April 29, 2013 Goal Check-In

There's still a little over a day left in April, so I'm not going to call this final just yet.

1. Submit three stories for the first time. - I got one out the door, which is better than zero.
2. Read seven short stories each Monday to Sunday week. - Four-for-four. I think this format is better for me, though I may up this to 10 per week to try to move me closer to my year-goal.
3. Reply to all Kazka Press flash fiction submissions by the 24th. - Got it.
4. Make twenty submissions of non-reprint stories. - Also got it.
5. Outline and get at least 4000 words written on a novelette for general submission. - This one isn't happening.
6. Write one non-flash story which is NOT inspired by any pre-existing prompt/theme/etc. - I've got an idea outlined for a story which will probably come in at 1500-2500 words. I'm intending to get started on composing it yet tonight.
7. Blog every Monday about my goal progress. -  Two weeks out of four. Could be worse.

I'll pop in later in the week to set up my May goals and close out April in terms of goals 1 and 6.

"Small Creatures and Large" in IGMS #33

My fantasy story "Small Creatures and Large" is live at InterGalactic Medicine Show in their issue #33, released today. You can read a preview of the story here for free; reading the whole story requires a subscription to IGMS.

The subscriptions are $15 for six bi-monthly issues and with a subscription you will also have access to the complete back issues of IGMS, including my previous story with them, "The Flower of Memory" from issue #29.

The current issue also includes a very amusing story by Alex Shvartsman titled "Explaining Cthulhu to Grandma." (It's as funny as the title suggests it would be!) There's also a story titled "Thirteen Words" by J. Deery Wray whose "The Butcher of Londinium" was just announced as the winner of the InterGalactic Award based on a poll of IGMS readers.

So, I hope you'll check out the whole preview and maybe buy a subscription; I think it's worth the money. To whet your appetite, here's a preview of the preview, the first three paragraphs of "Small Creatures and Large."

Murzah thinks I don't know what he does at night when the rest of us are asleep. But I'm quiet and I've followed him before, gone to the dirty unused room in our orphanage that he sneaks to when the lights are out. I've watched him cobble together the bits and pieces of his creations. He thinks no one has seen the things he makes but I have and I love him for it.

He almost gets caught tonight going through the halls. An older boy, one of Mother Sharna's guards with his wisps of beard coming in, steps through a doorway which Murzah has just passed by. The guard will notice Murzah in just a moment. I run my fingernails along the wall to make a skittering sound, like a rat or some other vermin making its way through the night. The guard turns at the noise, looks my way. I am deep in the shadows and have crouched down small. He takes a step toward me. I hold my breath as he peers down the hall.

Finally, he shrugs and lets out a low whistle. Amirala, older than Murzah and I but younger by a couple of years than the guard, passes through the same door he had come out. He reaches out, strokes her cheek and runs his hand down her neck, her chest, to her waist. She smiles at him, leans in and kisses him, but she is looking my way and I see the smile is not in her eyes.

April Goal Status

Well.

April has not gone to plan. But then, how often do things go to plan?

1. Submit three stories for the first time. - I am once again failing to get any traction on this goal. I won't say that I've already blown my chances at hitting my goal for 2013 in terms of getting new stories out the door, but it's going to require much more focus than I've given to the goal so far. There's at least some chance I'll still make this goal with a little over a week left in April.
2. Read seven short stories each Monday to Sunday week. - Having a weekly goal here has helped quite a bit with keeping me from getting off track. I've hit the mark three weeks in a row.
3. Reply to all Kazka Press flash fiction submissions by the 24th. - I'm on target for this.
4. Make twenty submissions of non-reprint stories. - I'm at ten so far for the month. A good chance I'll hit twenty.
5. Outline and get at least 4000 words written on a novelette for general submission. - As much as I'd like to do this, I think it needs to have lower precedence than getting stories already drafted finished up and out the door.
6. Write one non-flash story which is NOT inspired by any pre-existing prompt/theme/etc. - I like the idea behind this goal, but ultimately it's as much an "ego" goal as anything else. If I end up having an idea I love and writing it this month, fantastic. If not, I won't be too upset.
7. Blog every Monday about my goal progress. -  This is the one I'm most disappointed in myself for not following through on so far in April because it's so incredibly easy. It only takes maybe ten minutes and it gives me an opportunity to mentally check how I'm doing. Maybe if I'd done this some of the other Mondays this month I would have made more progress on the goals I'm not on track to meet. Maybe not, of course. Nevertheless, I want to include something similar in my May goals and make sure I follow through.

