Tag: masochism

Home Alone

I saw The Wife off this morning on her trip to Boston to visit family. So now I’m home alone, looking at all the little things around the apartment crying out to be done: dishes, the cluttered living room, my inbox, my tickler files, the book I’m close to done with. i.e. anything other than finishing the damn story I’m working on right now.

“Take a break,” you might say. “Enjoy the sun! Have a cookout!” Already did those things, though, in small bits and pieces. But you’re right, let’s take a moment on Memorial Day to remember…

All right, I feel motivated now.

April Scorecard

I can’t believe I haven’t gotten to this. Well, I can really–I’ve been obsessed finishing up a longer short story at the expense of two stories in the editing phase and a couple of flashes that’ve been rejected that that need to be sent back out.

Oh well, in any case…

Rejections:
Submissions:
Acceptances:
Publications:
Circulating:
0
0
1
1
3

March Scorecard

Yes, I’m behind. No excuses. March has a full slate of family holidays and commitments. Still, I’ve managed to get more done in March of ’08 than I’ve had in any previous March. As measured by numbers, however, well…

Rejections:
Submissions:
Acceptances:
Publications:
Circulating:
1
2 (1 resub/1 new)
0
0
4

Oh, the Pain

Remember when I said…

Now I just have to wait for some of the cooler flash markets to reject the pieces I’ve already sent them to make room for this one. I probably won’t have to wait too long.

Well, I was right. Got the rejection email mere hours after I posted this. Unfortunately, they’re not taking stuff for another couple of weeks. No reason to wait, I figured, so the piece I wanted to send out got sent elsewhere.

Tough Love

For the past two sessions of my critique group, I’ve cheated by bringing non-genre stuff. I’ve gotten no complaints so far, but I’m starting to feel like I’m violating the group’s social contract. I’m probably commiting a more grievous offense by bringing in a piece I’ve workshopped elsewhere. Still, it paid off today.

<rationalization>
I edited a 155-word flash piece that got very favorable reviews in one workshop and one near-unanimous criticism that I tried to correct. I did, and then I brought it to today’s group. Judging from the reactions, I think I fixed it!
</rationalization>

Now I just have to wait for some of the cooler flash markets to reject the pieces I’ve already sent them to make room for this one. I probably won’t have to wait too long.

February Scorecard

I make no excuses, except to say that I did have the Andromeda Strain in my lungs for the better part of two weeks during the shortest month of the year.

Rejections:
Submissions:
Acceptances:
Publications:
Circulating:
1
1 (resub)
0
0
3

Tough Love

I haven’t posted one of these in awhile, mainly because the last session was the only one in the past three or four where I brought anything. December and January were editing months. I’ve been focusing on getting stories polished and off my plate before allowing myself to get too far on new ones.

While I didn’t bring anything this time around, I think that I did some of my best critiquing of other folks’ work this session (and last time, too) if I do say so myself. At least I didn’t hear too many dissenting voices. But that’s not even the important thing–I say this because there’s also a correlating increase in my ability to spot mistakes in my own stories.

The (temporary) downside is that it’s slowed my yet-to-be-cemented rewriting process down.

#

I’ve got two stories slated to go out this week. A couple of flash things. Fingers crossed.

January Scorecard

Last year I tried to keep a running tab of submissions, rejections, and pubs. It got to be a pain to update “whenever,” so I’m gonna do it monthly for awhile and see how that works out.

Rejections:
Submissions:
Acceptances:
Publications:
Circulating:
0
0
2
1
3

What can I say, it’s been an editing month. Not happy about the submission rate, but I’ve got time to bring that up.

EDIT: Sorry I’ve edited this 100 times, but I’ve been trying to get the fucking CSS straight.