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Me9/1/08: "Tile" is published!!! Check it out in this month's issue of The Harrow!

In other news, I may have found a new artist for the Armistice Day cover. I'll know for sure later this month or early next month. In the meantime, I've tossed the old first chapter in favor of a more "action packed" intro. With any luck, this one will provide enough bite to hook people.

Other short stories in the works: "The Recruiter" (initial draft complete), "Snowbound" (still writing), "Beneath The Ice" (still writing).

Back to work!

6/18/08: The Harrow liked "Tile"!!! I'm going to be published in their September issue! Wooo hooo! I have to admit some surprise. I'd become so accustomed to rejection that any and all correspondence I receive is automatically assumed to be negative. But my hunch was correct. They wanted that style of story. Despite its familiar theme, "excellent characterization and the good structure of the piece elevates this out of the norm." =D I'm thrilled beyond words. Ok, maybe I've a few. It's vindication for all the hard work I've put in over the last few years. Sure, it's just one short story, but it's the proverbial foot in the door. It's a lifeline to escape the slush pile. It's a renewed sense of hope that I have a future in this.

3/16/08: The Harrow rejected "Emily," because it didn't use a clichéd dynamic between the parents or the ending. Sure, I'm paraphrasing but the suggestions I received in the review boil down to that. So, I'm sending them "Tile," as is, because that might be what they're looking for. That means, I've pulled "Tile" from the site until I get a response from them on it.

In the good news department, "Spinward States Sourcebook," the Traveller RPG supplement written by my friend, Mike West, has been published. I provided editorial assistance, but the excellent material is all his. Congratulations, Mike!

Started writing the first chapter to a potential novella/novel that ties in with the undersea hotel concept and the character I wrote about in October. I can see the relationship between the three, but I have to decide how far it will go.

2/7/08: I sent "Emily's Star" to The Harrow for review. At least I'll get some feedback if they reject me. Edward Morris, who wrote the fantastic "Jihad Over Innsmouth", was kind enough to critique it. He only had a couple suggestions, but overall thought it was "good." So, that was encouraging.

Pseudopod lost "Tile" again. I contacted them after three months had elapsed. The editor apologized and insisted I submit it to him directly for immediate review. He kept his word. Unfortunately, he confirmed what everyone else who's read the story has said: it's predictable. No sale.

Well, actually I have to find an illustrator for "Armistice Day."

But besides that, I've got "The Recruiter", a short story, waiting to be written. It's been bouncing around my head for months. I've also had some ideas for an "Armistice Day" prequel, chapter 1 in particular. And then there's this Lovecraftian tale I have in mind concerning this undersea hotel concept that I saw in Popular Science. No title yet.

Now if only I had the time to write.

12/28/07: The website was launched. Already working on revising the site now that the client has had a chance to assess what works for him and what doesn't.

Reflection's Edge and Tales of the Talisman both passed on "Emily's Star". Since then, I've been revising it in hopes of making it more compelling from the start. I'll send it back out next month.

Still waiting on Pseudopod to get back to me on "Tile." Now that it's been three months, I sent them another query. With any luck, I'll get a more positive reply.

Haven't had any time to hunt for an illustrator for "Armistice Day." Hopefully, I'll post the job on elance.com, or something like it, next month. If I take any longer, I'll be compelled to start editing the book to reflect 2 years of change.

11/30/07: Oh great! Now November is gone too. Time flies... no matter what.

After a visit from my parents, I resumed work on that website. Hopefully, it'll go live this weekend.

While looking for an illustrator, I came across Leucrota Press, a small press, newly established this year. I decided to give them a try. I sent them three sample chapters and a synopsis. It only took 11 days to get a reply. That's amazing for a response time. Of course, it was negative. "A little slow". I guess a death in the first chapter wasn't fast enough. I thought that I was supposed to build up the suspense in a story. Oh well.

Leucrota's response time was much quicker than either Weird Tales or Pseudopod. I was worried that my submissions had been lost, especially after seeing that people who submitted after me had received replies. Although it had been 7 weeks and 7 1/2 weeks, respectively, I queried both of them. I was asked to please be patient and wait. Weird Tales stated that their response time was now 6-8 weeks instead of 4. Pseudopod just stated that I wait the full 2 months. Nevermind that my first submission to them was lost.

Four days later, Weird Tales sent me a rejection for "Emily's Star." I have since sent it to Reflection's Edge. Still no word from Pseudopod with regards to "Tile."

As for writing, I tweaked the opening for "Emily" before I sent it out. Not much. Tried to sharpen the hook. I also worked a little bit on "Gateway". I'm not optimistic about December either.

10/30/07: Is October over already? Damn. Where did the time go?

Well, I think that I wrapped up editing The Spinward States Sourcebook, though I discovered today that might not be the case.

