The W1S1 Check-in and Chill Lounge and Bar

Registered for Capclave. I always find that convention inspires me, so I'm hoping to get some good ideas while I'm there.

Socially awkward Taeray waves uncomfortably.

Hi! I'm dipping in here and feeding on the creative vibes. I recently flushed out the back story of a side character in my fantasy novel and now I want to turn what she's up to into a series of short stories. I'm pretty excited. It kinda came to me epiphany style and now she won't stop nagging me to share her tale. I'm on vacation, but as soon as I get home in a week my goal is gonna be one short story a month until January. We'll see how it goes.

taeray said:

Socially awkward Taeray waves uncomfortably.

Hi! I'm dipping in here and feeding on the creative vibes. I recently flushed out the back story of a side character in my fantasy novel and now I want to turn what she's up to into a series of short stories. I'm pretty excited. It kinda came to me epiphany style and now she won't stop nagging me to share her tale. I'm on vacation, but as soon as I get home in a week my goal is gonna be one short story a month until January. We'll see how it goes.

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Welcome to the forum! Good luck with your writing goals.

I just sent my second story off, By the Queen's Command, to Crossed Genres. The folks in SYW were incredibly helpful in helping me get it ready before the deadline.

I wanted to thank whoever it was here that told me about the one new author every issue policy that CG has. This month's theme was Indoctrinate. I was careful to NOT send them a dystopia (I figured they'd be swamped with them). So between that, and the new author thing, hopefully my chances are slightly better than they might otherwise be.

Unreasonable optimism seems to be a necessary requirement in this process.

Number two wasn't any easier than the first. Guess I'd better get more stories out there. I figure it has to get easier at some point. (See optimism comment above.)



ETA: I just submitted Dragon Hoard to Flash Fiction Online. Now I have a strategy question. They're SFWA and pay professional rates. They also accept three stories at a time. Is there any virtue in stringing them out, or is it okay to submit the other two at this time as well?

Thanks in advance for the advice.

Welcome Alisa and Taeray -- this is a friendly place to check in with goals.

Cathleen -- Good going. Yes, unreasonable optimism and delusions of all kinds are mandatory.

I've been in the gullet of the copywriting monster. I've kept to one day a week on my Gothic horror novel. Just finished editing the third draft and adding the last of the fill-in scenes.

Instead of re-branding, I'm regenerating my alter-ego and pushing in new directions. So now I have an interlinked web presence for the persona that writes for a living. A step I resisted because I've told myself for years this is only temporary. Writers lie.

I want to launch the new novel before winter, and amping the business is my best shot of doing that. Discovered that my long-neglected web pages have continued to earn ad revenue, so those windfall payments will help cover promo.

The big goal is to get the new novel out before the anniversary of The Animals of London in December.

CathleenT: About the multiple subs, that's a good question. I know FFO has a pretty fast response rate so I don't think it would be bogging you down. However if they're all somewhat similar you might want to spread them out. Also, if there's some flaw that they don't like in your writing that's present in all of them, you don't have a chance to edit it out of the other two.

Anyway, can anyone find the RSS feed link for Daily Science Fiction for me? I think my dad's overzealous firewall might be blocking it for me.

Here you go, Hapax- http://dailysciencefiction.com/submit

Good luck.

I'm looking for their RSS feed link, not their submissions link.

Somewhat belatedly, I finished my second September story. I'm up to 10 submissions in process at various venues again, though that will likely only last for a short time before some responses come back.

So I've got a total of 17 stories I wrote so far this year. I'm only one behind schedule, and I'm optimistic of finishing off 24 stories by the end of the year, as I had planned when I began W1S1. Woo!

Way to hit a goal, AC!

What do you all think it means when a contest you entered decides to extend its submission deadline another 2 weeks?

I'm reading that as, "Hmm, we have crappy entries, better go find some more."

I don't know....

It might mean that they only have one submission. "Oh man it's good, but like, can't we at least compare it against *something*?"

