A Week of Writing: 8/9/21 to 8/15/21

Another week gone by. Here’s how I did.

Words to Write By

This week’s quote comes from one my favorite sci-fi writers Joe Haldeman.

“I think any writer keeps going back to some basic theme. Sometimes it’s autobiographical. I guess it usually is.”

—Joe Haldeman

I agree with Joe here, and moreover, I think when you figure out what that basic theme is, it’s a big step in your development of a personal style. I have an inkling what my basic theme is, and there are definitely some character types that seem to pop up in my work as protagonists. Most are folks with personal demons of some kind, sometimes self-inflicted or at least self-sustaining, that colors both their place in the world and the decisions they make. My characters tend to start at the bottom of a hole and must dig their way out, while also trying to understand what got them into trouble in the first place. Is that autobiographical? Maybe. Probably. I’m still figuring it out, but I think I might be on the right track.

Short Story Submissions

After last week, I came to a screeching halt in submission land.

• Submissions Sent: 1
• Rejections: 1
• Acceptances: 0
• Publications: 0
• Shortlist: 1
• Pending: 15
• 2021 Total Subs: 67

A very quiet week for submissions, and I only managed one new one. Still, I’m at 67 for the year, and making good progress toward 100. I’d like to get 5 more subs out by the end of the month to maintain that comfortable pace. That said, that one new submission meant I had to finish an old story (one I started over seven years ago), which is great since I haven’t completed a short story in a while. I got one form rejection and one shortlist notification and that’s it for the week. I seem to be in a bit of a lull with submission responses, but I expect a bunch to come through in the next couple of weeks.

The Novella

Effectively Wild is through my critique partners, and with a few minor tweaks, they have pronounced it good. The revisions will be simple on this one, and my readers both agreed I was writing in my element here. That element being classis monsters and baseball. I expect to have a draft ready to to submit this week, but where to submit? There are a handful of pro markets that will take novellas, and I’ll try them first, but that’s a long shot. I think a better option for me is to submit Effectively Wild to some of the small presses that publish standalone novellas. Think I might get more traction there. In any case, I’m about to find out.

Goals

Finish up the revisions of Effectively Wild and get it out the door for submission. Then, as always, write more and submit more.

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That was my week. How was yours?