With the workshop, I haven’t updated this in a while. Here’s what’s going on.
Of the four stories I had floating out there, I’ve gotten two responses. Crossed Genres turned down "Snowflake War Journal." Which is a shame. I was really hoping to expand Nate’s shared world into other markets. My girlfriend has seen some comic book fiction ‘zines out there, I may try and send it to them. On the other hand, my new Devil Cat and Imp story for Cobalt City Timeslip has been accepted. I’ve gotten to see some of the art for it, including a rough version of interior art for my story, and it’s fan-freakin’-tastic. It’s coming out in October. Here’s what the cover will look like:
Nate also recently posted a sample of some of the interior art to his blog.
I haven’t heard anything about “Pointing at the Moon” (submitted for the “Song” theme at Wily Writers) or “In the Cards” (submitted to the steampunk anthology at Hallows Eve Design). With “Pointing at the Moon,” since it’s getting close to August and they would need to record an audio version, I’m guessing I didn’t make the cut. But I could be pleasantly surprised. No clue about the steampunk story.
I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with some of the stories I’ve had published in the past which have reverted back to me. During the workshop, one person had mentioned that she had seen people toss up 99-cent Kindle files so they can at least make the occasional money off of it. The person in question felt it was better than trying to find a re-print market that will pay a token amount, if anything. In consulting with friends who have done digital publishing, one person advised strongly against doing that feeling that with the current self-publishing market there was little value in doing that. Especially since I don’t have an established identity as a writer. Instead I was encouraged to either post them for free on my Web site or seek out a reprint market.
After poking through Duotrope, I didn’t find a lot that seemed promising. Many were ‘zines offering token payments if anything. And, really, if they aren’t paying is it significantly better than just slapping them up on my site?
One place that caught my eye, though, was Firefox News. (Not associated with Mozilla Firefox.) They are primarily a ‘zine dedicated towards fan-related articles. But they also accept original fiction. In return for a bit broader audience, I get a large chunk of whatever ad revenue my stories generate. I’m very tempted.
And now, the honeydew. I’ve cut out June since it’s well past. Either deadlines have been met or they haven’t.
7/1/2010: Hallow’s Eve Press Steampunk anthology. 100%. This has been submitted.
7/4/2010: Read stories for Workshop. 100%.
7/4/2010 – 7/18/2010: SF Writer’s Workshop and Campbell Conference
7/22/2010: Finish first draft of novel. 80%. This didn’t get finished. In fact, after the workshop, I feel that I need to make heavy revisions.
7/22/2010 – 7/25/2010: PNWA Summer conference. I need to do some prep work for this still, and have very little time to do it. Eek!
7/31/2010: Pill Hill Press’s Flesh & Bones: Rise of the Necromancers. anthology. 50%. I’ve got about half the word count done, trying to apply all that I learned.
8/1/2010: Timid Pirate Press’s Cobalt City Timeslip antholgoy 100%. This has been submitted.
8/4/2010: Blood Bound Books’ Rock & Roll is Dead anthology. 99%. I need to do a final round of edits before submitting. Due date has been pushed back a few weeks also.
8/10/2010: Edits for Cobalt City Timeslip due.
8/15/2010: Character creation for the next game I’m running. This is not at all writing related, but it occurs to me that I should have this on my radar because it will be a distraction from writing.
9/20/2010: Horror Flash Fiction anthology.
9/24/2010 – 9/26/2010: Foolscap.
10/31/2010: Top Secret Project A
11/1/2010 – 11/30/2010: NaNoWriMo.
11/4/2010 – 11/7/2010: Ambercon Northwest.
11/25/2010 – 11/29/2010: Thanksgiving. It’s looking increasingly like I’ll be in Kansas City over the holiday weekend.
11/30/2010: Start looking for guidelines for the Norwescon Fairwood Writing Workshop.
11/30/2010: Contact RustyCon about becoming a panelist.
1/14/2011: RustyCon.
7/31/2011: Wicked East Press’s Once Bitten, Never Die anthology.
No Due Date:
– Edit Submit “Thus Have I Heard” to Residential Aliens.
– Edit “All Fun and Games” with the aim of sending it to pro markets.
– Re-write “With Fans Like These” and get feedback with anticipation of sending it to pro markets.
– Submit a story to Writers of the Future. Possibly even “With Fans Like These.”
Final decisions on the Wily Writers should be made this weekend if all goes well. There were a lot of submissions, and I’m behind on the reading. But you haven’t been cut yet, just fyi. :)
Good to know. I won’t try and play the friend card to get accepted. But I do want to play the friend card to get feedback on it if you don’t accept it. If it doesn’t make the cut, it would be nice to know what you think needs improvement.