A Week of Writing: 2/14/22 to 2/20/22
One more week of writerly doings. Let’s take a look.
Words to Write By
This week’s quote comes from George Orwell
“Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout with some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.”
―
Now, this quote seems dire, I’ll admit, but it brings up an important point: the act of creation is not necessarily a joyful one for all authors. There are a number of famous examples. You only have to do a quick Google search to find the authors who struggle mightily with the process. You’ll be surprised at some of the big names (I was). Me? I’m somewhere in between. I have my moments where I enjoy the process, and then I have moments where it’s absolute torture. Revision, especially, is a demon-plagued experience. Something I touched on in my last weekly update. Still, those demons do drive you on, and they keep you pumping out the words and the stories. That said, I wouldn’t mind a visit from the authorial angels every now and then. The demons have kind of overstayed their welcome. 🙂
Short Story Submissions
Just two more submission sent last week.
- Submissions Sent: 2
- Rejections: 1
- Acceptances: 0
- Publications: 0
- Shortlist/Hold: 0
- Withdrawn: 0
- Pending: 14
- 2022 Total Subs: 14
Two more subs last week gives me 14 for the year. I need 4 more by the end of the month to stay on pace for 100. Doable, but it’s a short month. If I miss it by a sub or two, I can make it up in March. Only one rejection last week, a 206-day personal no that offered some good feedback. I’m gonna let that feedback marinate, and then revise the piece. Other than that, it was a pretty slow week for subs. I did sign a contract with On Spec Magazine for my story “The Downer”, and I got paid, so that was a nice little bonus.
Novel
Well, I’ve come to a decision. I’m going to put Hell to Play on the back burner and return to a novel I started back in 2016 called Hell’s Aquarium. I’ve got about 30,000 words of the book, and last week I polished up the first chapter for a first-chapter contest. I really like how it turned out, and I’m excited about diving back into the novel. Not sure when I’m gonna start that. Next week, likely. This week, I’m gonna read through what I’ve already written, go over the outline, and put together a plan of attack. I really am looking forward to returning to this novel, and that, friends, is a good feeling. 🙂
The Rejectonomicon
I want to again draw your attention to my new Q&A column, THE REJECTONOMICON, over at Dark Matter Magazine and invite you to submit questions about submissions, rejections, and writing in general.
The first article went up a few weeks ago, and we’ll be doing these on a bi-monthly basis. Check out that first article by clicking the link in the banner below.
So, how do you submit questions to me? Easy. Here are the submission guidelines.
- Email your question to questions@rejectomancy.com.
- Put REJECTONOMICON in the subject line of the email.
- Write your question in the body of the email. Try to keep it relatively brief. Around a paragraph.
- Please let me know if you’d like your first name published along with your question or if you’d like to remain anonymous.
- Please restrict your questions to the subjects of writing, submissions, and rejections. Those are pretty broad categories, though, and I’d be happy to field questions about my past career as a TTRPG game designer/editor and media tie-in writer.
- I might make very slight edits to your questions but only to fix obvious typos and whatnot.
- If I choose your question for an installment of THE REJECTONOMICON, I’ll respond via email and let you know.
Got it? Then send me those questions! 🙂
Goals
Goals this week are finish up short stories, send submissions, and come up with a game plan for Hell’s Aquarium.
That was my week. How was yours?
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Night Walk & Other Dark Paths
Acts of War: Flashpoint
Acts of War: Aftershock
Acts of War: Stormbreak
Aeryn Rudel's Rejectomancy 