Sunday Links: December 16, 2012 Edition

I had let myself get horribly behind on short story submissions. This is normally something I'm very good about, however over the last couple of months in particular, as I got rejections I wasn't getting around to sending stories back out to another market. I've made a major push to that end this week and I'm basically caught up now. The only things not currently out the door are stories which I'm considering making revisions to before submitting them again. As of tonight I have 36 submissions out, five reprints and 31 originals. It feels good to be back to where I've got a lot of stories on on submission and I'm going to make a concerted effort to not fall behind again.

As a side note, with this week's efforts I've crossed the 300 mark for 2012 submissions. There was a point where I thought I might have 366, which would have been neat, but my slacking off in recent months ensured that wouldn't happen. Still, 300 submissions is a lot and I'm quite pleased with what I have accomplished.

Something in early 2013 I'll do a Year-in-Review for 2012 with all kinds of statistics. For now, though, let's move on to the writing-related links I've come across this week which I want to share:

Sunday Links: December 9, 2012 Edition

Earlier this week I discovered that my story released earlier this year by Daily Science Fiction ("Scraps") was reviewed very favorably by Diabolical Plots. In fact, "Scraps" was the only one out of the 20 or so stories published by DSF in October of this year which the Diabolical reviewers chose to grant "Recommended" status. While reviews are one of those things which writers can't control and have to learn to accept for what they are, I can't deny that it was pleasing to read such a favorable review.

Here are the writing-related links which I've come across this week which I wanted to share:

Sunday Links: December 2, 2012

A new month, the last of 2012. I haven't met all of my goals for the year. Haven't even come close in fact. And yet, I've met many more of my writing aspirations in this year than I would have ever dreamed possible. Put simply, it's been a good year, and I'm hoping that 2013 will provide opportunities to build on what's happened during 2012.


Here are the writing-related links which I've come across this week which I wanted to share:

Sunday Links: November 25, 2012 Edition

I'll be posting my December goal list tomorrow and November goal results Thursday. The results aren't going to look terribly impressive, I'm afraid as November has not been the most productive month for me.  Being out of town for nearly an entire week did more to disrupt my schedule than I had realized it would. Couple that with a major holiday and some other family members traveling during the month and I've struggled to get as much done as I would like. But as I've commented before, a bad month or two here or there isn't going to be a huge obstacle in the grand scheme of things for a potentially decades-long writing "career."

On the plus side, I feel very good about the time I spent at Philcon and visiting writing friends before and after the convention. I also feel good about the fact that I've been able to pick back up with writing even after having taken some days explicitly away from doing actual writing. Having not taken a single day away from writing for over a year, I had a bit of (perhaps irrational) concern that I would have trouble getting back into a routine. So far, so good.

Only a couple of links for this holiday week along with a link to my own one blog post from this week:

Sunday Links: November 18, 2012 Edition

Sixty percent of the way through November and Thanksgiving is just days away. Since I just took a blogging hiatus in the past ten days for Philcon, I'm not going to take an extended hiatus for Thanksgiving. However, I will forgo a post on Thanksgiving itself. So, the only post between this one and next week's Sunday Links will be one on Monday.

While plenty of writers are deep into writing a first draft of a novel for NaNoWriMo, I'm tentatively re-exploring last year's NaNo project, both by re-reading it myself and getting feedback from a reader. This is both exciting ("Yay! It's no longer just sitting gathering electronic dust on my hard drive!") and a bit daunting ("Ugh! It's kind of a mess with little bits and pieces hanging off here and there which need either fully integrated or lopped off."). I think the only way it's going to turn into something truly readable is for me to re-outline it. Large chunks will end up getting completely rewritten, I'm sure. On the bright side, as I was reading it there were moments here and there where I thought to myself: "Hey, that works rather well!" So, even though it was written by someone newly back to writing who had never written a novel before, there's that, I suppose.

If you're doing NaNo this year, I hope that you're enjoying yourself. I'm glad I'm not doing it again this year, but I think I may plan on having a novel-length project ready to tackle during November 2013.

