when I told her she had to put her cell phone up in a locker or her car before she could take her placement test.
If you think growling is an appropriate response to having to follow testing center policies, maybe you are not quite ready for college.
Also, I was so tempted to growl back.
When I sat down to lunch today and realized all I had to entertain me for the next hour was an overpriced Subway club and a notebook that was all sticky with peach juice (I forgot the peach was even in my bag, okay?), I could have cried. I would have done just about anything to have my battered old copy of Watership Down in front of me. Man, I need comfort reading in the worst way this week. Preferably the type of book where if someone growls at another character, that character beats the shit out of the growler.
If you think growling is an appropriate response to having to follow testing center policies, maybe you are not quite ready for college.
Also, I was so tempted to growl back.
When I sat down to lunch today and realized all I had to entertain me for the next hour was an overpriced Subway club and a notebook that was all sticky with peach juice (I forgot the peach was even in my bag, okay?), I could have cried. I would have done just about anything to have my battered old copy of Watership Down in front of me. Man, I need comfort reading in the worst way this week. Preferably the type of book where if someone growls at another character, that character beats the shit out of the growler.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Care and feeding of hiking boots
My poor hiking boots have been sadly neglected of late. I'd been wearing them hiking in Clear Creek all year, but I hadn't cleaned them up the way they need cleaning. The leather had gotten dry and scratched, and when I noticed the right upper had started to separate from the sole a few weeks ago, I stopped wearing them and stuck them in a corner.
Poor boots. I've owned them for over ten years and up until this year I kept good care of them. So this weekend I went to the farmer's co-op and bought a quart of neatsfoot oil and applied it carefully, then once they were dry I went over with spit and saddle soap and cleaned and shined them up. I took out the old worn laces, which I'll replace. This morning--because I have a weird work schedule today and don't have to be at work until noon--I'm going by Pendergrass Family Shoe Repair to drop them off. Pendergrass has repaired my boots several times over the years and do a great job. I just hope they're still in business.
Because this post has absolutely nothing to do with writing, I am now going to talk about writing. Um, I didn't get anything written this weekend. How about you?
Poor boots. I've owned them for over ten years and up until this year I kept good care of them. So this weekend I went to the farmer's co-op and bought a quart of neatsfoot oil and applied it carefully, then once they were dry I went over with spit and saddle soap and cleaned and shined them up. I took out the old worn laces, which I'll replace. This morning--because I have a weird work schedule today and don't have to be at work until noon--I'm going by Pendergrass Family Shoe Repair to drop them off. Pendergrass has repaired my boots several times over the years and do a great job. I just hope they're still in business.
Because this post has absolutely nothing to do with writing, I am now going to talk about writing. Um, I didn't get anything written this weekend. How about you?
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Emerald Tales #1 available
The first issue of Emerald Tales is available for order here. I got my contributor's copy yesterday. Usually I only read my story in any given contributor's copy, and sometimes one or two others if they look interesting--short stories aren't my favorite--but I read all of Emerald Tales. I wanted to see how the other authors handled the "follow the butterflies" theme.
The issue starts off with Erika Tracy's beautifully written "A Search Dog's Tryptych," which made me cry. It's my favorite story in the whole issue, worth the price of admission on its own if you ask me. My next favorite is Catherine J. Gardner's surreal "Empty Box Motel." Both those stories actually take the same approach to the theme, and they're both full of brilliant imagery--lush and earthy in Tracy's case, bright and sharp in Gardner's--but they could not possibly be more different.
Most of the stories contain literal butterflies, except for Arthur Carey's "Wedding Present" (a darkly funny story) and my own SF story "Cult of the Butterfly" (where the butterflies are aliens). I was a little disappointed by that, but each author used their butterflies a little differently. I didn't love all of the stories, but most of them aren't speculative in nature and that lowers my interest level right there. I'm looking forward the next issue in a few months; its theme is "masks, or things are not what they seem."
Wow, look at that. I actually reviewed something in more than three words.
The issue starts off with Erika Tracy's beautifully written "A Search Dog's Tryptych," which made me cry. It's my favorite story in the whole issue, worth the price of admission on its own if you ask me. My next favorite is Catherine J. Gardner's surreal "Empty Box Motel." Both those stories actually take the same approach to the theme, and they're both full of brilliant imagery--lush and earthy in Tracy's case, bright and sharp in Gardner's--but they could not possibly be more different.
Most of the stories contain literal butterflies, except for Arthur Carey's "Wedding Present" (a darkly funny story) and my own SF story "Cult of the Butterfly" (where the butterflies are aliens). I was a little disappointed by that, but each author used their butterflies a little differently. I didn't love all of the stories, but most of them aren't speculative in nature and that lowers my interest level right there. I'm looking forward the next issue in a few months; its theme is "masks, or things are not what they seem."
Wow, look at that. I actually reviewed something in more than three words.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
July's gone already?
I just realized it's August. Let's see, how did I do in July?
Well, I sold a book to a small press (still don't have the contract back, so it's not official), I sold a story to Emerald Tales--and the issue should be up for sale either tonight or tomorrow--and another to the It Was a Dark and Stormy Halloween antho. And my Thaumatrope Twitter serial "Unicorn Chase" ran throughout the month.
I also wrote a flash story and a regular short story during July, which is practically a record. That's about all the writing I did last month, but at least I wrote something.
The verdict: July was a total win. My goal for August is to name my unnamed new project and get back to work on it. I reread what I have of Little Sparrow the other night and it's not as good as I was thinking, so it's definitely on the back burner for a little longer.
Well, I sold a book to a small press (still don't have the contract back, so it's not official), I sold a story to Emerald Tales--and the issue should be up for sale either tonight or tomorrow--and another to the It Was a Dark and Stormy Halloween antho. And my Thaumatrope Twitter serial "Unicorn Chase" ran throughout the month.
I also wrote a flash story and a regular short story during July, which is practically a record. That's about all the writing I did last month, but at least I wrote something.
The verdict: July was a total win. My goal for August is to name my unnamed new project and get back to work on it. I reread what I have of Little Sparrow the other night and it's not as good as I was thinking, so it's definitely on the back burner for a little longer.
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