Perchance to Dream

Quick computer note

2007-12-17T21:18:18Z

I spent all weekend loading software on my computer, getting it ready for use. I'm having a lot of fun, really. I've never had one with enough RAM and a big enough hard drive to actually hold all of my software (games included) at once. Anyway, I'm not getting much in the way of work done yet, but that will come. I just have to get everything exactly the way I want it first. Oh, and clear off my desk. It became kind of a "catch all" location while my laptop was out of commission. Now that I have my lovely new desktop, though, I need to get the desk back in working condition as well.

Wheeeeee!

Yippee!

2007-12-15T04:10:32Z

I got my new computer delivered today. I wasn't expecting it until after the first, so that came as quite the surprise. But a happy sort of surprise. This means I can do more work at home now. Including updating the market side of my submission software. I did stay after work last night and do a bit, but I didn't get very far because I kept getting distracted and I kind of wanted to go home. Problem solved! And this is one mother of a machine, too. I'm very happy with it. We can all just say a little song of thanks to the fairy godfather who provided it for me (in return for some promised web design help later on down the road, of course).

Yay for tools that work! Yay for shiny new boxes! Yay, yay, yay!

Speaking of cleaning house

2007-12-13T19:10:48Z

Man oh man, it occurred to me today how much work I really have to do on pure housekeeping, so to speak. My submission tracking program (some of you may recall that it's an MS Access application I wrote for myself - available for free to anyone who may desire a copy to try) is sadly out of date on the market side. I haven't updated any of the information in a dog's age. To try to use it for submissions right now would be little short of foolhardy. So what do I get to do? I get to sit and try to get the damned thing updated. Wheeeee. *sigh*

Since my laptop at home is so unreliable (wouldn't boot at all last night) and my new desktop won't be arriving until early next month, I'm thinking of just camping out at the office some evening and trying to see how much I can get done. Hell, maybe I'll just do it tonight. I don't know. Why not, right? The boss won't care, and I'm going to have to drive home in the dark anyway, so what's an hour or two later?

Anyway, I'd really like to get all this done before the new year. Because once I have a reliable computing situation at home again, I'm going to really get to work on clean-up and revision of the old stories and get them back into submission. For that, I need reliable data. Besides, maybe going over all the guidelines and such again (and discovering which magazines have shut down or started up in the iterim) will be a good way to get my head back in the game. Couldn't hurt. And it feels productive, which is always helpful. Right?

Or maybe I'm just trying to psyche myself up for spending a few hours doing what is basically nothing more or less than data entry. *grin*

Catching up on old submission responses

2007-12-12T17:25:34Z

Cleaning house before the new year starts, you see. I want to get everything straightened up in my records and make sure that I'm ready to rock and roll with submissions the very first time I finish a story's clean-up. So, just for the sake of completeness, here are the rejections from last year that never got recorded.

"Toyland Revisited," on April 20, 2006:

I regret to inform you we will not be accepting your submission forpublication. As you may have noticed, this is a form rejection. While we would like to give personal responses to each submission, it is not practical for us to do so at this time.

Please keep in mind that this may not be a statement about the quality of your submission. All this e-mail truly says (and we apologize for not being able to offer more) is that we can't use your piece at the moment. Best of luck placing your submission elsewhere, and thanks for giving us the opportunity to review your work.

Jeremiah Sturgill
Editor, Son and Foe

"Through My Eyes," on May 02, 2006:

Dear Kim,

Thank you for your submission of “Through My Eyes” to Aberrant Dreams. I’m sorry to say that we will not be able to use this story at this time. Good luck with it elsewhere and feel free to send another story to us in the future.

Sincerely,

Pattrick Higgins, editor of fantasy

"Perchance to Dream," on July 07, 2006:

Dear Kim:

You are correct that we considered "Perchance to Dream" and passed on it some time ago. We do send out e-mail notifications, but yours must have gone astray. Sorry for the mix-up.

David E. Hughes
Editor, Electric Spec

"Shadowman," on July 27, 2006:

Thank you for offering your story to Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show. We're sorry to tell you that we will not be using it; you are free to submit it elsewhere.