For now, here are this week's writing-related links as well as a link to my own blog post from this week:

Sunday Links: November 4, 2012 Edition

I hope that people who are doing NaNoWriMo this year are off to a good start. Even if you're not, don't fret too much; there's a lot of November left to write in and it's not too hard to catch up from a few slow days.

Meanwhile, a quick blogging update. I'll be attending Philcon next weekend (If you're there, please feel free to say "hello"!) so I'm going to take a short blogging hiatus. I'll have a post on Monday 11/5 but then won't run anything scheduled again until Thursday 11/15. I'll most likely put up a trip report from Philcon sometime before the 15th and I'll also report on any interesting news, but otherwise things will be quiet around the blog during that week and a half.

Below are this week's writing-related links as well as links to my own blog posts from this week.

Sunday Links: October 28, 2012 Edition

A surprising warm spell passed through here earlier this week but is well and truly gone now. There are hints that snow might show its face in the upcoming few days. I think it's safe to say that we're now well in the grip of Autumn here in Ohio with Winter not too far behind.

Monday will be my last blog post for October, so it will include my wrap-up of results on my October goals as well as a look-ahead to November. Thursday will most likely bring the second of my 2013 goal planning posts.

Below are this week's writing-related links as well as links to my own blog posts from this week.

Sunday Links: October 21st, 2012 Edition

Are we really two-thirds of the way through October? Apparently we must be, but how that happened, I certainly couldn't tell you!

If you're gearing up for NaNoWriMo, you might like to look through my posts related to that topic before the first of the month rolls around. I don't plan to do NaNo this year, though I am planning on tackling a novella-length project during the month of November if all goes well.

Below are this week's writing-related links as well as links to my own blog posts from this week.

Sunday Links: October 14, 2012 Edition

A calmer week on the writing front. I had one piece of good news that isn't public yet but I hope to be able to announce it before the end of the month.

Tomorrow I'll look at how I'm doing in terms of making progress toward my October goals. For now, though, on to this week's links!

Sunday Links: October 7, 2012 Edition

Well, I said it would be a busy week, and indeed it was.

It's also been a very good week. I met one of my goals for the month by getting a story into the Codex Halloween contest before the deadline. I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't make time to do a second draft; I think the story has some major flaws as-is. But I wanted to be a part of the contest and I did achieve that.

I also had four stories release this week. I'm particularly pleased by the reactions to "Scraps" (at Daily Science Fiction, will be on the web next week) and "ReFormed" (at Buzzy Mag). I feel like those are among two of my best stories so far and the reaction to them has been in line with those feelings. I was a bit worried that they would show up and vanish without a trace. I'm very pleased that this didn't happen.

Sunday Links: September 23, 2012 Edition

Kind of a quiet week on the writing front. I've spent a fair amount of time reading stories for the Kazka Press 713 Flash Fiction Contest and will be making my final selections there in the very near future.

Speaking of final selections, the Unidentified Funny Objects anthology table of contents has been announced in the past several days. Lots of good stories in it; if you didn't pre-order during the Kickstarter, there will be opportunities to buy it later this year.

Here are this week's writing-related links; I hope that some of them are useful to you.

Sunday Links: September 16, 2012 Edition

It's been a while since we've done one of these. With my blogging hiatus in early September, this is the first Links post in three weeks.

Before I get to the links, a quick reminder that I'm guest-editing this month's Kazka Press flash fiction contest with the theme of "Love Beyond Death." Submissions are open for several more days, through the 20th of the month. So, if you have a story of 713-1,000 words on that theme that you'd like for me to consider, now's the time to be submitting it. The stories I select will be part of the Kazka's October issue and I'll put a link up to them once they have been published on the first of the month.

Here are this week's links; I hope that some of them are useful to you. If you've come across an interesting link about writing recently, I'd be interested in hearing about it. Feel free to post it in the comments below.

Sunday Links: August 26, 2012 Edition

We're down to under a week before the end of the Kickstarter campaign for Unidentified Funny Objects. This is the speculative fiction humor anthology which I've been working on as one of the Associate Editors. We're also down to under a week before the end of the submission period, so if you've got something you want to get in for consideration, please don't delay!