"The Barber and the Count" at Beneath Ceaseless Skies

A quick pop-in to let everyone know that "The Barber and the Count" is available to be read for free on the Beneath Ceaseless Skies website. An audio version is also available on their site.

Also, I thought I'd mention that Tori MacAllister has some very nice things to say about my non-fiction eBook "Write Every Day." I've gotten a bit off the horse myself in terms of keeping to a daily writing routine; my intention is to work at improving at this going forward.

Goals - March and April 2013

I got lazy in March. I really don't know any other way to put it. I let myself be way too lax on productivity and though I did a halfway decent job of keeping stories out on submission, that's really about the only aspect of my writing that I kept on top of.

I said a while back that if I got bad about staying productive when I moved away from the Daily Writing Chain that I would feel a need to re-institute it. (I wrote about the Daily Writing Chain extensively in "Write Every Day.") I'm putting myself on notice. A rough April and the Chain is coming back. That's not a threat to myself or a means of punishing myself. It would be a way of recognizing that without it I wasn't sticking to the discipline I need to have if I want to build a successful writing career.

So, with all of that in mind, let's see how things looked for March. My goals were:

1. Submit three stories for the first time. - I did this.
   
2. Read thirty short stories. - I didn't just fail at this, I bombed it. In impressive fashion. 6/30.
3. Reply to all Kazka Press flash fiction submissions by the 25th. - This one went fine.
4. Make fifteen submissions of non-reprint stories. - I succeeded at this, though just.
5. Outline and get at least 4000 words written on a novelette for general submission. - I haven't gotten off to a good start on this goal. I need to put some thinking time in on it because I'd like to at least get an outline put together before the end of the month. 

So, anything that had to do with submissions -- either making or processing them -- went fine. Everything else? Not so much...

But March is over and it's time to move on to April. So here are some new goals:

1. Submit three stories for the first time. - This is so I can keep moving forward on my goal for stories submitted for the year.
   
2. Read seven short stories each Monday to Sunday week. - When I got behind last month, I think I felt "heck with it." This way I get a fresh start every week. We'll see if that helps.
3. Reply to all Kazka Press flash fiction submissions by the 24th. - I'm keeping this as pretty much a standing goal. It gives about a week for turnaround on the back end with contracts, etc. before publication.
4. Make twenty submissions of non-reprint stories. - Keeping the stories out the door is important for getting them accepted and published.
5. Outline and get at least 4000 words written on a novelette for general submission. - Yes, this is back again. I really want to stretch out some and the only way I'll accomplish that is by putting forth the effort.
6. Write one non-flash story which is NOT inspired by any pre-existing prompt/theme/etc. - Maybe this one is a bit unnecessary, but I feel like an awful lot of my recent writing has been driven by external prompts and themes. I'd like to make sure I'm writing the things that are important to me and while I basically think I've done fine with that while working a lot with prompts and themes, I'd like to encourage myself to do some self-starting as well this month.
7. Blog every Monday about my goal progress. -  I think I'm missing some of the accountability I set up for myself with more frequent check-ins last month. I hope this will help me out.

That's a lot of goals for the month, but -- as always -- I am hopeful that I will be successful with them.

Publication Updates: Two Stories Released & Two Editing Projects

I've been remiss in my blogging lately, so I'm going to hit you all with a bunch of updates over the next few days. Tonight I'm going to cover various short fiction releases and related news.

First off, I've had two stories come out recently. My horror story "Welcome to Blackrock" is in the current issue of Black Treacle, a Canadian online publication. This is also the first time I've mentioned this particular story sale on my blog. I was pleased with the turnaround time from submission to publication with this new site.

Next, I've got a crime story "Three Times a Killer" in the first Plan B anthology. If you have read my self-published story "Levels of Trust", you might want to check out this one since it features the same main character, much earlier in his criminal career.