Sincerely,
The Editors

"The Hunt," on September 25, 2006:

Thank you for submitting “The Hunt" to Dark Wisdom. The story was enjoyable, the characters strong, but it doesn't quite fit the style of the magazine, so we must pass on it. It seems likely the story will find a home with another market.

Thank you for taking the time to submit, and please consider doing so again in the future.

Best,

Chuck

Here I am, on the road again

2007-12-12T17:06:21Z

Here I go, up on the stage. Or something like that. Yes, that's right, it's time for my semi-annual come-back tour. *sigh* Honestly, I'm tired of going back and forth. Either writing is important enough to me to take the time and make the effort, or it's not. And it is. I really believe that it is. And, somehow, over the last couple years I've managed to learn a few things. I can feel it when I read, when I discuss books or movies with friends, and even more when I'm looking at my own work. I can see deficiencies that I couldn't see before, and I can see new ways to strengthen plot and character.

This is especially evident in the notes for my novel. If you read the last post here (done in May, yeesh), you'll see that I'd put myself in a bit of a spot. Well, working exceedingly sporadically, managed to hammer together at least the first segment of a plot. I've got my opening and the portion of the conflict that's going to take us into the meat of the book. I've got my main character, and the beginnings of a few more (though they need work, obviously). I've got some rudimentary world building, and I'm getting ready to really dive into fleshing that out. And I've got some glimmers of where the plot will go from here (I'm hoping the research and the worldbuilding will help to flesh the rest of that out as well). And with all this work and the thinking that I've been doing, I'm really seeing some strong differences. The plot is stronger. The conflicts are more dramatic. The character is deeper. And most importantly, I'm really feeling this one in a way I never have before.

So, to celebrate this new excitement and my new committment (and I swear I'm sticking to it this time), I've decided to put up the writing resolutions I've decided on for this year. I'm not going into a lot of specifics with it or anything, just some general guidelines of what I hope to accomplish, time, fates (and in some cases, budget) willing.

Finish the planning for my Roman fantasy novel and begin writing, hopefully finishing the first draft.

Edit, polish and/or rewrite my existing short stories and get them back into the submission cycle.

Re-design, edit, and polish both the atheist website and the vampire website and get them back on the web.

Be faithful about keeping up this LJ and other measures of my writing progress to help with accountability.

Writing process question

2007-05-31T19:07:07Z

Okay, so I find myself in sort of an odd situation (well, odd for me). I had a plot and three or four characters. Then I combined two of the characters, and the resulting character was pretty damned interesting. In fact, this character has a damned-near built-in character arc. However, now that I have all this other stuff to explore, the plot I had is no longer interesting to me. Wouldn't allow me to explore the character and her arc enough.

So now I'm trying to find a new plot. I've written down six vague possibilities so far, and I'm working on that. But I'm curious. When you find yourself in the position to choose from amongst various plot possibilities (assuming that's ever happened), how do you pick? What kind of criteria do you use? Is it a conscious, logical process or more of an emotional/gut thing?

Speak up, people. This is turning into one of my new favorite "fascinating writer stuff" topics.

Six pages down

2007-05-22T18:32:30Z

Okay, in a desperate attempt to get my life back on track, I've started working again. I know I'd said that I'd started some notes before, but that idea never really went anywhere. I know now that's because there wasn't enough to it. I had another idea that grabbed my attention more, and the first one has somehow ended up entangled with it. Together, I think they give me some pretty strong possibilities.

I'm going to try to write a novel. I've tried before, some of you know, without actually finishing one. But this time I feel like I've got a much better grip on the principles of plot and character and conflict and all that good stuff. I've been devouring all kinds of writing books, embracing the stuff that means something to me and discarding the rest. Out of it all I'm trying to fashion a method of novel writing that will really work for me, instead of slavishly devoting myself to somebody else's system.

Anyway, Sunday evening I got six pages of really solid work done. Fleshed out some important characters in a really satisfying way, set up some of the societal situation in the world (it's fantasy), and got a pretty firm grip on the plot that's going to drive the first bit of the novel. There's still a ton of work left to be done, but I'm feeling pretty good about what I've got so far.

For the first time, I feel comfortable with the work I've been doing on the book, and I feel like this might actually be the one I finish. Whether or not it's going to be any good is another question, but at this point just finishing would feel like a real triumph.

