October, one of my favorite months. Autumn, Halloween, purple skies, and magical moons. And this one is particularly nifty in that it marks the resumption of employer-sponsored group health insurance for fosteronfilm and me. Whew.
Thanks to everyone who responded to my shout out about Apex Digest‘s financial crisis and subscribed and/or entered the raffle. Due to the huge outpouring of support, Apex LIVES! Y’all are great.
Writing Stuff
New Words:
– 800 on the Japanese fantasy. And a bit of editing to tighten up the beginning. I was worried that I was losing control of it and it was spiralling out of my target word count, but I managed to accomplish a lot more in the scene I just wrote than I thought I would. I’m thinking maybe two more scenes total–climax and denouement–and I’m done. Rah.
Still no title, though . . .
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2,856 / 6,000
(47.6%) |
Received:
– 143-day personal no from Shawna McCarthy (RoF) with nice things to say and helpful comments.
– 1-day “isn’t quite what I’m looking for” with invite to submit again from the new ‘zine, Spacesuits and Sixguns.
– 21-day “enjoyed this . . . very well written . . . loved the characterization, but . . .” from Firefox News.
– 1-day “the writing is well done but . . .” from Trabuco Road.
I haven’t had a sale in over a month now. I’m beginning to jones. Wah!
Thanks for rallying the troops on the save Apex front, Ms. Foster. I have a much loved subscription and an even more loved story slated to appear in it that were both in danger of dying horrible, premature deaths.
I resent those editors unappreciative of your work even as I’m jotting down the names of their ‘zines so I can submit to them. But I don’t see you going two months. Excessive dry spells are supposed to be for lowly third tiers like myself.
Hee! As it turns out, less than an hour after I’d made this post I made a sale, and a second followed shortly thereafter. I don’t know about me being exempt from excessive dry spells, but boy am I glad this one ended!
I find it amazing how many rejections you get from people who apparently love your work, but not enough to publish it(!?) I always thought that once you were established sales wise, publications sought YOU out, and selling a story was not a problem. I guess the market today isn’t what it was in years gone by. Hang in there 🙂
“I always thought that once you were established sales wise, publications sought YOU out, and selling a story was not a problem.“
Wow, I wish! Alas, while I do get invited to submit stuff now, I still have a healthy rejection to sales ratio. These last couple sales mark my 94th and 95th, respectively. As said yesterday, “You’d think after 95 sales you’d be able to make a living doing this.” And we both had a rueful chuckle.
There’s a lot of good writers out there, and competition is fierce. Unless you’re Robert Silverberg, I’m afraid rejection’s always going to be part of this writing gig. Sigh.
Thanks for listing the markets you submit to…I’ve found a number of new ones through you. I’m curious about where you find all your markets, though!
My primary resource is Ralan.com, but I also check Duotrope fairly regularly, especially when I have a particular story that I’m looking for a market for. And I keep an eye on Speculations.
There’s a list of online markets and links at my website.
Ah, thanks. I use Ralan, too–and Duotrope a little bit–but Speculations is new to me.