A Good Swift Kick

Goals.

They've been missing from my writing life. Good, targeted goals. Goals with dates, word counts, submissions deadlines...

I need some goals. I need them to be public so I can't slack.

Here goes:

1. Finish edits on Good Deeds (a short thriller) and publish by Monday (2/20/12).
2. Finish writing a second short thriller (Switch) and publish by the end of March.
3. Submit one short story (or flash fiction) each month. I have several started which need finished. 
4. Finish writing the irreverent vampire novella I started last fall. It's fun. And bloody. I will be done with the first draft by the end of the school year.
5. Write the third and "final" installment of The Sons of Chaos. It's going to be a cold one. I'd like to finish this by the end of the school year as well.

There. Now I have to do these things. 

__________

Speaking of things one has to do, how about reading the latest Penny Dreadnought? It's only a buck for Kindle:

The Abominable Gentlemen build four worlds only to destroy them in this apocalypse-themed issue of Penny Dreadnought. Witness four unique visions of the end in:

“Precious Metal” by Aaron Polson
“Only the Lonely” by Iain Rowan
“The New Words” by Alan Ryker
“He” by James Everington

Delicious.

2011: A Writing Odyssey

Don't forget the review contest...entries aren't due until the end of the month, but plan ahead, 'kay? Right now, the entrants have a 1 in 3 chance of winning. Make it harder for them.

Okay...on to my goals for 2011...

What I can do:

1. Always have at least one story in front of a pro paying market. Right now, I have two. I plan on adding another by the end of the week.

2. Sub one new story each week (Write 1/Sub 1). I plan to submit "The Good Daughter" this week.

3. Finish Borrowed Saints. I aborted the weekly updates last fall because I needed more time to edit. Will this happen? I don't know. But it is a goal.

4. Finish How We Die in a Hungry Town. I need to edit, edit, edit. I have a self-imposed deadline for this.

5. Write one review each month for Skull Salad. Minimum.



What I'd like to happen in 2011:

1. Sell at least one more story to a pro paying market. I need one more sale of 1,800 words or more to make "active" level for the HWA. I'd like that.

2. I'd like to sell a book. Right now, I have How We Die in a Hungry Town...hmmm...

2010 In Review

Hey, before you read all this goal-setting ramble, hop over to Linger Fiction for a peek at their first issue and my short story (editor's choice, even), "A Game of Lost Boys".

Last year, I started with the following "What I can do" goals (along with how I did in bold):

1. Always have at least one story in front of a pro paying market. Mostly a success. Of course I've had a story on "hold" at a pro market for about five months...does that count?

2. Finish my final pass of Loathsome, Dark, and Deep and have it ready to query/submit in February. (Get on this one, eh?) Um, so I win here, right?

3. Write my fifth novel*--a ghost/suspense/YA thing with no title but one hell of a first line:

When I was younger, I imagined numerous ways to kill my sister just to see if she'd come back and haunt me. Written. Sitting unfinished (and unedited in large part). Doing Write 1/Sub 1 this year, I probably won't have time to write another novel, but I can finish this one, right?

4. Write at least one high quality story a month (or 12/year). I've gotten better at letting my stories "age" before editing. I'll do even better this year. I win. "The House was Never a Castle" sat for three months before final edits and revision, eventually selling to Shimmer. Yay!

5. Buy something from the small press every month. And read it. And review it for Skull Salad. More than one would be sweet. Fail. I bought at least twelve small press items (including subscriptions to three mags), but haven't managed to do the reviews. Thank goodness some other good peeps are helping out at Skull Salad.

I would like the following to happen as well, but these items require outside "assistance":

1. Land an agent/sell a book. I sold two books and sent out two query letters to agents. I'm kind of sour on the agenting front, to tell the truth.

2. Sell another story to a pro paying market. Huzzah! I technically sold two: "Wanting It" (forthcoming in Shock Totem) and "Different Strings" which won the Whidbey Writers Workshop Students' Choice Award for October...of course I never received the prize money...hmmmmm.

So where do I go from here? Tune in next week to find out. ;)

And HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Goals 2010 and Other Updates

I suppose I need to put together a "goals" post or else I won't have anything upon which to reflect at the end of the year. Make sense?

Just like last year, there are things I want out of 2010. Some I can control; some I can't.

What I can do:

1. Always have at least one story in front of a pro paying market.

2. Finish my final pass of Loathsome, Dark, and Deep and have it ready to query/submit in February. (Get on this one, eh?)

3. Write my fifth novel*--a ghost/suspense/YA thing with no title but one hell of a first line:

When I was younger, I imagined numerous ways to kill my sister just to see if she'd come back and haunt me.

4. Write at least one high quality story a month (or 12/year). I've gotten better at letting my stories "age" before editing. I'll do even better this year.

5. Buy something from the small press every month. And read it. And review it for Skull Salad. More than one would be sweet.

I would like the following to happen as well, but these items require outside "assistance":

1. Land an agent/sell a book.

2. Sell another story to a pro paying market.

Speaking of that pro-rate sale, my first such sale is to Blood Lite 2, an anthology of humorous horror from the HWA edited by Kevin J. Anderson. The story: "The Unfortunate Persistence of Harold Francis Beamish". Why I'm stoked: exposure. Pocket Books is the publisher which means Blood Lite 2 will find its way to many bookshelves in genuine brick-and-mortar stores. I'm glad I took the chance and subbed.

