23 posts tagged “submissions”

Absolutely no joy from Podcastle. Off to Weird Tales you go, Reginald.

Reginald didn't make it. He's now winging his way to PodCastle.

I realised that I hadn't sent anything off in forever, so I subbed Indigenous Species to Pseudopod. It's the best story I have that isn't intended for a specific pub, so off it went. It says they're more interested in tragedy than comedy, and that they'd prefer something without standard horror tropes such as zombies.

And I've sent them a funny zombie story. Still, I'm hoping that the tone will be enough. Also, I'm hoping that they'll just accept it because it's a funny zombie story. How can you not like funny zombie stories?

Also, after seen Mad Tante's post, I'm considering trying Script Frenzy this year. I have no idea why. I have no interest at all in scriptwriting, because, frankly, I suck. And I like description.

But I'm considering doing a Susan & Mitchell script, because I love writing their dialogue. Also, I'd just be writing it for me, so I could throw in as many giant sloths and Lovecraftian horrors as I wanted.

Hmm.

So, I didn't win anything in that competition, but that doesn't surprise me. I was trying to write in my second language, and I was up against real lit students. The free books would have been nice, but alas. It was not meant to be.

Tonight I sent off Stories My Dad Told Me Which May Or May Not Be True, which I am just going to refer to as Stories from now on because it's a bloody long title. It's for the Permuted Press giant creatures anthology, and I'm curious to see if I'll get rejected straight away. It's probably not what they were expecting from a tale with giant animals in it - or maybe it is. Who knows? Time will tell.

So, I sent off the short story for that Christmas competition. No idea when you're supposed to hear back - I'll just keep checking the paper that was running the thing. I'm not counting on winning anything, but it's good to stay on top of things. At least I know it'll be a less than four week turnaround - Christmas is fast approaching, after all.

I wrote another short story today! Based on a story my Dad told me. It's for the giant anthology over at Permuted Press. I had pointed out that based on the description I gave it's rather similar to Big Fish. I honestly didn't even think of that while I was writing it, because although the beginning may be somewhat similar, the actual meat of the story is different entirely. Homicidal bikers ftw.

Anyway, that needs to be run through the editing machine before it can be sent off. I'll keep working on other submissions for the thing in the mean time, for if/when this one gets rejected outright. It's a rather challenging theme. After all, there are only so may variations on the OMG GIANT ANIMAL/PERSON/MONSTER theme.

It feels good to be writing short stories again. Woot!

So, I was farting about on Wikipedia because I couldn't think of anything to write. I came across E's page and then an idea crawled into my head and started to grow.

Now I have a very short story (about 700 words) which is depressing and optimistic at the same time. Right now it's in English (so I can easily incorporate it into my NaNo). I'll enlist a native speaker to help me translate it into Dutch.

There's a rather large chance that I'll also write some other shorts for this contest, then pick the one I think is most suited to this 'market'. If I get anything out of this, I will be an extremely happy bunny. I'm not going to hold my breath, because Leiden is well known for its liberal arts programs - they tend to attract writerly types. But still, this will be the first time I submit anything that's not in English, which is pretty fun.

Oh, also, the winner gets their piece published in the University of Leiden weekly newspaper, Mare. Even better. Still, I'm not going to hold my breath. It's just another submission, after all.

I've found a new way to motivate myself into writing. What is it, you may ask? Why, it's 250 euros worth of book vouchers!

The University of Leiden are having a competition. Whoever writes the best University / student-related Christmas story (less than 2500 words) wins 250 euros worth of book vouchers. The second and third place entries get 75 and 50 euros worth of vouchers, respectively.

It has to be in Dutch, but that's okay. And I'll just incorporate it into my NaNo, so I won't have to feel guilty about wasting words. It's a glorious, glorious thing.

Sent it off to Podcastle. I received a comment from Rachel, the editor of Podcasle that it's okay to send it straight on to Podcastle. Just did that, am about to send Escape Pod an email to let them know, just in case.

Editors keep coming to my Vox. That's pretty awesome.

Having polished it up, I decided to send TSP off to Aberrant Dreams. Now, I've sent this story out most out of everything I've written, so I don't mind that it takes AD anywhere from one to five months to get back to you.

Just clicked on 'send', time to forget this thing even exists.

I realised today that I don't send out as much stuff as I should. I need to go through my bookmarks again, see the markets that I can send my stuff to. Sending stuff out once every two or three weeks isn't enough.

Of course, part of it is that I don't feel like my work is up to scratch yet, but hey. I just need to write better, and that'll come with practise.

Anyhow, I sent off Infected Girl to Graveside Tales, who are doing a Lycanthrope-themed anthology. And I happened to have a werewolf story lying around. I remembered Mlijnhu saying that he enjoyed reading it, so I polished it up and sent it off.

Why yes, me and Marijn do indeed have Mythos-inspired nicknames. Mlijnhu and Nyarlahthotep. Why? Because I am a huge dork.

Anyway, this is another six week thing, and six week things have been working quite well for me recently. Let's hope the trend continues.