Wednesday's Writing Update

Oh, where to begin with my Wednesday's Writing Update?

For starters, I finished the first draft of Missing on Sunday, November 28th. It came in at 51,669 words. You can read more about it here. And, the last installment of the flash fiction related to Missing can be read here. By finishing this first draft, I now have three completed first drafts of novels in two years.

I received an acceptance from Abandoned Towers for "Soul Survivor." It'll be for their online edition. I wrote "Soul Survivor" in 2005, and it was the first short story I've ever written. Since then, it's gone through different revisions, including a complete rewrite in January 2010 at the request of the Abandoned Towers' staff. I'm so pleased it was accepted, and I'll let everyone know when it is up and they can read it.

Back in October, I entered Hannah Kincade's Halloween contest. I didn't win, but she put up all the entries on her blog. You can read "Shadow" here. By the way, there are some other great entries she put up during November, so if you have a spare moment, be sure to read them. As a side note, "Shadow" was inspired by a dream I had.

Now, since it is December 1st, here is November's stats.

Submissions: 0

Rejections: 0

Acceptances: 1 ("Soul Survivor")

Word Count: 52,335 words

Submissions Still Out There: 1

Of course, my NaNoWriMo novel took up the majority of the word count for November. *winks*

Now, on to December's goals, and I have quite a few of them. There are five Fridays in December, so I decided to divide the items in the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas." Then, I'm writing in one or more items into a flash fiction piece for each Friday throughout the month. The first one is already written, so look for it on Friday. I hope to write the other four this week and set them to go up on their respective Fridays.

Also, for Raven and the Writing Desk, our theme is Christmas elves. I'll be writing my short story next week and the first part of our three-part story next week too.

Aubrie Dionne mentioned to me about a very awesome pirate anthology from Wicked East Press. I have a neat idea for it, so I hope to write it either next week or the next.

Then, I need to write my Fangtales entry after that.

And, probably most of all, I plan to do my research, character sketches, new blurbs, outline, a synopsis, and world building exercises for Virtuoso. Starting in January, I'll be rewriting the entire novel to some extent from scratch.

So even though I wrote an entire first draft of a novel last month, I plan to do quite a bit of writing this month too (although not as much in word count!). I'm really looking forward to beginning new projects and working on some old ones.

I still can't believe it is December already, though! Seriously, where did the time go?

New News

Oh, I heard back from Abandoned Towers today. I was surprised to hear back so soon and that they read my blog. They said that they wouldn't put so much work in a story if they weren't planning to accept it. It's true I won't know where it might show up with them (website for exposure or print magazine), but I am happy that they commented on my worries and like my work. I should know more by December 1st. If I can get "Soul Survivor" published, I'll be really happy about it, especially since it was the first short story I ever wrote in 2005.

I won't move it over to my accepted short stories yet until I have further word about what part it'll be accepted in, but I am grateful to Abandoned Towers for giving it a chance. The revisions they had me do have made the story a world better, and I feel happy with the story written.

Acceptance: Neptune's Treasure

I know that I have been a little frustrated and down the last few times I blogged, but today I am extremely happy. My short story "Neptune's Treasure" was accepted by Wyvern Publications for their Mertales anthology. Mertales is a print anthology that should be out in Fall 2010. I will let you know more details as I know them.

I had submitted "Neptune's Treasure" yesterday, so the response time was phenomenal. I did have to do some rewrites before the story was accepted.

Yesterday, I also submitted "Soul Survivor" to Abandoned Towers. They are a print (paying) and online (exposure) magazine. I wish that the story could be accepted in print, but they are already filled up through summer of next year, so I said it was fine to consider my story for the online magazine. I believe that exposure for "Soul Survivor" might be the best I can hope for concerning that story.

On Sunday, I received a rejection letter for "Hounded" that I sent to The Beast Within 2: The Beast Unleashed. The rejection email was quite short and your typical form letter:

Hi Cherie, Just finished up with Hounded.  I am going to pass though.  Thanks for your interest. Regards, Scott

Another friend submitted to them as well, so we obviously have no clue what they are looking for. I think "Hounded" can find another home though, so I'll be looking.

I still haven't heard from Wolfsinger Publications about my story "Hell Has No Fury" for their All About Eve anthology. Their deadline was August 31, so it has been well over a month. I'm not alone in not hearing back from them, so I'm going to email the editor today and see if I can get a response that way.

I haven't heard back from the few other things out there either, including Dead Bells anthology.

I would like to write some more short stories this month, if I get a chance. I am considering doing NaNoWriMo next month, if I get a laptop by November 1. NaNoWriMo is where you write a novel (50,000 words) in one month. I believe I could do it as long as I have a good idea and a laptop. I have the idea, but we'll have to see about the laptop. If I do it, then I'll have to push working on The Phoenix Prophetess rewrites and writing Moonlight Murders back. We'll have to see.

