Tag Archives: motivation

Middle Grade Horror

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A middle grade horror story of mine titled “Ghost Wolf” was accepted in an anthology back in January. Of course, the editor wanted to time the release with Halloween, so I’ve been waiting (patiently) all year. Then came the news that the release was flubbed, though not through the fault of the editor.

Anyway, the anthology is out there now and is called 15 Spooky Campfire Stories for Kids. My contribution has special meaning for me. I wrote the story for my oldest daughter’s Girl Scout troop. A lot of Girl Scout troops sing songs around the campfire while camping. My oldest daughter’s troop has always told spooky stories. That may or may not have been because on their first camping trip as 1st graders, I led off with the story, “I got ya where I want ya, and now I’m gonna eat ya!” It’s a classic. The troop even acted that story out as a skit at a later multi-troop camping trip.

“Ghost Wolf” begins with my scouts telling (what else) spooky stories around a campfire when they think an unnatural visitor arrives. The latter event, of course, has not happened during any of my troop’s camping trips, though it is loosely based on an experience I had when studying abroad in Freiburg, Germany after Junior year of high school.

In addition to adult fiction, I tend also to write at the level where my kids currently fall. When they were infants/toddlers, I wrote several picture book manuscripts. I haven’t gotten any of those published though. When my oldest aged into the middle grade range, I started writing at that level. I’ve written five middle grade short stories, and four have been published. I’m considering publishing these as my next collection.

I’ve also written a middle grade trilogy that has been reviewed by my critique group but is languishing since I haven’t had time to edit those manuscripts. I really want that to me my next project. Maybe I’ll get going on the middle grade short story collection and use that as a give away for (and motivation to finish) the middle grade trilogy.

If you have young ones at home (or are young at heart), check out 15 Spooky Campfire Stories for Kids.

2Q24 Update

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Another sad quarter of writing. Let’s dive into the numbers.

  • Words written = 335
  • Submissions = 20
  • Rejections = 22
  • Acceptances = 1
  • Shortlists = 1
  • Publications =0
  • Rewrites = 0
  • Withdrawals = 0

Yep, that’s the fewest words I’ve written in a quarter since I started this writing journey in 2017. At least those went to two existing stories. Both are on the longer side. For one of those, I’m finishing up incorporating comments from my critique group. For the other, I added a little while editing the story in preparation of submitting it to my critique group.

The submissions and rejections are about normal these days. Can I get another 32 submissions per quarter the rest of the year to make my 100 submission goal? Though I’ve submitted that many numerous times, I doubt it. Twenty a quarter seems more realistic at this point.

I did have one acceptance and one shortlist this quarter. Unfortunately, the shortlist did not turn into an acceptance. One of those close-but-no-cigar scenarios that are often part of the short story writing biz. The acceptance was of a flash fiction piece by the Virginia Writers Club Journal, which will be out later this year. This is the first addition of the journal to include a dedicated flash fiction section.

What’s on tap for Q3? I’m still slowly working toward releasing my next short story collection. I was so much further along at this time last year. I do already have a tentative cover in the works, and I’ve been working on the non-story components (intro, acknowledgments, back matter). I need my critique group to provide comments on the story I mentioned above, which will be the anchor story for this collection. Then the manuscript is off to my editor. Then its reviewing those edits. Then its formatting. Then it’s more formatting after uploading it to KDP. In other words, I’m real close. *sigh*

I’d also like to attend more meetings of the Northern Virginia Writers Club. Other commitments have kept me away. I always feel invigorated after spending time with my local authors and would like to get back to that. I also hope my family’s vacation this quarter results in a good story idea. I usually get at least one out of these trips.

That’s it from me. What did you work on last quarter?

4Q23 Update and 2024 Goals

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Holy frijoles, it’s 2024! Looking back at my 2022 recap last year, I noticed two big differences. First, I’m barely on The Platform Formerly Known as Twitter any more. Maybe a goal for 2024 is deciding on an alternative social medial platform. Second, I didn’t receive a hold request on NYE. That would have been amazing but probably unreasonable to expect two years in a row. Also, while that hold request turned into an acceptance, that publication was delayed and still hasn’t been released yet. It’s supposed to be issued this month. In the meantime, the full numbers for 4Q23 are below.

  • Words written = 3,475
  • Submissions = 20
  • Rejections = 19
  • Acceptances = 0
  • Shortlists = 0
  • Publications = 1
  • Rewrites = 0
  • Withdrawals = 0

Those quarterly numbers are pretty ‘eh,’ except in one regard.

The submissions and rejections got me to my 2023 goals. That’s great but not the exception to my “eh” year.

The words written were terrible, so that wasn’t the exception. For the last several years, I’ve done NaNoWriMo, which has contributed a bunch of words to the fourth quarter. Not this year. I had a more significant project to finish.

Those 3500ish words represent one new 2300 word horror story, a few additional words to an existing story, and the first chapter of a new piece that I’m not sure where it is headed. All I know is it’s in the vein of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, so it’s solidly sci fi comedy. I just finished that series, and it’s firmly wormed itself into my brain.

The sole publication is what redeemed this quarter because that was my first short story collection, We’re Here to Help Ourselves… Short Tales of Time, Space, Aliens, and Paperwork. More on that below. I debated counting that as 14 publications since the collection includes 14 short stories. In the end, I felt that was cheating and simply counted the collection as one publication… one super, awesome, fantastic publication!

