Writing Fail & Book Pimping

Last week I sat down to write a fantasy short story. I got about 300 or so words into it and stopped because I've had easier times removing fence posts from dried concrete. The words were just not coming. I opened that story back up each day this past week and stared at it, hoping to conjure something, but nothing magically appeared. I just couldn't do it and wasn't sure why. Then when reading K.C. Shaw's new novel, Jack of all Trades (go buy a copy!), I realized what was wrong. Years back I read fantasy to the exclusion of all else. I did that for years before venturing into science fiction and horror. Because I read so many fantasy books in times past (literally hundreds of books), I gradually moved on to other things. I realized tonight that it has been a long time since I read fantasy regularly and because of that, the unique terminology inherent in such tales as well as basic knowledge of medieval/renaissance life has fled from my mind. At one time, I studied such things and poured over history books on life in the middle ages, but it's been so long since I did that, whatever I learned needs to be re-learned. So the end result is, I've given up on any fantasy stories until I can brush up on my facts. Poo! I had this neat idea about a wizard named Gabeus Fillymander who ran a private magical detective agency, but who was called upon a lot by the city guard to help solve crimes and mysteries. Naturally he is hiding a big secret from his past. Oh, well. Maybe someday.

Time for some book pimping!

First we have the 52 Stitches collection from Strange Publications, gathering all the stories from the project's initial year, including two of my stories, Nuts and The Confession. Available from Amazon.





Next up is the new anthology from Pill Hill Press, The Middle of Nowhere: Horror in rural America. Available from both Amazon and Barnes and Noble. This one opens with my ghost tale, The Gallery of Final Repose.





And of course, we have The Devil's Food from The Monsters Next Door. My offering, The Faceless Ones shares this awesome book with notable names like David Dunwoody, Natalie L. Sin and Aaron Polson. Available from Amazon.





Even though I don't have a story in it (I did make the shortlist though!), the new Dead Bait anthology from Severed Press is now out. The aforementioned David Dunwoody and Aaron Polson have tales in this book, so you know right there it's packed with quality stuff. Available from Amazon.




Let's not forget the book I mentioned earlier, K.C. Shaw's Jack of all Trades. You can get it at Amazon, Barnes and Noble or from the publisher. I advise the latter.






While you're buying books, be sure to get a copy of Cate Gardner's awesome chapbook, The Sour Aftertaste of Olive Lemon, available from Bucket 'O' Guts Press.





Now I'm off to get in another chapter or two of Jack of all Trades before calling it a night.

WIP Wednesday

It's Work in Progress Wednesday and I have no WIP. Sad, I know. I've spent most of the day thinking about Church of the Deviate Minds and An Inheritance of Shadows, though I haven't touched either in nearly a week. I'd like to get one of them completed by Friday night so I can sub again to Necrotic Tissue, but I don't know if I'm gonna make that deadline. Tonight I fiddled with a zombie flash piece, so I guess you could call that my WIP. The day job has been busy and I've been zonked each evening, though somehow I managed to write a mummy story that was accepted for the Scroll of Anubis anthology. I'm still not sure how I scored that one and am half convinced it was a dream. I'm sitting here now, marinating my insides with liberal amounts of lemonade and bemoaning the fact that I have no proper snacks in the house (salty and crunchy). My eyelids are getting heavier by the second. Methinks it is time for bed. Oh, and rejoice, those who of you who - like me - are still looking to find a home for their rejected Dead Bait story. Looky here!

A Whale Of A Tale

So Deadliest Cachalot came back today, rejected for the second time since being cut from the running for the Dead Bait antho. That's three rejections for this tale in less than two weeks. Ouch! It stings a little, since I am rather partial to this tale and the work that went into writing it...twice no less. I begin to wonder if the story just isn't crap, but then figure it wouldn't have made the Dead Bait shortlist of it was total shit. Still, there may be room for improvement. I think I'm going to let it sit for a bit and reevaluate it later. I'd rather not send it out again at this time because my mind imagines all these fish stories bouncing around out there right now after getting cut from Dead Bait like me.

The other problem I have with the story is its length. At 8,000 words it is more a novelette than short story. Finding a home for it may not be all that easy. However, I can't envision trimming it down, as I had to fight to keep it under 8k in the first place. In fact, I felt the ending got rushed a bit because I needed to wrap things up before I passed the DB word limit. Maybe I will go back and flesh things out some more. Who knows.

Anyway, the reason I've babbled on about this is because I'd like some fresh perspectives on the story and wonder if anyone is interested in being a beta reader. Is one still considered a beta reader if the story had been subbed three times?