Writing again, sort of

2006-12-20T18:59:37Z

I've been working on story notes for a dystopia piece. Something that occurs in that fictional space between the warnings of Good Night and Good Luck and V for Vendetta. In other words, what happens between when a fascist takeover is first threatened and when it has already become an established reality? I think it's an interesting topic, and I've taken the tack of approaching it from an Information Age vs. public apathy angle. It has potential, if I can ever get a good enough grip on it to start writing. Five or six pages of handwritten notes so far, but the concepts are starting to crystalize, so I might be making some progress.

I'm not working every day yet, and I haven't looked at any of the old stuff that needs work. But since this is the first writing of any sort I've done in a very long time, I think it's something of a triumph. So go me.

"The Invasion" rejected

2006-04-09T18:06:21Z

That was quick. I suppose I should be grateful there was no suspense, but now I have to find somewhere else to send the damned thing. Oh well.

Dear Kim,

Thank you for your submission "The Invasion," but we are going to decline it for publication. It wasn't quite a match for us, but I wish you luck with it elsewhere. Thank you for considering Chizine.

Sincerely,
M. Thomas
Chizine Fiction Editor

Multiple submissions and...

2006-04-08T22:59:52Z

Been a busy day today, and yesterday. Yesterday I wrote new words for the first time in ages. Three pages of handwritten material. Not sure yet how many words that is, or even if the story's going to be any good. Still, I'm so relieved that the words were there that I don't even care.

Today was a submissions day. I had a bunch of stuff that had been rejected lately and needed to be sent back out. I hadn't been able to face the idea until recently, but now I managed to get them all out. Thank goodness for email submissions. I've been at a friend's grand opening all day (he opened a new hobbies and games shop in Midwest City) and taking full advantage of his wi fi network. Sometimes it's good to work outside the house.

Okay, so here's what I did.

"Toyland Revisited" went to Son and Foe

"The Invasion" went to Chairoscuro

"Shadowman" went to Intergalactic Medicine Show

"The Hunt" went to Book of Dark Wisdom (I refuse to give up on them)

Busy day. Satisfying day. Check out my personal LJ for news on part of why I'm feeling so much better. Right now I'm just glad that I am. I needed this so very much. It's never right when I can't write.

"Shadowman" rejection

2006-03-24T16:56:40Z

Thank you for submitting “Shadowman" to Book of Dark Wisdom. The story doesn't quite fit the style of the magazine, so we must pass on it. Thank you for taking the time to submit, and please consider doing so again in the future.

Best,

Chuck

This is so depressing. I really thought that one was a good fit. Apparently, I don't have the slightest idea what I'm doing. I really shouldn't be thinking about writing right now. My mind is totally in the wrong place.

"The Invasion" rejection

2006-03-13T22:30:04Z

I regret to inform you we will not be accepting your submission for publication. As you may have noticed, this is a form rejection. While we would like to give personal responses to each submission, it is not practical for us to do so at this time.

Please keep in mind this is not a statement about the quality of your submission. All this says (and we apologize for not being able to offer more) is this: your particular piece is not for our particular publication, at this particular time.

Good luck placing your submission elsewhere, and thanks for giving us the opportunity to review your work.

Jeremiah Sturgill
Editor, Son and Foe

I hate form rejections.

I tried to put in my normal couple hours work on Sunday. No good, really. I couldn't put together three coherent thoughts. I tried to just work on notes (for a rewrite of an old story, and for a new story idea I had the other night) and everything looked awful. Just awful. I'm so depressed.

Btw, thanks for the kind thoughts in response to the last post. It does help to know that people think kindly of me, even when I can't think kindly of myself.

Update on my life

2006-03-10T15:03:32Z

All you really need to know about what horror show my life has become can be found at kimmysai. I can't even make myself believe that the writing matters a damn right now, and I don't know when it will seem to. I wish it did. I wish I could believe that it would make a difference. But I don't, and I can't.

"Finnegan's Passage" and "The Hunt" Rejections

2006-03-08T18:32:25Z

These came in the last couple days, so they hadn't been posted yet. Fooey. I hate rejections. It's depressing when I linger long enough to think about it, so I'm trying not to. I'm just focusing on what comes next and trying not to let this stuff matter at all. It's easier at some times than others, but I do my best. It's not too hard today.

