The February Report

February was busy. You've all read, I'm sure, of my 2677 edits for The Saints are Dead. Yes, most of them made the book better....but whoa. Just whoa. I wrote several new stories in February ("What Julie's Dad Doesn't Know" and "The North Lantern" being my favorites) and managed my Write 1 / Sub 1 goal of a story submitted a week.

Three stories "sold" in February: "Poe's Blender" to Death Rattle, "Upon Leaving the Candy Factory" to Bourbon Penn, and "The Ballad of Arkady and Nadia" to 100 Stories for Queensland. The latter was a "sale" sale, meaning no money flowed to the writer because it is a charity antho.

On to the Big Experiment...

Because I believe in full disclosure, I present:

Well...I won't be retiring any time soon, but a few things of note:

1. One of those Bottom Feeders sales was a gift. So I sold eleven legit copies for Kindle, plus one through Smashwords.
2. February's numbers represent the most copies of The Bottom Feeders I've sold since releasing the book last April. The trend is rising from seven last month. Short story collections don't traditionally do as well as novels (in any format), but I'm not complaining.
3. The Bottom Feeders had a crazy little bounce this weekend, selling five copies between Friday and Monday. Not big numbers for some of the Kindle people, but I can't explain the bump. I'll be watching this closely. After all, it is an experiment.
   

I hope to have We are the Monsters ready by the end of March. It's a novella (35K), and they are traditionally hard to place, after all. Jekyll and Hyde are welcome to live in one skin as long as they want, because I've decided I want one thing out of writing: to tell stories.* To do this, you have to have an audience who wants to listen. Anything which puts a barricade between me and an audience is bad form (did you hear that, Hyde?). In addition, I want my "craft" to be top form so the audience keeps listening (keep subbing to those fine markets, Jekyll).

*wait...I've sort of known that all along.

And I Just Shot May Out of a Cannon

...along with Kanye West. Check out what Jeremy D. Brooks has to say on the subject. Personally, I think Kanye is an ass and I hope nobody buys his steaming pile of dog shite book. (sorry...wasn't going to go there)

So I lived in the land of short stories and flash fiction for the month. Five short stories (ranging from just above flash length to 3K), four flash fictions (two are for a "secret" project), and nada on anything longer. It felt like I'd found an old friend again, writing all those shorts.

But it's the house I want to talk about--er, summer. (sorry, I was quoting "House Taken Over" by Julio Cortázar...one of my favorite stories of all time)

I want to start laying the pieces for a horror novel for an adult audience. At this point, it feels like climbing freakin' Everest without those nice Sherpas to help. The ideas are swilling around, but I probably need to mash some together to make the plot novel-worthy. I want to outline the darn thing by the end of June (and write at least two shorts), then set to writing during the long, hot trek that is July in these parts.

That's my goal.

In the meantime, if I were to choose cover art for a collection of my short fiction, I would go "David Sedaris" (um, his latest book featured a piece by Van Gogh), and use this:

Head of a Drowned Man by Théodore Géricault

March in Review

March began fairly lamb-like and it looks to end the same.

I wrote three short stories this month: "The Watchful Eyes of Los Abuelos", "Fed by Other Than the Sun", and "Heroes Can Live Forever". The first two are solid efforts. The last needs a good deal of work. I also penned a piece of flash entitled "Inked" which needs another quick edit before it heads out to submission land. A few stories left home for the first time in March, and I hope they don't find themselves too lost out in the wide world.

During March I put the final edits to The House Eaters. Yep, the "s" is back just 'cause I like the way it sounds better than "Eater". The title works either way. Currently, I'm querying for that one. I also tinkered with Rock Gods and Scary Monsters some. More work is needed. One of those 3 AM epiphanies struck me about Rock Gods...a "now playing" list is going to accompany each chapter to help set the tone.

I sold a few shorts, most notably to Triangulation: Dark Glass and Return of the Raven. Some long standing subs came home alone (i.e., were rejected), including a 137 wait from Murky Depths. Try, try again.

Ruthless People's Magazine was kind enough to publish my dirty little "Man Bites Man" and The Black Garden was released in March.

