Revolving Door...with complications

I always try to get back up on the horse right away, if possible. So tonight, I sat down and re-edited "Woman is Cipher is Woman." It's still a good story, and it improves with each editing, I think. Anyhow, I'm happy with how it got re-edited, so I fired it off to Semaphore Magazine, a literary mag out of New Zealand that I mentioned earlier. The story still fits with their desire for detective stories/fantasy, so we'll see how it's received. In some ways, "Woman is Cipher" is a more mature story, seeing how it's gone through more revisions.

But here's the tricky part--I'm also asking the editor of Semaphore to release "In Plain Sight" back to me. Reason: I want to clean it up, edit it some more, and then submit it to Andromeda Spaceways, since I feel that it's really a better match for their style, anyway.

So things have gotten a bit complicated, and at this point, I'm depending on the good will of the editor over at Semaphore. If she gets mad and rejects both, then I'm sort of back at square one, but at least I'll have achieved half of my objective.

A couple of new projects on the docket

I can't give too many details at this point, but it looks like I'm going to be getting involved soon in a couple of larger projects in addition to my continued fiction writing.

One of the projects is writing for and contributing in other ways to a startup literary magazine. There are lots of details to be worked out on this one, of course, such as where it'll be published, how contributors will be solicited, etc. While I'm not the idea man behind it, I certainly like the concept, and am more than willing to be on board with it. I'll be working on a short story to contribute to the mag (which looks like it'll be issued quarterly, with each issue clustered around a particular theme) once I get my detective story done. The first ish will be out in December or January.

Also, I'm going to one of two editors (so far) working on ghostwriting/editing a book over the next year. The book, a non-fiction piece, which will end up being about 50,000-75,000 words long, will be an non-fiction historical account, told via linked biographical sketches. If that all sounds vague, it needs to be at this point. I may elaborate more on it in the future, if appropriate.

In any case, I've got my work cut out for me, but I'm definitely looking forward to it.

Flash Fiction Contest

In about two hours' time, I brainstormed a story (based on space monkeys no less), wrote my first draft, typed it, edited it and then sent it via the internet off to hopefully be published. It was for a flash fiction contest that RayGunRevival is running right now through the end of July. The contest winners will be published in their August 15th issue. I like the little story I wrote and was pleasantly surprised how quickly it fell together. Anyway, we'll see how it goes.

Spruced Up and Out the Door

I spent the last few days dusting off "Elbow Room," a likeable (at least in my view) little story that I originally submitted way back when to ASIM. It made it to the third round before being fired back to me. Anyway, I recently re-read it, saw a lot of good stuff there (again, IMO), and decided to give it a fresh go-over of editing and then send it on to a magazine I've discovered more recently: Ray Gun Revival,a golden-era sci-fi magazine that specializes in space opera and similar stories within that science fiction sub-genre. They also published my first published short story, so perhaps they'll be more amenable than many towards this effort. We'll see.

Anyway, it's on its way, and sometime soon, I'll hear what they think.

I'll keep you posted!

Edited "Sinking NeoVenice"

Before bed, I worked for around an hour or two on "Sinking NeoVenice," and got it to first draft stage. Now I just need to enter the changes into Scrivener and then I'll export the finished draft and send it around to my readers to get some feedback. 

"Elbow Room" re-edited

While I was at the airport today waiting for the plane containing my wife and kids to take off, I sat down at a café and re-edited "Elbow Room." Lots of good stuff there, but it definitely could use some work, mainly in the areas of characterization and believability of some scenes/events. Overall, the story itself is sound, and I think it'll definitely be publishable when all is said and done. I hope to work on rewrites and additions for it tomorrow. I'll either work on that or "Sinking NeoVenice" or both, depending on what other errands I need to run.

Fortunately, these are both things I can do on the run if I remember to take my notebook with me and printed-out drafts of the stories. I'm trying to develop the habit of working anywhere I am, or wherever I can grab a few spare moments. This helps make sure my workflow stays consistent. I'm not the best at this, but I think I am getting better.

Finished editing "Woman is Cipher"

After working last night 'till 1:00 a.m. and then this morning after I got up, I'm pretty much done with my final edits to 'Woman is Cipher" 

Now I've just got to make a decision where I want to send it for publication. More on that subject later. 

Editing "Woman is Cipher is Woman"

Okay, right now I've got Scrivener open and am working on my final edit for "Woman is Cipher is Woman." Wow, I've been working on this particular story now for around two years, but it's gone through a lot of iterations since the beginning. Also, I haven't been working on it steadily, either. I think I laid it aside for around a year or so after I initially finished it. One of my readers suggested that I drag it out of mothballs and so I did. It basically resembles the original, except with some major revisions. Anyway, after this last round of edits, I'll send it out and hopefully get it published!

Busy, busy, busy...

Okay, I'm pretty busy right now. At the moment, I'm working on three different short stories in various stages. I've got "Woman is Cipher is Woman" in final draft phase after getting it back from my readers. I'm also trying to finish my first draft for "Sinking NeoVenice" and am working up the zero draft for a short story that I'm tenatively calling "Firewater."

My plan is submit the first two for publication and the last will be turned into a screenplay for a short film a friend of mine is doing.

So lots of stuff going on.