#1 - Finnegan's Passage - March 4

From Intergalactic Medicine Show

Thank you for offering your story to Orson Scott
Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show. We're sorry to
tell you that we will not be using it; you are free to
submit it elsewhere.

Sincerely,
The Editors

#2 - The Hunt - March 7

Dear Kim:

Thank you for submitting your work to Far Sector SFFH (formerly Deep Outside SFFH), the world’s oldest professional web-only magazine of speculative and dark fiction. While readers here appreciate what’s strong about your work, we feel the work is not a match for our current editorial needs. That in no way is a critique of your work’s quality, and we hope you don’t feel too let down. Please persevere in your writing, and in time other readers will enjoy your creations. Submission guidelines are at our website (http://www.farsector.com/about.htm). Please check before submitting, because guidelines may change without notice.

We seek tightly plotted, character driven genre fiction (sf/f/h) not less than 3000 or more than 6000 words. All work must have a speculative or dark edge. Not looking for mystery, high fantasy, sword and sorcery, derivations of movies or TV shows, or splatter. We ask the highest standards in grammar, spelling, usage, and traditional story values. Tell us your credits, which may duly impress us, while knowing we’ve published many new authors who’ve sent a great story. We consider genre second, story quality first. Pet peeve: don’t use foreign terms you’re not expertly familiar with, because experience has shown you’ll embarrass yourself and us if we let you.

That said, our readers anxiously look for great new stories from Far Sector SFFH, and we hope one of these days your work may be among them.

Cheers and best wishes,

Dennis Latham/fiction editor

(Dump the opening and get into the story.)

I don't know if any of that from Far Sector is actually meant to apply to me personally, or if he says that stuff to everyone. There aren't any foreign terms, so I guess that it's all form letter. What I'm wondering about, really, is the bit in parenthesis there at the end. Is that form, or did he think my opening was too much?

I'm so confused.

Writing stuff

2006-03-08T18:23:07Z

I've actually been writing some. For the last few weeks, I pretty much only got work done on Sunday afternoons. Not good. This week I wrote on Sunday, then edited Monday and Tuesday. Today, I will either work on the long-standing work-in-progress "Abomination," or I'll start something new.

And I can start something new, which is the really cool part (and why this post has a brainstorming graphic). I had some trouble going to sleep last night. Various bits and phrases from the essay on horror movies that I just posted were rolling around in my head. I managed to shove them out, only to have a story idea pop full-fledged into my head. So of course I had to get up and go write it down before I lost it. Now I know that whenever I'm ready to start on something fresh, I've got that there waiting for me. My idea book was, well, a great idea. *heh*

I'm feeling very productive and writerly. I did have a slight problem after I finished my latest edits last night. I told my husband it was post-partum depression, but I don't think he understood. Ah well. Life goes on, does it not?

Horror

2006-03-08T17:40:35Z

This is only loosely related to writing. But then again, maybe not. Maybe situation and buy-in and suspension of disbelief and how it's created are all things that anyone who wants to write horror should think about. Anyway, there are a few thoughts I've had on the subject. I can't tell that they've done me any good yet, but mayhap they will. I'm talking about movies here, but I could really be talking about books just as easily, I suppose.

This is put behind a cut, because it's ridiculously long. Please forgive me if it's rough copy. This is the first time that I've really put any of these thoughts down. I'm sure they aren't totally original, but I had my own experience with the problem, so I wanted to share my thoughts.

The Grudge and the Horror Movie Experience

I want to talk about horror and situation and the suspension of disbelief. It is my theory that the latter two are necessary in order to achieve the former, and that the situation is impossible to separate from the suspension. I'm going to use the movie The Grudge as my main example.

Some folks loved the movie, and some thought it was pure cheese. I can see how you could come to either conclusion, but it's my belief that in some part, it's not up to you. That is, some people make decisions through their lives that make them more open to horror, but even if you're the type of person who revels in it, it can still be destroyed before you can get a handle on it.

