Not Dead Yet

Okay, okay. This blog, like many a well-intentioned platform for the sharing of thoughts, has languished a bit. Doesn't mean it's dead, though.

The good news is that I sold my second short story, making me two for two in trying to sell my works (with a third still out for consideration). The slightly less good news is that it won't be published until early next year. So... the long wait. Guess I'll just have to do something to fill the time. Maybe even write some more.

The story is entitled Parking for the Apocalypse. The story was (very loosely) inspired by a work lunch downtown and the hassles involved with finding parking. A co-worker off-handedly suggested I should write a story about it. I politely nodded, never intending to do anything with it, but inspiration randomly struck a few days later and the whole thing was on paper once I had a couple free hours the following weekend. Now if only that could happen a bit more often...

Measure of Fate

My first officially published story, Measure of Fate, is now available. I'm honored to be a part of Fictionvale Episode 1. This may be my first rodeo, but I have a hunch I've been spoiled by the quality and professionalism of the folks behind Fictionvale. It has been a great experience end to end.

I'd like to send out a few quick thanks, the first of which goes to Mark Palise, my indispensable sounding board and first line of editing. It's awesome having a best friend who shares a passion for reading and writing and who just happens to also be an English teacher. Second, to the Slug Tribe writers group, for their excellent critique of this story. And, again, to the folks at Fictionvale - Venessa and Serena in particular - who worked me over pretty thoroughly in the editing process. (All for the best, I assure you.)

So, it's out in the wild. I encourage you to check it out. Episode 1 was open to all genres, so there's something for everyone. You can find it at Amazon or in a number of other formats here.

Stepping into Submission

In recent years, most of my writing has been centered around novel-length work, and none of that has been edited sufficiently yet to consider shopping around. Since joining the Slug Tribe writers' group where I've had the pleasure of reading and critiquing many dozens of quality short stories, however, I got the urge to dabble a bit in that format. One of those efforts finally reached my level of satisfaction to deem it worthy of trying to find it a home.

I've found the trickiest bit of getting that first story out there is figuring out where to try to submit it. The various markets all tend to have certain types of stories they buy - not just by genre but tone and style and such. I, unfortunately, haven't done a whole lot of reading in these short story markets, so there was a lot of poking around and consuming to be done. I think I read more short stories in the last month than I had in the past few years.

I finally settled on one for my first effort and the story is officially out. Now I get to sit back and wait for my first rejection letter. This all has a very rite-of-passage feel to it.