I have a mixture of writing news to share. First, I shall begin with the bad news. I received three rejections for the month of April so far. It was all form rejection letters, so I don't really know what they thought of my story beyond the fact that it wasn't for them. "Breaking Bifrost" was rejected from The Pedestal Magazine and The Absent Willow Review. "Soul Drinker" was rejected from The Way of the Wizard anthology. I'm not really surprised by these rejections, but I was still hopeful. I don't know where to send the stories next. I might wait a bit before I send them back out.
In good news, my story "Grave Mistakes" will be published in Emerald Tales "It was a bright and sunny day" issue this week. It's supposed to be out on April 15.
In the best news, an excerpt from my third place winning story "A Lessoned Learned" from the Big Read writing contest was in Saturday's Roanoke Times, my city's newspaper. It was on the back page of the Extra section. It's the first time my name has appeared in the newspaper for such a reason (beyond receiving the honor roll or graduating high school/college). I was really excited about it. I clipped it out to save. I'd like to find a way to scan it and put that scan as a .pdf on my website.
I haven't written much lately. I revised the first chapter of my novel, Virtuoso. I wrote a little over 500 words in my whodunit short story "The Harlequin's Last Laugh." If I still plan to send it to Pill Hill Press, then I have to finish the story by 8:00 PM on Wednesday, so I can have time for a critique buddy to look it over before submitting it on the deadline of Thursday, April 15. If I don't finish the story, it's not the end of the world, but I still hope to write it. For my plans for the rest of the week, I need to continue my rewrites for Virtuoso and write my Mother's Day story for Raven and the Writing Desk blog.
I've done very little on my novels for the past few months, actually since finishing my NaNoWriMo novel in November. I plan to take May and June off when it comes to short stories, exception made for the Raven and the Writing Desk blog short stories. Otherwise, I'm going back to the novels. I must finish my rewrites/edits for Virtuoso by June. Then, I want to work on the rewrites/edits for The Phoenix Prophetess. I'm holding off on The Phoenix Sorceress for the moment, and by July, I'd like to pick up Moonlight Murders again and finish the first draft of it by the end of September, so I can prepare for NaNoWriMo 2010.
Don't get me wrong. I enjoy writing short stories, but I think they are hurting my novels. It's so easy to jump into a short story for a week or two. I like the quick sense of accomplishment, but I have novels that need to be written in my head. I miss falling into a novel and having it consume my brain power. I feel so scattered in my thinking with all these various projects. So, I figured the best way to do that was to refrain from short stories for a while (once again, except for the Raven and the Writing Desk blog...Yes, I really do want you to check it out and join).
So for now, two more short stories this month to write and a novel to work on. Wish me luck!
5 comments:
Hmmm. Maybe Niteblade would like Breaking Bifrost? Or Aurora Wolf? I love it. :)
Short stories hurt my novels as well. I wanted to write one for every single anthology out there, and now I see that I should pick and choose. The short stories get publicity, but the novels pay the big bucks. :) Oh well. Good luck with your writing.
Niteblade might be a good choice for "Breaking Bifrost." I wasn't sure Aurora Wolf would like it because of the ending. I might send "Soul Drinker" to Aurora Wolf, though. *shrugs*
It is a double-edged sword when it comes to short stories. They help for publicity, but the novels have a chance to pay more. Plus, I think they give you even better publicity, too. I won't give up doing short stories, but I need to cut back a bit and try to find a better balance between the two.
I love writing short fiction for the instant gratification of having a finished story. It's also my comfort zone so I'd rather write a short than work on my WiP, most days! But like you, I realize I need to plug away at the larger work if I want the incredible sense of satisfaction that comes with completing a novel! Good luck with it!!
I completely agree, Nicole. Thanks for the good luck. Good luck for your WIP, too!
I came to the same conclusions too. I need to get back to novels. Been picking at my scifi still! Congrats on getting in the paper.
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