I've spent a great portion of my life steeped in horror (my mother was a fan, and my father was a cop, so maybe it's no real surprise that my older brother and I are both fans of the morbid). I've been reading scary stories and novels longer than I've been allowed to watch R rated films, and as a result I'm hard to scare.

Let me qualify that. I'm easy to creep out. It's not difficult at all to make me watch the shadows more carefully when reading a scary story, and I'm pretty easy in the "jump" scare department at movies. But they don't haunt me. They don't follow me. I'm able to turn off the light and go to sleep with no trouble at all, and rarely do they haunt my dreams. My nightmares are far more likely to be creations of my own creative mind than of someone else's. Nevertheless, terrifying me can be done.

I've seen The Grudge twice. The first time was with my husband on opening night. The second time, my brother and I (who both adored the movie) wanted to share it with our parents, so the four of us went out. There were some fundamental differences that affected how good the movie was, and that's partially what I want to discuss.

Opening night found my husband and I seated front and center at the local AMC multiplex. It was a late show, and the house was absolutely packed. Not only that, but everyone was very excited to be there. You could feel the thrum of excited anticipation coming from the entire crowd. Since it was opening night, we hand't all already heard the whole plot, didn't know when every scare came, and hadn't had the make-up and acting disected for us by our friends. We were there because of previews, or magazine articles, or because we'd heard exciting things about Japanese based horror films and wanted to see whether the director had held on to that while Americanizing.

I'm not a public talker (that is, unlike many of those who live in Oklahoma, I'm not comfortable starting conversations with complete strangers for no reason). Yet I found myself excitedly discussing the upcoming film with the girl next to me. We were both ready and willing to have the pants scared off of us, if the director could pull it off. Very little of the overheard conversation in the theater was about anything but the movie we'd come to see.

The lights went dark, and the crowd quieted immediately. There were no inconsiderate jerks talking through the previews. There was no laughter. There was only a crowd of people who, while mildly interested in the previews, were really just gearing themselves up for the main attraction of the evening. My seat-mate and I grinned at each other with real joy when the previews ended and the movie was about to begin.

I won't belabor the plot points of the movie. If you've seen it, you know. If you haven't, you should and I don't want to spoil it. I will say, though, that it terrified me. I pushed back in my seat, and almost could have hidden behind it. The girl next to me screamed loud and long, as did everyone else in the room. Even my husband, who finds diving into the fanciful world of movies wholly difficult, gave more than a few shouts. And it wasn't just jump-scares. There were those, yes. But there was also the building terror that grabbed at your heart and mind and squeezed until you had to scream to let it out. "I can't take any more, I can't take any more" the girl next to me moaned more than once. She covered her eyes for a time, it's true. But then she uncovered them again, unable to stand not being able to see. There was laughter during two individual scenes, but the laughter unmistakably said, "That's exactly what I'd do in that situation, but Jesus I'm glad that's not me." Frightened laughter, if you can buy that.

And buy is exactly what the audience did, myself included. We bought the movie, hook, line and sinker. We bought into every character, every musical chord, every jump scare and every moment of building horror. We bought it all, and in return we received an unforgettable ride into terror, such as I've never received before.

The audience sat in stunned silence as the lights came up, and then began slowly to drift out of their seats. It took a few minutes, but by the time everyone streamed out of the room, the conversations were varied and animated. Not only did everyone love what they had seen, but they couldn't wait to discuss every aspect with the people around them. My husband and I spent the entire ride home discussing the movie, and then for an hour or so after we got home, despite the late hour. We couldn't get over the director's deft touch, the way the terror had begun to build and then not slackened in pace for more than a moment for the rest of the movie.

Then we went to bed, and the whole thing hit me in a way I hadn't expected. The way nothing's hit me since I was a little girl. We share a king sized bed, because we both have a tendancy to toss and kick in our sleep. The extra size reduces inexplained bruising. That night, however, I spent huddled up against my husband. I tried to be brave. I lay on my own pillows at first, but I couldn't shut my eyes. When I did, I saw that pale face and those somehow hideously dark eyes leering at me out of the darkness. I heard sounds that couldn't have been there, or felt the touch of dangling, impossibly long and mobile hair. At around three I gave up and grabbed my husband. Only with his arms around me could I find even that shallow excuse for sleep.

