I've heard many expressions of disappointment, frustration, and sometimes despair about story rejections. As a veteran of many story rejections myself, I totally get it. But sometimes I think new writers (or maybe I should say newer writers, since I'm relatively new myself) have an unrealistic notion of how long […]
Here is my personal fiction report for 2010: I wrote 80,700 words of new fiction this year. This figure is a little misleading, because it doesn’t include rewrite work. Still, it’s worse than either 2009 or 2008. I completed: 10 first drafts 4 second drafts 4 third drafts […]
Here (very late) are my monthly statistics for September 8,500 new words of fiction written this month. 1 23 first drafts currently in progress. 2 10 first draft currently "ripening" before second draft. 3 4 second drafts currently in progress 1 second draft currently in the […]
Here (a little late) are my monthly statistics for August: 7,800 new words of fiction written this month. 1 24 first drafts currently in progress. 2 9 first draft currently "ripening" before second draft. 3 4 second drafts currently in progress 1 second draft currently in […]
Here are my monthly statistics for July: 14,600 new words of fiction written this month. 1 25 first drafts currently in progress. 2 7 first draft currently "ripening" before second draft. 3 4 second drafts currently in progress 0 second drafts currently in the hands of […]
Yeah, I know, I haven’t done a monthly progress report since February. I’d like to claim that I didn’t have time because of All the Writing I was doing, but actually I was ashamed that I was getting so little done. (I actually predicted this in my report for February, […]
Redstone Science Fiction is a new online SF mag that will publish stories of 4,000 words or less and pay pro rates (5 cents/word). They open for submissions on March 15.
First, the good stuff: Small Beer Press will soon release A Life In Paper, a collection of short stories by the French fabulist Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud, translated by Edward Gauvin. Edward was my classmate at Clarion, and is a gifted literary SFF writer as well as a skilled translator. Putting Châteaureynaud […]
My combined mail and e-mail contained six writing-related documents today: The contract and check from for "Lineage"; One form rejection; One personal rejection; One e-mail from a slush reader saying, "I like it, but the editor won’t, but I’ll send it along anyway"; One submission acknowledgement […]
I have my monthly writing/submission stats for both December and all of 2009. First, December: 8,400 new words of fiction written this month. 1 21 first drafts currently in progress. 2 5 first drafts currently "ripening" before second draft. 3 3 second drafts currently in progress […]
just told me that he’s buying my story "Lineage" for Clockwork Phoenix 3. Any of you who haven’t already read the previous CP anthologies, go out right now and get them, and you’ll know why I’m so thrilled. Thanks, Mike!
Monthly stats for November: 4,800 new words of fiction written this month. 1 21 first drafts currently in progress (some untouched for a long time) 4 first drafts currently "ripening" before second draft. 2 3 second drafts currently in progress 1 second draft currently in the hands of "trusted readers." […]
For those who haven’t seen it yet, John Joseph Adams new online SF magazine Lightspeed will begin taking submissions on January 1st. Submission guidelines are here.
Monthly stats for October: 10,182 new words of fiction written this month. 1 20 first drafts currently in progress (some untouched for a long time) 3 first drafts currently "ripening" before second draft. 2 4 second drafts currently in progress 2 second drafts currently in the […]
GUD (Greatest Uncommon Denominator) has bought "Liza’s Home", which was one my submission stories for Clarion. It’s slated for Issue #5 (Fall, 2009). I shall be shamelessly urging you all to buy it. I’ve previously commented on what a nifty magazine GUD is, so you can imagine how delighted I […]
I was considering submitting a story to a new anthology, but wasn’t 100% sure about whether the story suited the theme or word limit. Also, it had already been submitted elsewhere, and I wasn’t sure on the new anthology’s policy on simsubs. So I sent an e-mail inquiring. Very soon […]
Here are my monthly stats for August: 7,600 new words of fiction written this month. 1 19 first drafts currently in progress (some untouched for a long time) 4 first drafts currently "ripening" before second draft. 3 second drafts currently in progress 1 second draft currently […]
Here are my monthly stats for May: 6,200 new words of fiction written this month. 1 19 first drafts currently in progress (some untouched for a long time) 2 first drafts currently "ripening" before second draft. 2 second drafts currently in progress 1 second draft currently in […]
Here are my monthly stats for April: 9,100 new words of fiction written this month. 1 17 first drafts currently in progress (some untouched for a long time) 2 first drafts currently "ripening" before second draft. 2 second drafts currently in progress 1 second draft currently […]
Here are my monthly stats for March: 6,500 new words of fiction written this month. 1 15 first drafts currently in progress. 2 1 first draft currently "ripening" before second draft. 3 1 second draft currently in progress 0 second draft currently in the hands of […]
Joni Labaqui just phoned to say that I’m a semi-finalist in the Writers of the Future Competition for the First Quarter. It isn’t on the WotF blog yet, but I presume she’s waiting until she’s notified everyone. Very pleased, especially as it’s only my second submission, and the third submission is already […]
Here are my statistics for January: 6,200 new words of fiction written this month. 1 13 first drafts currently in progress. 2 1 first draft currently "ripening" before second draft. 3 0 second drafts currently in progress 1 second draft currently in the hands of "trusted readers." 3 third drafts […]
Neither December nor 2008 is over yet, but I don’t realistically expect to get anything done in the next 36 hours, so I’m posting my report now. I’ve got the regular monthly report first, followed by some year-long figures. First, December: 3,400 new words of fiction written this month. 1 […]
Here are my monthly stats for November: 9,900 new words of fiction written this month. 1 17 first drafts currently in progress. 2 0 first drafts currently "ripening" before second draft. 3 2 second drafts currently in progress. 0 second drafts currently in the hands of […]
In a previous post we had a discussion of simultaneous submissions. One issue that came up was the relationship between simultaneous submissions and long review periods. Recently I took a look at my own submission-review history.
Here are my monthly stats for October 4,400 new words of fiction written this month. 1 15 first drafts currently in progress. 2 1 first draft currently "ripening" before second draft. 3 0 second drafts currently in progress 1 second draft currently in the hands of […]
I was happy to learn, today, that three of my drabbles will appear on Flashshot. The titles are: "Before Playing" "Imagination’s Curse" "Too Much Sense" I’ll let you know when I learn the exact dates. Meanwhile, here’s the montly update for August: 4,300 new words of fiction written […]
Nature Physics just sent me the proofs for “Calibration.” They tell me it will be in the July issue.
As I’ve seen others do here, I’m going to begin posting a monthly tally of words written, submissions made, etc., just to keep me honest. Here’s the tally for March: 3,300 words of fiction written this month.* 10 stories currently submitted to markets 60 words in shortest story currently submitted.** […]