Oh, and things are coming along with The House Eaters. My editor sent a "head's up" email that she was about halfway through. All smiles here.

Enjoy your week...and ignore the post-holiday blahs.

*good God...fifth novel?

Writing 2009 In Review

I just revisited last year's goals/"resolutions". My goals and how I did:

1. Always have one story in front of a pro-paying market. Right now I have six...granted, three are flash pieces, but I did receive a rewrite request on one longer piece. Still waiting.

2. Finish Rock Gods and Scary Monsters and query that sucker by year's end. Done and done. Still waiting. I currently have two fulls out.

3. Write The House Eaters. Um, done.

4. Write at least one high-quality story a month. Well...I averaged more than one a month. Quality? That's for someone else to decide. I've become a better writer, that's for sure.

5. Give myself some breaks. Check. (Actually, I need to get my lazy butt to work)

Now there were two items on the list that needed "assistance" (i.e., I wasn't in total control).

1. Land an agent/sell a book. Agent, no. A few close calls, but nil. Sell a book...check: The House Eaters to Virtual Tales.

2. Sell a story to a pro paying market. Until three days ago, it didn't look like this would happen...but I did land my first pro-rate sale last weekend. More on this later (trying to keep the cat in the bag for now...poor kitty). I'm thrilled, of course.

So all in all, I did okay. Some other highlights include:

• Reading the first reviews of my writing (the very first was for "A Plague from the Mud" at Horror Drive-in.com--and it was positive).
• Sales to Nossa Morte, Murky Depths, Necrotic Tissue...all markets I'd tried and tried and tried.
• Seeing sweet books like Monstrous, Northern Haunts, and Harvest Hill in print. Hell, seeing Monstrous on a shelf at Borders (with my name on the back...WTF?) was pretty effing cool.
• A growing circle of bloggy-people with whom to share successes and process set-backs. Y'all are awesome.

A pretty darn good year, I 'spose. I'm sure I can scrounge up goals for next year, but for now, I'm out. Have a good New Year's Eve. Stay safe.

The Dream

Or delusion. I guess it depends on your perspective.

After yesterday's post, I thought I needed a little introspection. What drives me?

Let's start with some history. I once was an art student. Well, okay...art therapy. I wanted to work with troubled kids, make some art, express--all that. Then "they" started telling me what to make (note the difference between what and how). This is where my punk rock sensibility came into play. (it's small, but in there)

I'm all for teaching. But what is different than how, any way you look at it.

So I quit. If I wanted to art, I would art on my own time, doing what I loved. There was no therapy in producing for someone else. Maybe I regret my decision a little. Maybe not.

Now I write, and my life is goverened by a simple cost-benefits analysis, even if I don't conciously think about it. (all of our lives are...and most of us never think about it) I spend an enormous amount of time writing. I don't watch much TV and a lot less films than I used to. I don't play video games anymore. (Yeah, I used to really love video games) And I'm not paid all that well for my writing, if anything.

So where's the benefit for all that cost in time and effort (and heartache before I numbed to rejection)?

I'm doing what I want. I'm making stories. I play with words and worlds and make awful (or wonderful) things happen which stretch beyond what ordinary life has to offer.

There are other little benefits, too. Seeing my name (even if it's spelled wrong) in a review. An accpetance. (especially from a long sought-after market like Nossa Morte or Murky Depths) Publication.

But creation trumps all of those others. All humans have a drive to create. Look at the collective sum of human culture for the past few thousand years. Sometimes, we destroy because we haven't found the proper avenue for that drive. But I'll always take the '+' over the '-'. It's too easy to fall into the snark spiral.

This is the dream: to continue and create while not letting "them" take away the wonder and drive to do so. In more concrete terms (and I'm stealing a bit from Rebecca Nazar here), I want to write and publish as much quality work as I can before I die, staying true to myself in the process while continuing to "hone my craft". I want people to be happy they read something with my name attached and know I was happy creating it.

Get out the crackers 'cause I've given you plenty of cheese.

Because I Need Some Direction...

I've made some goals for April.

Rock Gods and Scary Monsters needs some work. I felt like it was finished, but it isn't nearly as tight as The House Eaters. Different kind of book, sure, but The House Eaters moves along. It has mass and momentum. I want to rework the beginning of Rock Gods and give it a "grabs the reader by the throat and doesn't let go" opening. I'm also toying with the idea of listing a song from Elliot's playlist with each chapter. His ex-girlfriend is going to show up, too, acting as a bit of a siren. The book is definitely high concept (effects of war on the family, bildungsroman, all that), and I want it to be as sparkly as possible.

So I want the book finished by the end of the month. I'd like to start querying in May.

On the short story front, I have one flash that needs to be edited and sent and one short story I'd like to release to the wild in the next few weeks. According to my resolutions, I need one solid short story written this month. I think I can handle that. If I have time, I may start tinkering with a new work of longer fiction. This one is straight horror.

The bottom line: I want to refocus on longer fiction. I will see a book in print someday, but only if I do the work to make it happen.