I told myself it was just because we saw the movie so late, and I had so much to think about. But it happened again the next night. And the next. It was the fourth night before I could close my eyes without seeing that face, hearing that sound, feeling that touch. Unprecedented. Unbelievable. And yet, there it was.

Naturally, I couldn't wait to share this with my family. My brother had already enjoyed his first experience, so it only remained to scare the hell out of our parents. What fun! We ended up at a different theater, because it was the only one with a showtime that suited all four of us. This theater was in a somewhat less savory section of town. By now the movie had been out for two weeks. A lot of folks had seen it once, and they'd told everyone about it. The film held few secrets for those who'd been paying attention. A lot of the mystery was gone.

Even so, I think it could have worked if not for the audience. This particular theater is not known for a great movie-going experience, and I should have known better than to take them there. But I hadn't thought it through. This theater was only about half full, mostly teenagers who were there for lack of something better to do. Rather than enjoying breathless anticipation, they engaged in their own conversations through the previews and into the beginning of the movie. They never did really shut up. As a result, it was impossible to fall into the movie, to let it wrap its spell around you and really buy the reality one and all.

As we left, my brother and I were furious. I explained to my parents, "That wasn't the movie we brought you here to see. They ruined it."

It was all in the situation. The atmosphere, if you will. Not of the movie, but of the theater. We couldn't let go of the reality, because reality wouldn't stop intruding. If you haven't seen The Grudge the way I first saw it, then you haven't seen it at all. I recommend renting it and trying it again at home with all the lights off. Don't think about what you know of it. Just let go and give in to the experience. Hopefully, that disastrous first viewing can be overcome.

I wonder, though. Because even after the mockery of horror that I saw that night, I was still frightened. The images and sounds had all been refreshed for me, and that night I again saw pale white faces in the corners of my bedroom. I heard things slithering and crawling down the long hallway to our bed. It wasn't as strong as it had been after the first viewing, but it was there. To some extent, it's still there. If I'm tired, and it's late, and I allow my mind to wander anywhere, I may catch a glimpse of that hateful, yet somehow indifferent, face. Just for a moment.

Does it linger because it was my first experience with the film? Or is it because true terror, once embraced, never really lets go? I hope it is the latter, because it means that there is still hope. It means that idiots with cell phones, or people who think three year olds should attend midnight showings, can't really ruin the experience of true terror. They can only postpone it. Viewing at home in the dark isn't quite the same as feeding off the energy of two hundred other terrified moviegoers, but it's a start.

And with this in mind, please don't be one of those jerks. There is somebody in that theater who is trying to fall into another world and embrace a horror they've never imagined. Don't get in the way.

There is nothing so precious to me as the moments when I totally forget my reality and immerse myself in the world of another, with its terrors and joys and hopes and fears. There is nothing so good for the human spirit as to become someone else for a time. Movies, as well as books, can provide this. But the connection is a fragile one. We must fight to hold onto it, and hope that no one will come along to tear it from our grip.

The plans of mice and men

2006-02-16T18:18:57Z

As to whether I'm the mouse or the man, well, that's a trick question, isn't it? *grin*

Specifically, I'm planning to start writing on a schedule of some sort again. I've got to get back in the habit of getting words down every night (or editing something, or researching, or doing pre-writing, or something writing related). I've got far too many projects going on to be doing this as haphazardly as I am. At this rate, I'll never finish!

These are the projects I am actively working on right now:
1. Abomination - a short story (or something) that I'm in the midst of writing
2. Reilly's Girl - formerly the short story Riley's Girl, in the midst of a ground-up re-write
3. Leyton's Flats Dries Up - a short story in the midst of a ground-up rewrite

Projects on haitus (or that I haven't even started yet):
1. Godless and Cheerful - a non-fiction book of essays on atheist life, started but not finished
2. Even Exchange - a short story awaiting a ground-up rewrite
3. Finnegan's Passage - a short story awaiting a re-write of some sort
4. Through My Eyes - a short story awaiting a re-write/exansion
5. Working the Dungeon - a short story awaiting a re-write that will give it a real plot

Projects I am seriously considering:
1. Cryptid - a novel I started back gods know when, and that I may actually finish some day

Is it any wonder I feel the need to get organized? That's not even counting the seven stories I currently have in circulation, at least one or two of which will probably need work of some sort as soon as I figure out what, if anything, is actually wrong with them. And that's not even counting the reading and work I have to do for my writer's group. So, yeah, organization is becoming key in my life.