Oh, and I tried to anger some Morlocks, but they wouldn't bite. Do you realize they have a Wikipedia page for Birkin Bags but not Permuted Press? True.

(stupid Morlocks)

February Reflection (sort of)

I'm feeling a bit like spring cleaning. I received word last night (a message that was supposed to reach me in December) that The Last Days of the Springdale Saints took another hit (and that was after a full request).

This one's going down in flames kids, and I'm going to gut it like a fish. Seriously, I'm cutting half the book. I'll keep the good parts and see if I can string it back together into something meaningful.

But last night, I finished draft one of The House Eater. Yeah, it's not plural anymore. There's only one Eater...and it doesn't even consume houses, just people. And dogs, cats, toys, books, paperclips, carpet, earthworms, homework, deodorant...well, you probably get the picture. It doesn't like fire though...or siblings with telepathic abilities.

I'm going to cheat and start in on revisions immediately, at least for the first third of the book. I changed some pretty fundamental plot elements as I wrote, and I want to square them away before putting it aside for a month or so to "age".

February saw a few acceptances including one of my favorite-titled pieces, "Lullaby, Little Monster" to Champagne Shivers. This tale marks the third appearance of Pete Archer, hobo/book dealer extraordinaire. I wrote the bulk of The House Eater in February (about 30K of a current 37) and hammered out two short stories ("Dancing Lessons" and "Come Out and Play"). After fixing a little of The House Eater, I'm going to dive into the land of short stories for a couple weeks, and then start on the vivisection of Saints.

(sound effect: snapping of surgical gloves)

Let's go to work.

A Love Letter to January

Actually, I'm pretty glad January is over. It's been cold, so cold. The kids at school are about ready to explode with cabin fever. I'm tired of dry skin and cracked hands.

Bring on the sun! Bring on spring!

But first, let me pause to reflect:

I wrote three new short stories ("Tommy of the Flood", "Empty Vessels", and "The Distillery") plus one flash piece ("Fuzzy") inspired by one of Owen's books and another flash that will remain nameless for the time being. I edited a couple other bits and launched them in to the ether.

I placed a drabble with Drabblecast, a weird flash piece with Everyday Weirdness, and a magical realism short with A cappella Zoo.

A few things were published on the web, but my favorite appearances for January landed in Monstrous from Permuted Press and Northern Haunts from Shroud.

I tinkered with Rock Gods and Scary Monsters a bit and wrote about 3.5K on The House Eaters.

In support of the small press, I took out a subscription to Murky Depths and purchased the latest edition of Black Ink Horror (#5).

Whew.

January was a good month for personal reflection, too. Thanks for all the great discussions.

I'm going to go play with my kids.

World Aids Day, Niteblade #6, November Recap...

In other words, another jumbled Monday post.

Coming of age in the 1980s in the U.S., AIDS was a fact of popular culture. I distinctly remember episodes of 21 Jump Street and Mr. Belvedere featuring AIDS related topics. My best friend's uncle died of an AIDS related illness in the early '90s. Today is World AIDS Day; see if there is a way to help.

Niteblade #6 is out today, featuring my short story, "Bait Worms". Read for free at www.niteblade.com. "What's in the box, boy?"

And now, the recap. November was very busy.

I wrote the first draft of Rock Gods and Scary Monsters (35K).

I finished the first draft of a novella that may be trunked forever (15K). ;)

Once I crested 50K, I couldn't stop myself. I wrote three shorts and two flash pieces. Writing was like a drug that kept me cruising through a rather grey month.

Needing revision:
"Behind Silent Hedges" (a little surreal ghost story)
"In Hollow Fields"
"Lullaby, Little Monster"

Out in submission land:
"Her Father's Touch"
"The Sub-Basement"

Three acceptances:
"Gun Play and Haiku in Belching Gulch" (a fun bit of escapism) - Silly Westerns
"Spare Parts" - Flashshot (due for publication 1/11/09)
"Precious Metal" - Albedo One

I think I cranked out somewhere between 60-65K in November. (I didn't think I would make Nano's 50K goal.)

I need a nap.