Micro 004/100
"Tomb Raiders" - 100 words

Davis pushes the sarcophagus lid aside, revealing the lone occupant. “Read the passage,” he says.

Miles opens the ancient tome and in the lost tongue of kings, recites the resurrection invocation. With a dry snap, the withered mummy climbs from its resting place.

“It worked!” Davis cries, as the mummy lurches forward. “Read the next part.”

Miles consults the book then says, “Go, great prince and retrieve the treasure that rightfully belongs to you.”

“Be ready to follow him,” Davis says.

The mummy suddenly springs forwards, grabs the book from Miles and in the lost tongue of kings, says, “Mine.”

One Week Later

It's been a whole week since my last blog post in these parts, though I have chimed in on other blogs when time permits. My writing has come to a stand still. I think I've written two or three sentences in the last seven days. The reason? The Other Half's mother had to be rushed to the hospital last week and remains in the ICU after emergency surgery for a perforated colon. She has other problems as well, though the colon was the worst. The end result has been chaos in these parts. Running back and forth to the hospital, struggling to meet work requirements and still get off early and catching quick meals here and there. I am exhausted. Hopefully, things will start to get better now that the worst seems to be behind us.

After the Dead Bait rejection, I fired off Deadliest Cachalot to another market. It took them all of three days to turn it down. They enjoyed it and said it was well written, but it wasn't what they were looking for. sigh. I sent the story off to a third market, but if this one rejects it, I may sit on the story for a while before trying again. Still trying to get this story for the Vermin antho hammered out, but as mentioned, my mind hasn't been able to focus too well.

Bloody Tuesday

Not much new around here. I took the day off from the day job to work on a few things and help The Other Half take her mother to the hospital. I woke to find a rejection from the Dead Bait antho in my inbox. Since at least three other people who were also shortlisted for the book received similar emails, I am now referring to this day as Bloody Tuesday. After feeling bummed for about five minutes, I promptly got on Duotrope and found a new place to submit Deadliest Cachalot.

Returning home from the hospital, I found another rejection in my inbox, this time from Everyday Weirdness for Racing Midnight. The funny thing was, I had just located a market that sounded like a good fit for that particular story, so I sent it off since it was now free again.

The two rejections, coupled with heat in the mid 90's, made it hard to concentrate on writing. I worked a wee bit on my Vermin antho story, Ground Zero as well as a former Micro piece called The Anubis Appropriation that I am enlarging into a flash piece. Didn't get much done on either one, so I retired to the couch and munched Funyuns while finishing up Felicty Dowker's Phantasy Moste Grotesk. A chilling and creepy read, be sure to nab yourself a copy.

Shamelessly Stolen

Well, let's try this one more time, since %$#@!*& Blogger erased all my text and auto saved before I could undo it the first time I tried to post this.

Shamelessly stolen from Aaron, who seems to have jump started a meme without realizing it, here is the list of my favorite stories that I have written.

1. Deadliest Cachalot - Currently shortlisted at the Dead Bait antho. This one was written twice because the first draft was lost in the hard drive crash. I like to think I made it better the second time around. I'm rather proud of the fact that I wrote it twice, seeing it as my way of not giving in to the despair of the crash.

2. The Transcendental Man - Currently subbed. Another story rewritten from scratch due to the hard drive crash. This is one of only two stories I have written in first person, but the opening line wouldn't work as well any other way.

3. The Faceless Ones - Accepted for the Devil's Food antho. This story convinced me that I could write a novel someday. I slaved on this one for the better part of a month before deciding to send it off. I plan on revisiting the bad guys in this one someday.

4. Maximus Rising - Accepted for Sand #5. A simple character driven piece about two brothers dealing with a loss. Ed at Sand asked for a rewrite and helped me make it better.

5. The Horror of Pine Hollow - Currently subbed. This one got my own heart racing while writing it, which proves how much fun I had in the creation process. I despise weak female characters and this one was my attempt at featuring a kickass female protagonist.

6. The Gallery of Final Repose - Currently subbed. A ghost story with a (hopefully) horrifying end. I based the characters on myself and three friends as teens, probably why they were so easy to write.

7. Planting Season - Currently subbed. I love monsters, but this is one of the first times I looked at the monster within a Human being. Still threw in a non-Human monster.

8. Pruritus Maximus - Currently subbed. A tale of dark humor. I really worked hard on this one, chopping, writing then chopping some more, all in an effort to get it at the right length yet retain everything I wanted to include. Men will no doubt find this story horrifying.