As I mentioned last week, I'm going to be taking a short blogging hiatus in early September. After looking at the calendar and making various plans, I've decided that the hiatus will run from September 1st through 9th. So there will be regular Monday and Thursday posts here on the 27th and 30th of August and then the next post after that will come on September 10th. So, this will be the last Sunday Links post before September 16th. By then, I should have quite a few links which I want to share.

I'll still be writing during that hiatus. In fact, September 1st will mark the first day of a second year of writing every day (Barring anything unexpected happening in the next several days, of course; though, considering all the unexpected things I've dealt with in the past year and still managed to keep to my writing routine, it would have to be a real doozy!)

Related to coming up on this one year anniversary, I'll have an announcement on Thursday. That will be my 365th day of writing every day. Friday, August 31st will be the 366th, given the leap day earlier this year in February. The announcement will be related to my book "Write Every Day."

But that's for Thursday. For now, here are this week's links; I hope that some of them are useful to you.

Sunday Links: August 19, 2012 Edition

It's almost back-to-school time here in Ohio. Our kids have one more week of break but my wife starts up her classes this coming week. A busy time and a reminder that I've been writing seriously for over a year now. In fact, in less than two weeks I'll hit the one year mark of writing every day. I've got something special planned to mark that occasion, so watch for an announcement in the next couple of weeks along those lines.

Also, around the end of August and beginning of September I'm going to take a short blogging hiatus for a week to ten days. I haven't worked out the timing exactly, but I'll publish dates for the hiatus both here and on my Write Every Day blog. I'll still be writing, but I'll be spending that time focused on my fiction. I also expect that I'll be doing a fair amount of work relating to the Unidentified Funny Objects anthology at that point in time since it will be the end of our submission period which presumably will mean a flood of submissions and also the need to have final discussions within the editorial team on which of the stories that have been held over for possible inclusion will make the cut.

Look for official hiatus dates to show up in my Sunday post a week from today.

Below are the links I've found relating to writing which I want to share with my readers. If you have come across any interesting links recently, I'd certainly be interested in knowing about those as well!

Sunday Links: August 12, 2012 Edition

The weeks feel like they're going by faster than ever. Here it is (late) Sunday night again. I've got links to share but first I want to remind everyone about the Kickstarter for Unidentified Funny Objects. As one of the Associate Editors, I've read most of the stories under consideration so far for the final Table of Contents. I think it's going to be a very fun anthology and I hope that people who are interested in humorous science fiction and fantasy will take a few moments to check out the Kickstarter and consider backing the project.

Here are this week's writing-related links:

"Audition Your Cast of Characters" (Julie Musil) - Julie talks about ways to understand the characters you are going to write about. One of the things that struck me as interesting in this piece was her differentiation between "stayers" and "changers." (Both have their place.)

"How to Succeed as a Writer" (David L. Day) - David jumps off from a blog post by Jeff VanderMeer and combines that with his own experience in the corporate world to build a set of principles for succeeding as a writer.

"All Work and No Play is No Fun and No Good" (Kristen Lamb) - Kristen talks about work ethic and balancing work with other activities.

Along with those links, here are the items I posted on my blog this week. It's been a busy week!

"Interview with Scott Bartlett: Author of Royal Flush" - Monday, I posted an interview with Scott Bartlett.

"'Ars Gratia Artis' is Live at Sorcerous Signals" - Wednesday, I linked to my most-recently published short story on the webzine Sorcerous Signals.

"Three Signs Your Writing Process Might Not Be Working" - Wednesday, I cross-posted this article from my "Write Every Day" blog about ways to identify if your approach to writing might not be working as well as it could.

"Short Story Sale: 'Other Kinds' to Nine" - Saturday, I announced a short story sale to the semi-pro ezine Nine.

"Pulpfest 2012 Day One" , "Pulpfest 2012 Day Two", "Pulpfest 2012 Day Three" -Thursday, Friday, and Saturday I wrote about my experiences at this year's Pulpfest convention.

Have a great week everyone!

Sunday Links: August 5, 2012 Edition

Wow...

I'm absolutely drained tonight. Our oldest just finished up her fourth experience with the All-Ohio State Fair Youth Choir. The final concert lasted for two and a half hours and that didn't include the slideshow afterwards or the extended period where 200 high school kids who have spent 18 days living and singing together hug and cry and say goodbye. So if my links descriptions tonight are a bit shorter than usual, please excuse me.

