Happy Christmas to all!
Or, whatever holiday you celebrate, or, er, don't. May your day be filled with joy and happiness.
We're...not actually celebrating Christmas today. We've been traveling for two weeks and haven't had time to shop for each other. So, we're going to have our own Christmas in (probably) a couple of weeks or so.
So, in lieu of a "LOOT!" post, this will be a "This Was My Year in Writing" post. Yay?
I've had:
32 rejections
9 stories making the rounds (one of which I've pulled from the rounds because it sucks), and another on the way
3 entries to Writers of the Future, with another on the way
2 Honorable Mentions/Quarterfinal placements at Writers of the Future
2 stories passed out of slush (that I know of), one of which was ultimately rejected, and one of which is still being considered
1 acceptance, payment, and publication (YAY!)
1 "I didn't much like this" review for said story
1 "didn't hold, nice writing" rejection from John Joseph Adams at Fantasy and Science Fiction--this same story got the aforementioned Honorable Mention at WotF
1 rewrite request (which improved the story immeasurably)
I've written approximately 48,000 words this year, in stories with ENDs at the bottom. I've got maybe another couple of thousand words in the "Stories that may or may not ever be actually finished" collection.
I've put "ENDs" at the bottom of ten stories, two short of where I wanted to be. One of those stories (Horse Needs Clothes) may never actually be "completed" as such. It's an interesting idea, but I've never really known what to do with it. Another one (A&tS) has gone out a couple of times, but there's something fundamentally wrong with it that I can't put my finger on--so, until I can, it sits on my hard drive and stews in my brain. A third (BearFic), is going to be polished up in the next day or so and sent out to WotF.
Speaking of the BearFic, I realized over the last few days that if my bear is a sentient creature, then killing off the monks may not be such a good idea, as satisfying as it feels. Murder is murder, and it's not exactly self-defense when a 900-lb bear squashes a bunch of unarmed people into the mud, no matter what they were planning on doing with him. So, I need a workaround for that. I'll probably retire to the front room a little later and see what I can come up with...
All in all, not as productive a year as I might have liked, but better than nothing. And, yes, more satisfying than writing fanfic.
We're...not actually celebrating Christmas today. We've been traveling for two weeks and haven't had time to shop for each other. So, we're going to have our own Christmas in (probably) a couple of weeks or so.
So, in lieu of a "LOOT!" post, this will be a "This Was My Year in Writing" post. Yay?
I've had:
I've written approximately 48,000 words this year, in stories with ENDs at the bottom. I've got maybe another couple of thousand words in the "Stories that may or may not ever be actually finished" collection.
I've put "ENDs" at the bottom of ten stories, two short of where I wanted to be. One of those stories (Horse Needs Clothes) may never actually be "completed" as such. It's an interesting idea, but I've never really known what to do with it. Another one (A&tS) has gone out a couple of times, but there's something fundamentally wrong with it that I can't put my finger on--so, until I can, it sits on my hard drive and stews in my brain. A third (BearFic), is going to be polished up in the next day or so and sent out to WotF.
Speaking of the BearFic, I realized over the last few days that if my bear is a sentient creature, then killing off the monks may not be such a good idea, as satisfying as it feels. Murder is murder, and it's not exactly self-defense when a 900-lb bear squashes a bunch of unarmed people into the mud, no matter what they were planning on doing with him. So, I need a workaround for that. I'll probably retire to the front room a little later and see what I can come up with...
All in all, not as productive a year as I might have liked, but better than nothing. And, yes, more satisfying than writing fanfic.