Hobkin was disinclined to sleep early this AM. And he was disinclined to let me sleep either. There was much walking over me, hopping up beside me and then immediately wanting down, and then when I didn’t move over for him, much pawing at my head. Not the best way to start off the week.
Writing Stuff:
Up to Thirty-two critiques on “The Tanuki-Kettle.” Yow. And it’s only Monday. Two more days to go. At this rate, I might top forty again. Can’t really run stats on that many so I’m rewriting as I go through the critiques. I’ve managed to hack it down to 2900 words, which is still 900 more than Cricket’s GL maximum. I’ve sold a story just shy of 2.5K to them before, so I hope they’ll cut me some slack, but I do realize it’s a lot of slack I’m asking for.
The next WotF quarter begins next month. With my two RoF sales, plus “Running on Two Legs” coming out in the next issue of The Third Alternative, I don’t think I can send anything to them anymore. *sniffle* The end of an era and a milestone. If I don’t win with the two entries they’ve currently got (for this quarter and last), it looks like that’s a feather I’ll never get to wear in my hat. Not holding my breath on either of the stories, so I’m pretty much resigning myself to the cold, hard fact that I don’t seem to write stories that are winners with them. They’ll throw me quarter- and semi-finalist bones, but I’m destined never to make the money round. Foo.
And my eBook of Ascendancy of Blood is now the #4 Fantasy Bestseller at Fictionwise! It’s preceded by two Terry Brooks eBooks, and one by Keith R.A. DeCandido! Yippee skipee!
What do you do with 32 critiques? It seems almost as if too much to work with.
And as for WoTF, couldn’t you keep subbing to them until the stories themselves are published, which might be an entire year from now?
“What do you do with 32 critiques?“
Mostly I read through them all and look for trends. And, of course, I take the advice which I immediately agree with (line edits, typos, etc.) Twenty is pretty much my ideal, but I’ve gotten 40+ crits before at Critters. It can be overwhelming, but still useful.
“And as for WoTF, couldn’t you keep subbing to them until the stories themselves are published, which might be an entire year from now?“
Well, the thing is, I’ve already got two WotF publications under my belt: one in Cicada and one in a Phobos Winners antho. The Third Alternative issue with “Running on Two Legs” comes out during the next quarter. I think that would make me ineligible.
Err, I meant “WotF qualifying pro-publications.”
I’ve got something in at WotF for this quarter as well. I don’t know why I don’t submit to them more often.
Up to Thirty-two critiques on “The Tanuki-Kettle.”
And mine should hit your e-mail box soon!
I’ve managed to hack it down to 2900 words, which is still 900 more than Cricket’s GL maximum.
I really think there’s a lot of room for sentence-level work on this one. I noticed plenty of passages I thought could be condensed, though few that could be cut outright, IMO. I think you have a good chance at paring it down to 2,500 words or so.
“Pennyfer” will be up again this week — now with 100% more butt jokes! 😀
Re: The Tanuki-Kettle – I’m sure that if you query Cricket beforehand, with the number of stories you have sold to them, they would tell you to send it regardless the size. You seem to have a good relationship with the editors there.
Gratz on the Ascendancy sales.
Thanks!
“ I’m sure that if you query Cricket beforehand . . . they would tell you to send it regardless“
I’m going to send it sans query and just cross my fingers. The Cricket people don’t like short fiction queries. They say explicitly in their guidelines “PLEASE DO NOT QUERY FIRST.”
I’m not sure that TTA counts as a pro market by WotF standards (their circulation requirements are significantly higher than SFWA’s). It might be worth checking before you rule yourself out.
Patrick Samphire
Sage advice. I shall follow it. Thanks!