The bit about the writing group is behind a cut, 'cause I know some of you might not care.

Okay, so there's a writing group on campus. Mostly, it's composed of students, but nobody seems to mind when I attend. And at least a couple of them are what we so euphamistically call "non-traditional" students, so I'm not the oldest or anything. But the good part is that a couple of them are getting their masters in creative writing, and their novels are their thesis. So they give really good evaluations of work. "Reilly's Girl," that I'm re-writing now, was the subject of much discussion. Three of them gave me a whole slew of comments, some contradictory. So when I sorted them all through, I came up with some really good ideas and really good solutions to problems. They're excellent at pointing out the weak spots, but even more they can help me figure out how to fix them.

I'm telling you, this has been just wonderful for me. Never have I gone into a total re-write with such a firm idea of how I want to handle it. And it's not like they were bossing me around, either. I got enough advice of different types that I could sort through it all and find the parts that would work well for me as a writer, and would help me to tell the story that I wanted to tell.

Best of all, it feels to me that after having a few more of my stories ripped apart this way, I should be able to begin to apply some of this stuff on my own. Like I'm learning how better to look at my own stories. Which is excellent both for me as a writer, and as a future student. I'd hate to embarrass myself in front of the teachers when I finally do start in on my creative writing B.A., after all. With a little help from my new friends, I feel like that's not going to happen.

Oh, one other thing. I really like doing this face-to-face. It terrified me at first, but it's great to be able to back-and-forth with people to clarify what they meant, or to tell them what you meant and then brainstorm about how to make that intention come out in the story more. Online critiques are great (and less scary), but this was a much needed component that's been added to my life and my writing. Yay!

"The Invasion" submission

2006-02-06T18:31:53Z

Okay, we'll forget about that magazine until they get their stuff straightened out. In the meantime, I've edited the story down to 500 words (a whopping 45 words removed) so that it fits Son and Foe's definiton of flash fiction and emailed it off to them. They say they like creative stylistic choices in their flash fiction, and this one certainly has that. At least, I think it does. I may be alone in that. *heh* We'll see. Their stated response time is 1 month, and according to my handy-dandy submission tracker their last response came in 0.3 months, so at least I won't have to suffer long.

By the way, if anyone's interested in my New and Improved Writing Records program, please let me know. Remember that you have to have Microsoft Access in order for it to work. I know it works with version 2003, but I'm not sure about the older ones. Someone would have to test it to know. It's free of charge, and I think it's a fantastic program. It's helped me immensely, and the new version is a GIGANTIC improvement over the old one. Anyway, I'm no salesman (and I wouldn't make any money anyway), but I wanted to see if there was anyone out there who could use something to help them keep track.

"The Invasion" returned

2006-02-06T17:57:04Z

Argh. I hate it when stuff like this happens. I checked the website before I sent it, but they didn't put the update up about this until several days later. Turns out that Aeon Magazine is changing its mailing address, and stuff sent to the old address is getting returned (as I discovered). They're going to put up a new mailing address "soon." In the meantime, I just wasted a whole month on that story. I wish people would put this kind of information up before the changes actually take place, to give people time to adjust. At the least, they could have said not to send anything to them until the new address was posted. Darnit.

Of course, it's possible that this is something they couldn't control at all, and I'm just being grumpy. But I think I'm allowed to be grumpy about stuff like this, aren't I?

Three submissions and one rejection

2006-01-31T17:45:59Z

I know, I've been very quiet lately. The first few weeks of the spring semester at work have been hell. Plus (although I forgot to mention three of them here), all of my finished stories were out awaiting responses, and my current stories are moving kind of slowly. So I didn't have much to say anyway. I did join a writer's group here at school, but I'll talk more about that later.