Which contest is it, anyway?

...I have *just* put in a bio in everydayfiction's author profile form... I really hope they actually use that one... ugh.

CrastersBabies said:

What do you all think it means when a contest you entered decides to extend its submission deadline another 2 weeks?

I'm reading that as, "Hmm, we have crappy entries, better go find some more."

I don't know....

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But it doesn't mean that *your* submission is crappy! Could just mean they didn't get very many quality stories, or not as many entries as they had hoped for overall.

ACFantasy said:

Registered for Capclave. I always find that convention inspires me, so I'm hoping to get some good ideas while I'm there.

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It's an awesome, awesome con. You'll have a blast!

CrastersBabies said:

What do you all think it means when a contest you entered decides to extend its submission deadline another 2 weeks?

I'm reading that as, "Hmm, we have crappy entries, better go find some more."

I don't know....

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I'd take it as they didn't have enough entries.

Do I need to get a confirmation about withdrawing a manuscript before sending it elsewhere?

Hapax Legomenon said:

Do I need to get a confirmation about withdrawing a manuscript before sending it elsewhere?

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No need.

Chances are, if you had to withdraw the place might be non-responsive anyhow. But you don't have to wait for the confirmation. If they reach out to you at any point with an offer to publish, you can just refer them to the withdrawal notice.

Well I got an email back this morning.

I know that they're current at least as far as I got a response this morning and a rejection in June, but the website isn't. I wanted to withdraw because now that I see that publication is actually a possible consequence of submitting, I would much, much rather have my work be available online or something than in a small, obscure, print-only magazine that I have a very hard time getting ahold of, even if it is long-running.

I want to come back to W1S1, but I just don't think I can pull off a story a week. Last month I wrote two and a half stories, but the month before I wrote none. I'm really trying to revise some of my pieces. I feel like I have nothing that is ready to send out. I had a lot more confidence when I was doing W1S1.

gettingby said:

I want to come back to W1S1, but I just don't think I can pull off a story a week. Last month I wrote two and a half stories, but the month before I wrote none. I'm really trying to revise some of my pieces. I feel like I have nothing that is ready to send out. I had a lot more confidence when I was doing W1S1.

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You can set your own goals/speed. Like, 1 per month (which is what my goal is this year.)

I guess I could try monthly, but I seem to have developed a fear of submitting. After 200+ rejections, I feel like I must be doing something wrong or that my stuff just isn't at the level it should be. I don't want to try easier markets just to get published, but I have sent a lot of stuff to places that don't pay. I write literary fiction.

gettingby said:

I guess I could try monthly, but I seem to have developed a fear of submitting. After 200+ rejections, I feel like I must be doing something wrong or that my stuff just isn't at the level it should be. I don't want to try easier markets just to get published, but I have sent a lot of stuff to places that don't pay. I write literary fiction.

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Gnome, are you still doing your MFA? I'm guessing it will give you a better idea of what the literary mags want, since a lot of them have grown out of MFA courses and institutions. Maybe your work will evolve to suit them and you will find you get the occasional acceptance. I think once you have the skill set down in terms of craft, your work still has to fit. Familiarity with the particular lit mags you are interested in might help.

But you'll never know until you start subbing again...

gettingby said:

I guess I could try monthly, but I seem to have developed a fear of submitting. After 200+ rejections, I feel like I must be doing something wrong or that my stuff just isn't at the level it should be. I don't want to try easier markets just to get published, but I have sent a lot of stuff to places that don't pay. I write literary fiction.

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Workshops, beta reader feedback and joining a critique group seems like it should be your next step. Fellow authors might pinpoint issues, if there are any. Beyond that, not submitting gets you the same result as submitting and getting a rejection -- but it won't get you a sale!

This is totally a thing I do! I've been writing a chapter a week for Silas Merryweather and the Bottomless Sky, and haven't missed one since I started. I'm not 'submitting' so much as publishing, since only the first one needed to be reviewed to get me accepted on Jukepop, but it counts, right?