(no subject)
One of the members of a writer’s board that I frequent just had several stories accepted to various publications - some online, some in print. That came as a huge surprise to me, as I’ve read some of the stories and, although they were interesting and amusing, I thought the writing style was pedantic and staggered, and they tended to be preachy. Nevertheless, they’re being published, and so suddenly I’m motivated. If that person can get things published, hell, someone’s got to want my stuff.
Of course, getting things published involves getting them in order and sending them out, which is a fair amount of work. Stories are like software - they’re never truly done, I can sit and tweak them for weeks. But I’m going to suppress the urge to do that. I’ve found a number of paying journals that look for historic fiction, so my immediate task is to polish up “Popple” and submit it.
“Wooden Nickel” is already out, submitted to a contest put on by one of the more respected Web magazines. I probably should send that out to a few others as well.
I’ve started another story, using the same character as the protagonist in “Popple.” I play around with the idea of turning this project into a book - after all, Amy Tan’s “Joy Luck Club” was originally a series of related short stories. I even have a bit of an outline for it in my head, but getting it down on paper is the hard part. I have a wealth of information about the era - 1940’s logging camp - at my fingertips. My Gram sent me home with a pile of pictures yesterday, which I’m scanning and retouching for my own personal archives. I also talked to the archeologist at the Forest Service who interviewed her, and he’s sending on both her latest interview on tape, and a few others from the same era. All in all, he has over sixty interviews on tape, and I'm welcome to go dig through them anytime I want.
Included in the group of photographs are portraits of my grandmother’s great-grandparents, my great-great-great grandparents. It makes my head spin to see them. Despite the age of the photos and their chronological age (both were quite old when the photos were taken) I see family resemblances. I’ve been trying to date the pictures. If we make the assumption that each woman in the family was at least 20 when she had the child in my family tree, that puts these people as being born in the 1840s at the latest. If we assume they’re about 60 in the pictures, the pictures must date to around 1900.
I probably should put those jpegs up here, what do you think? Sure, that’s a good idea.
Great-great-great grandmother Esther Shepherd
Great-great-great grandfather Brice Shepherd
Of course, getting things published involves getting them in order and sending them out, which is a fair amount of work. Stories are like software - they’re never truly done, I can sit and tweak them for weeks. But I’m going to suppress the urge to do that. I’ve found a number of paying journals that look for historic fiction, so my immediate task is to polish up “Popple” and submit it.
“Wooden Nickel” is already out, submitted to a contest put on by one of the more respected Web magazines. I probably should send that out to a few others as well.
I’ve started another story, using the same character as the protagonist in “Popple.” I play around with the idea of turning this project into a book - after all, Amy Tan’s “Joy Luck Club” was originally a series of related short stories. I even have a bit of an outline for it in my head, but getting it down on paper is the hard part. I have a wealth of information about the era - 1940’s logging camp - at my fingertips. My Gram sent me home with a pile of pictures yesterday, which I’m scanning and retouching for my own personal archives. I also talked to the archeologist at the Forest Service who interviewed her, and he’s sending on both her latest interview on tape, and a few others from the same era. All in all, he has over sixty interviews on tape, and I'm welcome to go dig through them anytime I want.
Included in the group of photographs are portraits of my grandmother’s great-grandparents, my great-great-great grandparents. It makes my head spin to see them. Despite the age of the photos and their chronological age (both were quite old when the photos were taken) I see family resemblances. I’ve been trying to date the pictures. If we make the assumption that each woman in the family was at least 20 when she had the child in my family tree, that puts these people as being born in the 1840s at the latest. If we assume they’re about 60 in the pictures, the pictures must date to around 1900.
I probably should put those jpegs up here, what do you think? Sure, that’s a good idea.
Great-great-great grandmother Esther Shepherd
Great-great-great grandfather Brice Shepherd