Now, let’s look at how 2023 went down.

  • Words written = 11,168
  • Submissions = 106
  • Rejections = 111
  • Acceptances = 6
  • Shortlists = 1
  • Publications = 5
  • Rewrites = 0
  • Withdrawals = 1

Again, the words written are terrible. That is my lowest in a year since I started tracking my writing. That is no where near the 36k goal I set. The number of submissions and rejections hit the mark. I aimed for 100 of both and made it. Looking back, I don’t see that I set a goal for number of acceptances, but presumably I would have gone with four. I met that, thankfully.

I was so/so on my larger goals. I made it through one editing pass in the final manuscript in my middle grade near future sci fi trilogy. I didn’t make it through another draft of the entire trilogy. However, I started something better. I joined a critique group that is working its way through those manuscripts. A goal for 2024 is to have the critique group finish reviewing all three (it’s already finished the first), and then I will do a massive edit of all three incorporating the collected comments.

More importantly, I published my first short story collection. That was the overarching goal for the entire year, and it took almost the entire year. I started the process in February and published around Thanksgiving. That was a lot of work, but I also had a lot of help.

Time to figure out what to aim for in 2024. Let’s start big. I’d like to publish a second short story collection. I already have the theme: humor and horror. I also already have about 40k words worth of stories to include. I’d like that to be 50k though, so the collection has some heft. I guess my first goal really should be to write another 10k words worth of material. Maybe that’s where this new story I’m working on will go.

Speaking of words, I’ll set those at 36k again for the year. Why not? I don’t plan to work on anything too long, so I would think 3k words a month is doable. Of course, I said that last year too.

I’ll also set my usual goal of 100 submissions and 100 rejections. I’ve consistently reached that goal, but this year may be more difficult. I took a lot of stories out of circulation with my first collection, and I’ll take even more out if I proceed with a second collection. Maybe that will motivate me to write more. More writing = more stories = more submissions.

That’s my 2024 in a nut shell. How did your writing adventure progress last year?

3Q23 Update and Book Launch Forthcoming

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The third quarter of 2023 has run its course, and there is good news and bad news. Read on for both, but first, let’s look at the writing statistics.

  • Words written = 350
  • Submissions = 20
  • Rejections = 25
  • Acceptances = 1
  • Shortlists = 0
  • Publications = 1
  • Rewrites = 0
  • Withdrawals = 0

The amount of writing I did last quarter was terrible. That’s the bad news. My only solace is that I did other writing activities. Those 350 words went to a story that I wrote the prior quarter. I joined a critique group, which kindly critiqued that same story immediately. Now, I need to incorporate those critiques. The same critique group also started reviewing the first book in my middle grade trilogy. I hope the critique group will work through all three of those manuscripts.

The submissions number is a little low, but I’m well on my way to 100 for the year. I’ve already sent another eight submissions in October and currently sit at 94 for the year. Rejections are at 93 at the moment.

I only received one acceptance in the quarter, and I’m not supposed to announce that one yet on social media. A prior acceptance was scheduled to be published soon, but I can’t find an update on that. I hope that market hasn’t folded. I’ve already been paid for the story, but I’d like to see the anthology published. It sounded like a fun one, and I’d like to read the stories of the other contributors.

Now the good news. I wasn’t sure if the stars would align (read: whether I’d get my act together enough to put all of the pieces in place), but it looks like it will happen. Assuming everything continues to go well, I should publish my first collection of short stories at the November meeting of the Northern Virginia Writers Club. The manuscript is compiled, edited, and formatted. The front cover is done. The spine and back cover are in process for the paperback version. ISBNs are purchased. Author bio is finalized. The piece just finished was selecting the all important author photo. That may have been the hardest part of the entire process.

More details about the launching of this collection will come in a separate post, really series of posts. I’ve got to promote this thing after all. Stay tuned!

That was my third quarter. How was yours?

An Unusual Behind the Story – Livelihood

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I have an unusual Behind the Story for you this time. My story “Livelihood” appears in the Northern Virginia Writers Club’s 15th Anniversary Anthology. It’s unusual for a couple reasons. First, it’s a fantasy story, probably the only one I’ve written. While I consider myself a speculative fiction writer, that has really meant science fiction and more recently horror.

I wrote “Livelihood” in response to the submissions call of a specific fantasy market. The call wasn’t specific; it was that this well known market was briefly open. This was fairly early in my writing adventure, and unfortunately, I don’t remember the inspiration for the story.

The story has a little humor in it. Okay, the premise may be based on a pun. It’s not the first time I’ve written a story based on a pun. I can’t help it and have the excuse of being a dad.

The story has a strong, young female protagonist, who is modeled after my younger daughter. My daughter is not at the protagonist’s age yet, but I can see her in a few years being this resilient. My older daughter has a story with a character based on her as well, but that will be the subject of another blog post.

The story also is unusual because not many will get to read it despite its publication. The 15th Anniversary Anthology celebrates (as the name suggests) 15 years of the NVWC’s existence and features fiction, nonfiction, and poetry works from current members. However, the club published the anthology only long enough to order a certain number of copies but did not leave it up for general sales. If you want a copy, you’ll have to come to an event where the club has a booth, like Art on the Avenue in Alexandria, Virginia on November 12! If you’re in the area, stop by and have a chat and maybe pick up a copy. I’ll be there.