For now, here are the three submissions and one rejection:

"Toyland Revisited" was submitted to Cemetery Dance on January 9, 2006
"The Invasion" was submitted to Aeon Magazine on January 9, 2006
"The Education of Brenn Valore" was submitted to Realms of Fantasy on January 9, 2006
"Be Careful What You Wish For" was rejected by Intergalactic Medicine Show with a form rejection on January 31, 2006

Yay for me, right? Now I have to figure out where this rejected story is going next. Decisions, decisions.

Happy New Year!

2006-01-02T01:59:28Z

Okay, it's time to set my goals for the year. Hopefully I'll keep to them so I can be really proud of myself next year.

Use my to-do writing list to get the stories edited and re-written as they need to be truly viable submissions

Finish the pending stories that I have and get them polished for submission

Keep all my "active" stories in the submission cycle until they sell, or until I run out of markets

Use the comments and critiques that I get to continue to grow as a writer

Excel at my creative writing studies when I go back to college (whether it's here in OKC or in Fort Worth) without letting it get in the way of my other pursuits

Try to write as often as possible, but certainly never let a week go by without putting down something new

Refuse to let my psychological cycle or other nasty aspects of life get in the way of pursuing my dreams

Wish me luck!

"Toyland," "Invasion," and "Perchance" rejections

2005-12-30T23:56:18Z

That's right folks, today you get the three-for-one special. Three rejections which have come in over the holidays all packed into one little post. Aren't you all lucky? It's been a quiet holiday (these happy few emails aside), but I'm planning to pick things up during the new year. I got a laser printer for Christmas from my parents and my husband (jointly), so it will be easier to send physical submissions rather than just the email ones. That'll broaden my scope some. I'll be posting my goals for the year tonight or tomorrow, but for now let me share my rejections with you. All in all, I'm not too bothered by it. 2006 is a whole new chance, right?

Dear Ms. Cole:

Thank you for submitting "Toyland Revisited" to Surreal. Unfortunately, I'm
going to pass on it.

Thank you for your interest in Surreal, and please try us again.

Sincerely,

Brian Rappatta
Associate Editor
Surreal Magazine

Dear Ms. Cole,

Thank you for letting us read your short fiction. Unfortunately, it doesn't fit our current needs and we won't be able to use it, but we invite you to submit again in the future.

Sincerely,

Kate Sanger
ksanger@fromtheasylum.com
http://www.fromtheasylum.com
From the Asylum Books and Press - Confusing People Since 1994™

Dear Kim,

Thank you for sending your story, "Perchance to Dream," to Ideomancer for consideration. It has been sent to me for a second-round review.

While there is some interesting imagery here, unfortunately the overall story did not hold my interest. For this reason, I cannot accept this piece for Ideomancer. Good luck, and I hope you will submit more of your work to us soon.

Sincerely,

Lisa Deguchi
Associate Editor
Ideomancer Speculative Fiction

Merry Christmas!

2005-12-25T23:27:26Z

Merry Christmas and Happy Solstice to everyone and your families. My love to each and all, with good wishes and kind thoughts for the new year. I'll report on my present haul in my personal LJ later (it was really good), but for now just let me send my love to everyone.

"Education of Brenn Valore" rejection

2005-12-19T21:27:04Z

*sigh* I've been having an emotional few day (mostly as the result of girl stuff), and this is just depressing to me.

I regret to inform you we will not be accepting your submission for publication. As you may have noticed, this is a form rejection. While we would like to give personal responses to each submissions, it is not practical for us to do so at this time.

Please keep in mind this is not a statement about the quality of your submission. All this says (and we apologize for not being able to offer more) is this: your particular story is not for our particular publication, at this particular time.

Good luck placing your work elsewhere! Being an author is more a journey than a destination, and it's important to keep moving forward.

Jeremiah Sturgill
Editor, Son and Foe

However, I am attempting to rally. I'd like to get some suggestions on this plot from people. If you're interested in hearing more about the story and letting me know what you think, post a comment here. I'll make a filter just for you guys, and you can try to pull my head out of my ass and get this story straightened out. *grin* Thanks in advance!

"Finnegan's Passage" submission

2005-12-11T18:21:47Z

Intergalactic Medicine Show said they have no problem with multiple submissions when I emailed them to ask, so I thought I'd send them another. This particular story has gotten a great many personal comments, some good, some not, so I'm curious to see what they think of it.