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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.

Behind the Stories – Dyson Vacuum Sphere

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A fellow blogger Lady Jabberwocky on her own writing journey that I recently discovered gave me the idea to discuss the inspirations for my stories. I’ve sometimes mentioned in this blog snippets of the inspiration for certain stories when I announce their publication, but I thought it’d be interesting to revisit a little and do a deeper dive. I still only plan to discuss those that have been published. I simply need to keep those acceptances up to continue this line of blogs. 😀

Luckily, for this first installment, I get to announce a publication and give a behind the scenes tour of the story. And do I have an interesting one for you!

First, the announcement – my story, “Dyson Vacuum Sphere,” appears in The Virginia Writers Club Journal 2022 released last week. I am a proud member of the Virginia Writers Club and its Northern Virginia chapter. A couple years ago the Virginia Writers Club began publishing a journal of works by the club’s members. I’ve appeared in a prior issue of the journal. However, since then, there has been a revision to the editorial standards. Let’s just say the barrier to entry rose.

Now on to the fun part – the backstory.

I had recently written my first comedic story in response to a publication’s extremely detailed called. Though that story wasn’t accepted by that publication, it was later accepted but by a market that then went defunct. That story hasn’t found a home yet, so I’ll have to talk about that one another time.

After practicing my comedic chops, I wanted to keep going. The Dyson Sphere episode from Star Trek: TNG was one of my favorites. It brought back Scotty! Combine that with the similarly named Dyson vacuum, and I had a story that essentially was one long dad joke.

I’ve always liked a good dad joke, but I’ve come to appreciate dad jokes even more now that I’m a father of two. Mixing my love of sci fi and dad jokes only seemed logical.

I enjoy writing most of my stories (or why would I be doing this), but I especially enjoyed writing this one. Not only does the premise include several dad jokes, but one of the characters tells a couple more dad jokes in the story. I’m proud of those since I made them up myself! Maybe I have a future in standup comedy. After Bob Saget’s death, I tweeted about how comics at their core are writers, and I still feel their writing talents are underappreciated.

If you want to groan at a couple of dad jokes, give “Dyson Vacuum Sphere” a read in the The Virginia Writers Club Journal 2022.

2Q22 Update

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It’s that time again, writers, readers, and everyone in between. How were my writing and submission exploits during the second quarter of 2022? Read on!

Words written = 5,026
Submissions = 24
Rejections = 21
Acceptances = 1
Shortlists/Holds = 0
Publications = 0
Rewrites = 0
Withdrawals = 0

If you think this looks a lot like my first quarter, you’re spot on. This time around I wrote 1500 words more, had three fewer submissions but three more rejections, and had one fewer acceptance. I’ll take the status quo at this point. It’s better than a regression.

It was an interesting quarter for two reasons. First, those 5000 words were not attributable to any new works. All 5000 were additions to existing works. About half went to finishing (finally!) my WIP middle grade novel that I started during last year’s NaNoWriMo. That’s how close I was before getting sidetracked. Another quarter went to finishing a story I’ve been collaborating on with a friend. We’ve been working on this story for years, but life kept getting in the way. The irony is, after all that work, we need to cut it down by about half to fit under the word limit for a submissions call specifically requesting collaborative works. The last quarter of my quarterly word count went to expanding three other stories.

The second interesting thing about the quarter pertains to where my submissions were as June 30 approached. About a week out, I sat at 12. Thanks to a bit of luck as to what markets were open and a bit of free time, I was able to double that to squeeze in a respectable 24 submissions.

The one acceptance was by the Virginia Writers Club Journal. I’m a member of both the Virginia Writers Club, where I currently serve as Recording Secretary, and its Northern Virginia chapter, where I currently serve as Vice President. In the past, the state club’s journal didn’t have much in the way of acceptance standards for works submitted by members. However, this year, that changed. A new editorial board was installed and now includes editors tasked with raising the bar for works accepted for publication. I’m pleased one of mine made the cut. I’ll, of course, share publication details once released.

From a writing standpoint, I’m both excited and a little scared by this quarter. On the one hand, I’ve been using my runs to plot my next middle grade novel, which I’ll write during this year’s NaNoWriMo. It’s going well. I have most of the plot mapped out, maybe needing only 2-3 more scenes. Also, the family and I are going on vacation. I’m hoping the lack of reliable internet and it being the summer will leave me time in the evenings to write rather than catch up on work.

In addition, yesterday, I submitted to the Virginia Writers Club’s Golden Nib writing contest. As the president of my local chapter the last three years, I was not eligible to submit to this contest. Now that I’ve taken a step back, I am pleased to be able to submit again. Hopefully, the story I chose stands up to the competition better than my submissions several years ago. The judges of this competition over the years have not favored genre work, which is pretty much all I write. Maybe I’ll throw in a poem for something different.

The scary part is I’m not sure what to work on. I have one idea for a short story and another for a flash story. These have been bouncing around in my head for awhile, but I’ve never felt the urge to write them. Maybe it’s time I get them on the screen. There’s no sense waiting for lightning to strike.

That’s it for those three months. How’d your quarter turn out? Any writing triumphs or failures?