9. The Madness in Their Eyes - Rejected once, considering a rewrite before subbing again. About interdimensional non corporeal creatures that are serial killers. I like the idea, but the execution may need reworking.

10. A Cause for Celebration. Rejected more than any other story, it currently sits on the computer while I consider retiring it. The basic premise originated in the mid 90's, but the story has seen several revisions over the years. I like it because it is a character driven piece with a more subdued sense of horror. Too subdued for most markets, apparently. Ed at Sand offered some good things to say about it, but still passed.

It's What Day?

A few days ago I suddenly realized that the end of March was fast approaching. I also realized it was the deadline for about half a dozen markets I had wanted to sub to. Could I turn out anything of quality in time (does he turn out anything of quality ever you may be asking) for each one? No way, but I can try and get something sent off to two or three of them, which is what I've been busily doing since Tuesday. It helps that this is a three day weekend for me and I have very few errands to run, so I can maximize my time at the keyboard.

I also realized that I have not had a response at all in March from any of the markets I've subbed to, with the exception of the Dead Bait antho, which told me I was shortlisted back on the third. I'm getting rather nervous, wondering if I made the cut on that one or any of the others (Devil's Food). Of course, now that I've pointed this fact out, I'll be deluged with rejections.

Woo Hoo

Well, earlier today I took some photos of the office for the "reveal your man cave" thing going around, but wouldn't you know, me being a technodunce and all, I didn't have the camera settings right, so I'm gonna have to snap those pix again tomorrow.

Today at work I had to drive the oil truck rather than my fuel truck. On the fuel truck, all I do is pull a hose and pump fuel into tanks. The oil truck is much different. It involves moving a lot of 400 lb. drums, dozens of cases and pails of oil and lubricants. IT SUCKS. Factor in today's torrential rain and it made for a craptastic day. I got soaked and my muscles are sore. The only thing that made the day bearable was getting the news that Deadliest Cachalot has been shortlisted for the Dead Bait anthology. So, WOO HOO!

Now, I am taking my aching muscles to bed. Zzzzz

Off It Goes...Finally

After three weeks of solid work, Deadliest Cachalot was sent off to Dead Bait tonight. Now I wait and hope...and get to work on something new. I think I may try my hand at a shorter piece before tackling version 2 of The Transcendental Man. Since Cachalot was 8k words long, a flash story sounds rather tempting right now. That will have to wait til tomorrow, which I thankfully have off from work. Whatever happens with Cachalot, at least I feel like I accomplished something by rewriting it from scratch and not letting that computer crash get the best of me. Time right now for snacks and a late night movie. I'm thinking something with Godzilla.

Crabtastic

Finally finished Deadliest Cachalot for the second time. It ended up being quite a bit longer than the first version. Naturally, I have gone over the Dead Bait word limit by a couple hundred words, but I'm sure I can trim those and more so that the story is more concise. That will have to wait for a day or two. After a solid two weeks of having this story on the brain, I'm gonna let it sit before revising. Time to work on something else. Either version two of The Transcendental Man or something new. We'll see tomorrow.

Getting Crabby

Worked steadily on Deadliest Cachalot for Dead Bait all weekend. While not finished, I am in the home stretch. Things have gone from bad to worse to craptastic for my poor characters. Killer Sperm Whales and mutant crustaceans abound. I hope to finish it tomorrow night.

I also discovered The Haunt, a Myspace/Facebook-like social networking site created by Horror Mall and aimed for horror fans and writers. I gave up on Myspace ages ago and despite the pleading from The Other Half, never bothered with Facebook, but I may have to give this one a shot.

The Month of Sorrows

So January is over. I now have two reasons to hate the month. First, it was in January that my dog Dusty unexpectedly fell ill and died two years ago. He was only five. Of course the second reason is my recent computer crash. So bring on February, even if it is the month in which I will turn forty. January's stats are a follows: six rejections and two acceptances. My micro piece Order Up is now online at Micro 100.

I worked on Deadliest Cachalot more last night and today. Again, I have kept to a rather languid pace. Still, this rewrite should be complete by tomorrow or Monday night. Then I'll let it sit a day or two before revising. Of course, I did the same thing last time and never got the chance to revise. This time I am prepared: all my important files are now on a flash drive.

Perusing Duotrope earlier today, I saw a new listing for the Hideous Evermore Anthology. Creature themed horror? Now this sounds like something I can really get into. I've already got numerous ideas bouncing around. As for existing stories, A Cause For Celebration, my twice rejected zombieless zombie story, got sent off again today. Here's hoping that the third time is the charm.