Good News and Bad News

Well, I have good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?

I'm going to tell the bad news first. "Cat and Mouse" was rejected by Emerald Tales. I really like the editor, Diana Lyles, and I understand what she told me in the rejection letter. Here is what she said:

Thank you for submitting your story for consideration in Emerald Tales magazine. I regret that I must pass on your story.

Cherie, you're a very talented writer. The reason that I am passing on this story is because the MC of the story wasn't sympathetic to me. I didn't care what happened to her. This story reminded me of The Thomas Crown Affair. I think that it's a good idea, but needs somethingat the beginning of it to make the reader care about the MC.

Also, there's an interesting dynamic going on between the husband and wife. She completely changes her appearance three times, but he catches her anyway. How does that work? Then there's the whole thing with her spending more time with him now that she is stealing paintings, than she did while she was a housewife.

I think you could expand this into a longer work.

The next theme for Emerald Tales is "It was a bright and sunny day". That should be the first line of the story. The deadline is March 1,2010.

Looking back at the story, I can see why the protagonist might not be sympathetic to the reader. As the writer, I know her background, but I didn't convey that quite as well to the reader. I must admit that I was thinking a lot of the Thomas Crown Affair when I wrote the story, but I added the twist at the end, so it wasn't exactly like it either. Eventually, I plan to take Diana's advice and fix the problems in the story, thus making it a longer work.

On the bright side of the rejection letter, she said that I'm a very talented writer. It means so much to me that she thinks so. I feel like I'm still in my infancy when it comes to writing, especially since I've only been doing this for a year. I've been crawling along, and I want to get up and run with it, but I'm still going to fall down sometimes. I do get better with each story, and I hope to continue to grow as a writer.

The next short story I write will be for Emerald Tales "It was a bright and sunny day" issue. I am hoping to get to it next week.

In good news, I am ready to begin writing book two of the Phoenix trilogy. I plan to start writing the first chapter this week. I still have to do rewrites for book one, but I know where I am heading with them, so I can start the second book.


I've been thinking about future projects. One of the things I'm considering is adding some steampunk to my Moonlight Murders mystery novel. I need to read some steampunk before I completely decide, but I think it could be fun.

I've started researching literary agencies. I've found a lot where I could send Moonlight Murders, but it's harder to find ones for fantasy for my Riverwood Trilogy and Phoenix Trilogy. I still have a lot more work to be done before I even submit to agents, of course.

I still have a list of places I want to submit new short stories to. February's short story will be for Pill Hill Press's Atlantis anthology. The tenative title of my short story is "The Staff of Zeus."

As for the short stories already written, I plan to just leave them be for now. I have three submissions out there. I would like to have more, but I feel that my previous stories need more work, and I don't want to take away from new works to go back to the old ones yet. When I have more time, I'll pick a story and fix it. The only plans right now that I have for the old ones that will require any real length is "Bella's Battle." I plan to eventually revise and add on to it. I would like to get it to novella length (20,000-40,000 words) and submit it to an epublisher. Of course, these things will take time.


Right now, I'm going to focus on writing The Phoenix Sorceress, rewrites/edits for The Phoenix Prophetess, and new short stories.

Otherwise, I hope everyone has a nice Monday, even though it is Monday. It's going to be a long six-day work week for me.

Submissions and Kindle

I hope everyone had a great holiday!

Christmas went well. We went over to my Grandpa's house and ate with the family and exchanged gifts. Everything was very nice, although it was a bit bittersweet. It was the first time that we had gathered there as a family since my Grandma died back in September 2008.

On the topic of Christmas gifts, I got a Kindle. It is so awesome! I absolutely love it, and that is saying something from the girl who hates to read books on the computer. I've already downloaded five books on it, and I plan to download book six on Wednesday when I get paid. (Book six will be my friend Aubrie Dionne's book Dreams of Beauty). I read Stephen King's UR first. I had to read it. It was an amazing novella. I wish I had an Ur Kindle. Unfortunately, I can't download things on Kindle at home, since I live in the middle of nowhere. Then again, it is probably a bit fortunate, too. If I could download things all the time, I would rack up thousands of dollars in books. It would not be good. *laughs* It is easy to read on a Kindle, just like reading a paperback book. *huggles Kindle* I'm currently reading Stephen King's Under the Dome on my Kindle. Just because I have one doesn't mean I won't read real books anymore. I'm reading Michael Cricton's Pirate Latitudes as well in hardback. *sighs* I really miss Michael Cricton. He was my favorite author of all time.

On other news, I finished writing another short story. I wrote two short stories in December. The first one is called "Defying Gravity," and it is a sci-fi romance story. Here is what it is about:   The Persean linguist, Linia, is excited about her people's first intergalactic space mission. Yet, when they attack their mortal enemies, the Medusans, Linia's world is turned upside down. The SS Perseid is sucked into a wormhole. Linia wakes up to find herself moments from crashing and the crew dead. She finds herself in worse trouble when she crashes. She lands on the unfriendly planet, Earth,and is captured by the Earthlings. Imprisoned underneath the ground,she has to find a way to escape and meets a friend along the way. Can they get out before they become an Earthling's dinner?

I plan to submit "Defying Gravity" to Pill Hill Press's Fire and Ice anthology as soon as I get a chance to edit/rewrite it.

The other short story is called "Cat and Mouse." It is a heists and capers short story. Here is what it is about: Rose is an international art thief, who is responsible for stealing six famous works of art. When she plans to steal a Dali painting during Venice's Carnival, she finds herself up against the detective who has hounded her since her first caper. Can she get away? Or is the game up?

"Cat and Mouse" was submitted to Emerald Tales "Carnivale" issue.

I also submitted "Wishes" today to Pill Hill Press's Four Horsemen anthology's Death section. "Wishes" wasn't originally written for that anthology, but I thought that it would fit under the Death heading, so I decided to do a bit of a rewrite and send it in today.

I still have "Eclipse" and "Soul Survivor" out there in submission world. I hope to hear back from them soon, or I'll have to be sending an email and inquiring about their status.

I've been looking through anthologies and the like to see what short stories to write next. I think my next one will be a thriller short story called "Grave Mistakes" for Emerald Tales "It was a bright and sunny day" issue. I have the story in my mind for the most part, so I thought I should write it next. I also need to get back into finishing the rewrites/edits for The Phoenix Prophetess, so I can start writing book two. So much writing to do and so little time.

And, I must resist the urge to read my Kindle all day.

I will be blogging a year in review soon. I hope everyone has a great new year!