The rest of the month has been spent working on a website for a client, though it's all fits and starts. At least he paid me an advance on the work.

"Emily" was submitted to Weird Tales. All Possible Worlds, where Emily languished all summer, has folded.

The artist who I'd hoped would do the cover for "Armistice Day" has gone AWOL. After being dragged along since February, I've given up on him and decided to find a new artist. So far, no luck.

No word yet from Pseudopod on "Tile", but it's only been four weeks.

I did manage to find one night to write (Sad, huh). I wrote up an introduction to a character for a novel, but I've got no clue what novel it's for. She just appeared out of thin air, much like the end of the month.

The good news: that batch of Rebecca's Red Ale that I made came out fine. :)

9/30/07: Well, I tried to move things along this month, but haven't had promising results.

I withdrew my submission of "Emily's Star" to All Possible Worlds. Two and a half weeks later, their website comes back to life, touting a new issue and claims of getting caught up on email and submissions [Sigh]. So, I sent ol' Emily off to The Book of Dark Wisdom. Just got the rejection a few minutes ago [Sigh]. Now to try someone else.

I sent a follow up email to Pseudopod. They replied that they never received it [Sigh] but invited me to re-submit it. And I did.

I got in touch with the artist I had in mind for "Armistice Day." He moved over the summer and is now gainfully employed and ready to start drawing [Sigh]. I'll check in on him next month and see what progress he's made. I was hoping to publish "Armistice Day" in time for Christmas.

The editor's hat got some more use for my friend's Traveller book: The Spinward States Sourcebook.

New work? Hasn't been much time for that as I've been busy with home improvement projects (and a little bit of web work). Been trying to take advantage of the nice, dry weather to paint, saw, and stain. At least, the wood chopping is done.

Oh, and I brewed up another batch of Rebecca's Red Ale. Bottling should commence this week.

I can't say I didn't write. I wrote down some thoughts I had for a vampire story. Yeah, the vampire genre is probably tired, but there's always a market for it. I offer up a re-interpretation of vampirism. I've got that much defined, but a story hasn't shown up yet. Everything else lies restrained in my brain, fighting for my attention.

8/27/07: Still no word from either All Possible Worlds or Pseudopod. I'm a bit pissed off. I realize that zines are flooded with submissions, but how long can a writer leave their work in someone's possession before they have to move on? If a zine is full, they should say so and close their doors for a while. And yes, there are plenty that do just that. I'm giving them through Labor Day Weekend and that's it. Time to move on. These are just short stories, not novels. I expect long delays in the case of the latter, not the former.

The editor's hat took preference over the writer's cap this month. Lots of projects going on around the house/yard. It's easier to edit than create. Anyway, the Spinward States Sourcebook is now in official review so it should see the light of day either later this year or maybe by Spring. No official dates have been released. I'm just guessing.

I started writing "She Cries At Midnight" but haven't got far. A little bit of work was done on "Gateway To Empire" too.

"Armistice Day" still needs cover art. I'm hoping September bears some fruit.

7/30/07: Not much better than last month. I finished editing "Tile" only to discover that "Cthulu Sex Magazine", the zine I had in mind when I wrote it, is closing its doors. It took me a while to find a suitable runner up. I chose Pseudopod.

I came up with another story idea. The title, "She Cries At Midnight." My daughter was the inspiration. Now I just have to sit down and write it.

Lastly, I've been working on the playtest for "The Spinward Domain", the next 1248 milieu sourcebook for Traveller. Lots of proofreading to do.

As for "Armisitice Day", I've decided to self-publish it. There's no point in going the traditional route. Unless you're J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, Danielle Steele, Dan Brown or some tabloid fodder celebrity, no one wants to hear from you. The numbers just don't work. So rather than whine about it, I'm just going to do as much of it as I can. Most importantly, "Armistice Day" needs to be released from the silicon confines of my pc. And no one cares more about that than me.

What I need now is cover art. Hopefully, I'll make some progress on that front this summer or fall.

6/29/07: Slow month writing-wise. Spent a week in Cape Cod with the family and got nothing done except bird watching and beer drinking. Back home, yard work has dominated my "free time." But, I did manage to edit "Emily's Star" based on the writer's workshop's advice. And last night I submitted it to All Possible Worlds magazine.

5/25/07: Summer's here. We had 92° on the deck today. Heading out tomorrow to pick up some wood (It's never too soon to start preparing for next winter). Combining that with the tree that I had to take down (80+ years old) before it fell down and we should be pretty well off come December.

The writer's workshop finished up this week. I got in the first two chapters of "Gateway To Empire" and they were well received, even by the newbies who hadn't read "Armistice Day". I had a little bit of trouble getting started but, once I sat down and got to typing, the words just started flowing. With any luck, I'll actually get some time to write this summer.