The main thing is that I finally have another story accepted. YAY!

UPDATE: I heard back from Dead Bells today as well. "Wishes" was short listed. I will know if it makes the final cut after October 15. 

It feels like a break up.

I received another rejection email today. This time it was about "Soul Survivor." Here is what was said:

Thank you for your recent submission to Pill Hill Press' The Bitter End: Tales of Nautical Terror anthology. 

After careful consideration, I have decided to pass on your story.  This is not a reflection of the quality of your writing, I just didn't think the story was a good fit for The Bitter End.

I hope you continue to submit your work to Pill Hill Press in the future.

Best Wishes,
Jessy Roberts

Frankly, it felt like a glorified break up. "It's not you, it's me." *rolls eyes* It is nice that they think my writing is decent, but I'm getting to the point rather I would rather something be wrong with my writing and that I'm just not what they are looking for but nice story, by the way. *sighs* I suppose I am just getting tired of not getting a single story accepted. I just want one. Is that so much to ask for? I think if I could just get one story published that it would be the boost I need. Oh, I'm not giving up. No, I can't do that. I'm just frustrated and ranting a bit. That's all.

In other news, I finished writing "Neptune's Treasure" tonight. I hope to submit it to Mertales anthology that my friend Aubrie told me about. I sent it to my critique buddies, so I likely won't be able to send it out until Monday.

I also added up my work count for September. I wrote 18,563 words of original work. It is almost 3,000 more than last month. I hope to increase the number every month or at least match it.

I have some other works in progress. I am in the editing/rewriting stages for THE PHOENIX PROPHETESS. I'm going to work on MOONLIGHT MURDERS soon, and I have a lot of plans for it, including creating a new first chapter for it. I also have a few short stories that I wish to write for various anthologies.

I still haven't heard back from the All About Eve anthology, Dead Bells anthology, Sorcerous Signals, Wild Child Publishing, and The Beast Within 2 anthology.

Rejection and Submission

"Soul Survivor" was rejected by Emerald Tales last week. Here is what was said:

I apologize for the delay in giving you an answer to your submission. It is with great difficulty that I pass on your story "Soul Survivor". It is a wonderful story, but it's not a good fit with Emerald Tales. Good luck submitting it elsewhere. It will find it's proper home.

Sincerely,

Diana Lyles

CEO Scribblers and Ink Spillers, LLC

I have to say that this is the nicest rejection letter I've ever received. I went back through the story, made some edits/rewrites. I changed the story from first to third person, and today I submitted it to Pill Hill Press for their The Bitter End: Tales of Nautical Terror anthology. The deadline is October 31, so I likely won't hear from them until the end of November. I do think my rewrites have made the story better, so we'll have to see. *crosses fingers*

I haven't heard from anywhere else yet about my stories. I should know by the end of next week about two of them ("Hell Has No Fury" and "Bella's Battle").

In other news, I'm working on "Hounded" for The Beast Within 2: Beasts Unleashed. I also have been thinking a lot about Moonlight Murders, and I hope to get to it soon. I have several more short stories planned for various anthologies, including another submission for Emerald Tales: Winter Solstice, which will be an ancient Roman horror story called "Io, Saturnalia." I will likely work on it after "Hounded," but we'll have to see how things go. Of course, I'll be working on the rewrites/edits for The Phoenix Prophetess in the meantime. Writing never seems to end, does it?

Possible Acceptance

I received an email back from Emerald Tales today. Here is what it said:

Thank you for submitting your story for consideration for the "Masks or Appearances Can be Deceiving" issue of Emerald Tales

magazine. I received so many outstanding stories that choosing only a few was very difficult. I regret that I must pass on your

story for the printed version of Emerald Tales. However, I would like to keep your story under consideration for three more

days for web content for my site. If this is not acceptable to you, then reply to this email and tell me so. Otherwise, I will

consider your story for possible publication on the website.

Sincerely,

Diana Lyles

CEM

Scribblers and Ink Spillers, LLC

Although I didn't get into the printed version, "Soul Survivor" still has a chance for the web version. I am thrilled about the possibility, so I'll have to wait three more days to find out if it'll be on the web version or not. I think this is especially good since the story was written four years ago and wasn't written particularly for this volume, although I thought the concept could work.

If she passes on the web version, then I'll be sending "Soul Survivor" out to Pill Hill Press for their Bitter End: Tales of Nautical Terror anthology. I don't know if "Soul Survivor" will fair there better, but I would like to find a home for it somewhere.