But I will share with you one of my favorite songs that the AOSFYC did this summer, "Let the River Run." This isn't my video, but I'm glad to be able to share it all the same. Consider it a special link for this week!

With the fair and everything, I've had an especially hectic go of things this week, so my writing time each day has been fairly limited. Still, I've made progress on several things, getting critique feedback from two people on a story I wrote recently, and keeping busy with a variety of other writing activities. I also managed to write a relatively-lengthy story (for the time allotted) for this weekend's Liberty Hall flash fiction challenge. I'm happy with the story arc, though I suspect it's still rather rough around the edges. I'll look forward to hearing from the other competitors as to what their thoughts are on how I can improve it.

One last thing I'd like to draw my readers' attention to before I get to the rest of the links is the Kickstarter for Unidentified Funny Objects. In my position as one of the Associate Editors for this project, I've read most of the stories which are under consideration so far for the final Table of Contents. I think it's going to be a very fun anthology and I hope that people who are interested in humorous science fiction and fantasy will take a few moments to check out the Kickstarter and consider backing the project.

Now, without any more preliminaries, here are this week's writing-related links that I wanted to share with my readers:

Sunday Links: July 29, 2012 Edition

July is almost over, can you believe it? Tomorrow I'll post my month-end goal status and also write up my planned goals for August. It's been basically a year to the day since I returned to writing last summer and I'm very pleased with how the past year has gone writing-wise. I'm excited to see where the next 12 months take me.

If you missed it earlier this week my mystery story "Present Company" ran on Every Day Fiction on July 24th.

Also, as a reminder, there's still over a month until the August 31st deadline for submissions for Unidentified Funny Objects.

Below are this week's writing-related links that I wanted to share with my readers. Also, if you're so inclined, Kasia James has a guest post up today on my Write Every Day blog where she talks about, well, about NOT writing every day.

Sunday Links: July 22nd, 2012 Edition

It's been a rather quiet month around here writing-wise. I've made progress on a number of fronts, but haven't really had much in the way of exciting news to report. There's nothing wrong with that -- in fact, it's rather typical. The last couple of months certainly spoiled me a bit, though, with all the story sales and other exciting news that I got to share. But I absolutely can't complain about the progress I've made with getting various stories written and revised, which is equally important, if less exciting to talk about.

Below are this week's writing-related links that I wanted to share with my readers. Also, if you're so inclined, C. Bryan Brown has a guest post up today on my Write Every Day blog where he talks about how he's developed his writing rituals.

Sunday Links: July 15th, 2012 Edition

Is it really possible that the typical summer break from school here in Ohio (and, I believe, much of the rest of the United States) is essentially half-over now? We're at the mid-point of July, that's for certain! Typically, I review my goal status at mid-month; since Mondays are #writemotivation days in July, my goal check post will be up tomorrow.

I had an extremely productive writing day Saturday along with a first for me. With some of my stories beginning to come off their exclusivity periods with their first publishers, they are available for reprints. Yesterday, I made my first submissions to foreign-language markets. There are some markets which will accept English-language submissions for translation; they often pay only in copies, but for a reprint and for the chance to see my story printed in another language, I'm okay with that. Douglas Smith has a nice list of non-English markets for speculative short fiction and that is what I used for my market research.

Speaking of links, below are the writing-related links I've collected this week which I thought would be good to share with others. If you've found some interesting links this week, I hope you will share them in the comment section below!

Sunday Links: July 8th, 2012 Edition

Another busy week around here both in terms of keeping up with my daily writing routine and in terms of non-writing parts of my life. I ended up having to reschedule my revision day away from this past Friday since I had another (fun and important, but time-consuming) obligation for another weekday around the same time and I couldn't justify scheduling two days off work in such a short span of time. I'll look to try to fit my revision day in sometime soon, though, since I really do want to try to get some of these stories cleaned up and ready to go out to the door.

Here are the links I've collected for this week. If you've come across a recent link which you'd like to share, please mention it in the comments, as I always love seeing new and interesting information about writing and fiction in general.

This week's links are past the jump...