But first up will be to find homes for "Emiliy's Star" and "Tile". I have a few small edits to make and then it'll be time to shop them around.

4/26/07: "Tile" has been finished and reviewed by the writer's workshop. It got good reviews and only a few suggestions for changes.

Also submitted was "Caree", which is the working title for a couple pages worth of material inspired by "smart toilets." I have no idea where the story's going right now but it has a sci-fi private eye/detective flavor to it. It's written in the first person, something I haven't tried doing in a long time. There wasn't much for the workshop to work with so I got the thumbs up to keep going with it. Hopefully, the muse will stike me.

Resumed working on the sequel to "Armistice Day". The working title is "Gateway To Empire". I'm trying to get the first couple of chapters done in the next couple of weeks for the writer's workshop, as it ends next month.

3/25/07: I'm moving my agent rejection tally up to 36 as three more have been mute for two months, despite SASE. I got the #10 envelopes this time so no more cracks about unprofessional appearences. "Armistice Day" can't cut a break.

"Emily's Star" went through a re-write and got glowing reviews from the writer's workshop. I'll make a few more tweaks and send it out again once I get caught up.

"Tile" is nearly complete. I've finished two of the three sections, and read them both out loud. I doubt that I'll finish the last section for tomorrow night's class, but I'll bring in what I've got.

2/24/07: 33 agents have now said "No, thank you" to my invitation to read "Armistice Day". Due to a cramped client list, we are forced to be highly selective regarding new writers. "Show me the money" in other words. Is it any wonder that writers are pursuing self-publication these days?

"Emily's Star" was rejected ("pass") by Fantasy Magazine. However, I took it to the aforementioned writer's workshop. Everyone liked it, but Linda, the workshop's teacher, correctly pointed out that I made repeated use of certain words. Maybe if I'd read it out loud, as she insists to us all every week, I'd have caught them and Apex Digest would've printed it. Oh well. I've revised it (a couple hundred words shorter) and I'll bring it to class on Monday.

Finally started work on "Tile", a Lovecraftian horror story that's been kicking around my head since November. Trying to have that finished for class in March.

1/26/07:I started the new year off by querying agents again to find "Armistice Day" a home. No luck. I got rejection 31 today.

I sent "Emily's Star" to Fantasy Magazine. Still waiting to hear back from them.

I put my editor hat back on to help out my friend that's working on the Spinward Domain sourcebook for Traveller.

The local writers' workshop starts up again next month. I signed up. I'm going to bring in "Emily's Star" and see if I missed anything. It should also give me that shove I need to get these story ideas out of my head and onto paper.

12/28/06: I sent "Emily's Star" to Dark Recesses magazine but they took a pass on it.

I've decided not to wait on getting a short story published before sending "Armistice Day" back out into the query frenzy. I had a brief chat with The Rejecter and she convinced me to have another go at my query letter. A couple days and sleepless nights later a catchier hook came to me. I'm going to type it up and send it out next month. I should have more time then.

11/15/06: Heard back on Friday from Apex Digest. They rejected "Emily's Star". Apparently the story made it to the "2nd round" for consideration. Got some constructive feedback on why the story was rejected so I have to decide if I should take their advice before sending it on to someone else or just send it out.

11/7/06: You voted, right? I hope so.

Well, Rebecca's Red Ale came out great! A fine tribute to my daughter. I might actually be getting the hang of brewing beer. Too bad there aren't breweries nearby for me to go work at. I'm having more success with that than writing.

I submitted "Emily's Star" to Apex Digest two weeks ago but I haven't heard back from them yet. I'd better start sending it out en masse.

10/6/06: I keep meaning to update this page at least once a month but I've been busy with non-story related work: bathroom renovation, wood chopping, blogging. Still, I finished "Emily's Star" and have begun looking for a home for it. Too many of the likely candidates were closed to submissions. Apparently, too many of us out there trying to get our stories published.

As for "Armistice Day", it still sits. My friend, Ellen, did forward me the name of an artist who does sci-fi/fantasy stuff. I took a look at his web page and it looked promising.

Started another batch of beer to have ready for Rebecca's first birthday (Parents have to have fun too). It was supposed to be a hoppier version of my Raspberry Red Death but I grabbed cherry extract instead of raspberry extract. I swear the bottle was raspberry. Guess it's going to be a surprise. I still have to update the "Beer Page" with my progress.

8/8/06: Ok, I let the query letter rejection/no reply total get to me. I haven't sent out anymore query letters.

But all is not lost. I've been helping a friend work on some material for a new book in the new 1248 milieu in Traveller, a sci-fi rpg that I've been playing for 20+ years. I'm hoping to get some kind of limited "editor" credit out of it.

My phone and internet connection were down the last few days. As a result, it forced me to work on my projects instead of blogging or others' projects. I finished 99% of the short story, "Emily's Star", and just need a post-climatic ending for it.

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