1Q22 Update

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I’m a little late on this. I’m not going to lie. The first quarter of this year was tough, probably tougher than any quarter the last two years and those involved a global pandemic. An extended family member passed away; one of my kids was out of daycare for nearly a month, reeking havoc on work and family life, and I ended up in the hospital briefly. Still, it could have been worse. I could live in a country that was invaded and now lays in ruins while its people continue to fight off the foreign aggressor. It sounds like a great story idea if it weren’t so sad and too soon. Still, I am a horror writer now, so maybe there is an idea to be mined there.

Let’s move on to happier thoughts, if my minimal writing exploits can be considered happy.

Words written = 3,509
Submissions = 27
Rejections = 18
Acceptances = 2
Shortlists/Holds = 0
Publications = 1
Rewrites = 0
Withdrawals = 2

I wish I had brought my laptop to the hospital. For those of you who have had the pleasure, you know there is lots of downtime. I could have gotten some more writing in. Most of those words this quarter went toward the current middle-grade sequel WIP. I also managed to sneak a new flash story in there and add to an existing story in an attempt to raise its words to drabble length. For those not in the know, a drabble is an exactly 100 word story. Yes, I took a 50 word “dribble” and increased it to a 100 word “drabble.” That drabble wasn’t accepted, but that same market accounted for one of my two acceptances discussed below.

The two acceptances last quarter were appreciated. One I discussed here. Alien Dimensions #22 contained my story “Field Log.” I’m still pleased that story found a home. It was difficult writing a “found footage” story, so I am glad an editor appreciated the effort.

I was pleased with the second acceptance, as well, which was the drabble market mentioned above. The story itself also was an experimental piece. Titled “Agenda,” it is told in the form of a meeting agenda. Plenty of markets ask for experimental forms, and I’ve seen plenty of stories told in the form of lists, which I enjoy. This was my attempt at something similar but different. Oddly, the story clocked in around 160 words, but to qualify for the market that accepted it, I needed to get it down to 100 words. That was another challenge altogether. When the publication date is released, I’ll share the details.

I also oddly had two withdrawals. One was a mere oversight. A certain publication had a lengthy submission window. Toward the end of that window I submitted a story forgetting that I’d submitted a different story at the beginning of the window. The submission guidelines clearly state multiple submissions are not allowed. Always read and reread the submission guidelines!

The second withdrawal was more bittersweet. I had submitted a collection of short stories for a book contest that I qualified for and that only comes around every two years. A story in that collection fit a market perfectly, the submission window for which opened a little after I had submitted the short story collection. I submitted a sim sub and went about my day, but then the standalone story was accepted! I spent days agonizing over whether to withdraw the short story collection, trying to determine if the exclusivity period for the short story would expire before the winners of the book contest were announced. The numbers didn’t add up. I hate math. Otherwise, I have no regrets. “Field Log” found the perfect home, and I can submit my short story collection in another two years.

What goals do I have for the current quarter? I already added 1000 words to the middle grade WIP. I’m maybe a scene and a half from finishing that book. I plan to complete the first draft, give it a good edit, and then have my oldest daughter read it while on vacation over the summer. She’s the right age group, so it’s great to get appropriate feedback.

Of course, I will continue submitting – always be submitting! I’d also like to finish a short story a friend and I started years ago. Such is life. Finally, I want to brainstorm the book I’ll write during this year’s NaNoWriMo. I have the germ of an idea for a story set between the two middle grade books I wrote the last two years during NaNoWriMo. Now all I need is some good running time before November to hash out the plot.

That was my first quarter of 2022. Let me know in the comments how yours went.

International Publication

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I am pleased to announce the next publication of one of my stories. “Field Log” will appear in Alien Dimensions #22. The ebook version will be released February 22 and is available for pre-order on Amazon here.

For some reason, I have it my head that this anthology series originates in Australia. That’s international to me as I sit on my couch in the United States. However, with the internet, aren’t all publications pretty much international these days? (*Stop stealing my thunder, Rational Self!*)

I’d wanted to submit to this anthology series for some time. It has exceptionally specific submission guidelines as to its content. The editor wants stories involving aliens in a futuristic setting. Nothing should be set on Earth, unless that version of Earth is unrecognizable, and the story should be adventurous and fun.

Luckily for me, I had such a story. I wrote it three years ago and had submitted it to a couple publications but with no takers. I suspected my story would fit this market well, with one exception. For the longest time, the maximum length in the submission guidelines was lower than what my story clocked in at. I thought about doing a little cutting but ultimately decided, in this case, it would do the story a disservice. (Trust me, I don’t always think that with my work. I have found on several occasions that having to cut a story down to meet a submission criteria has benefited the story.)

Finally, my patience paid off. The editor upped the maximum story length. I was in business! Thankfully, the editor agreed that “Field Log” was a good fit for the anthology.

This was a challenging story to write. First, the story involves a human interacting with members of two alien species. The idea for the alien species came from a couple science articles I read in the newspaper. So some of their stranger characteristics are taken from actual animals here on Earth.

Second, the story is in the “found footage” genre. Think The Blair Witch Project. It is told solely through what is seen in a series of recordings. While I typically write in close third-person or third-person limited, I had never written something that completely eliminated the narrator. I enjoyed the challenge but probably will not repeat it.

I am excited to start the year off with a great publication. I hope there are more to come, and I hope you will check out Alien Dimensions #22.