Dipping my Toe into Literary Fiction

My efficiency drive (essentially, just counting the time I spend writing and putting it on my blog) has had  unexpected result-- increased productivity.

At the end of the third week of September I'd written 4 stories. And quite honestly after four years of writing short stories I have a lot. And I mean a lot. I'm reluctant to tell you how many. In case you think I'm bonkers.

I've tweeted the number, if you really want to know. Don't hate me.

I reckon I can produce 4 science fiction, fantasy or horror stories in three weeks, and that's quite enough. That gives me a week a month for another project.

So I've been casting around for a new project. Novelling would be the obvious thing. But I just don't care for it. It would also be good to focus on craft/improvement for that week. But despite good intentions, I've got no follow through. I could even take a week off. Now, there's a thought.

But I'm turning to literary fiction. Especially after just reading, 'The Road.' Oh the prose, the wonderful prose. I think this is a route that a lot of spec writers try. I've certainly seen some of my writing friends turning to literary fiction, lately.

Should be fun. Wish me lucky. And see you in the clever pages.

Story Sales

I'd like to mention the three sales I made last week. Three professional sales in a week made me over excited. (Professional sales pay 5 US cents per word.)

I sold stories to Nature's Futures (guidelines are here), Kazka's At Year's End Anthology (guidelines are here). And to Alex Shvartsman's Unidentified Funny Objects anthology (no guidelines, because it's closed, but watch UFO space, there may be another anthology in the distant skies.) 

Alex has just released the table of contents, Mike Resnick! Lavie Tidhar! Ken Lui! Others!

What a buzz. 

“El and Al vs. Himmler’s Hideous Horde from Hell” by Mike Resnick
“The Alchemist’s Children” by Nathaniel Lee
“Moon Landing” by Lavie Tidhar
“Fight Finale from the Near Future” by James Beamon
“Love Thy Neighbors” by Ken Liu
“The Alien Invasion As Seen In The Twitter Stream of @dweebless” by Jake Kerr”
“Dreaming Harry” by Stephanie Burgis
“The Last Dragon Slayer” by Chuck Rothman
“The Real Thing” by Don Sakers
“2001 Revisited via 1969″ by Bruce Golden
“The Working Stiff” by Matt Mikalatos
“Temporal Shimmies” by Jennifer Pelland
“One-Hand Tantra” by Ferrett Steinmetz
“Of Mat and Math” by Anatoly Belilovsky
“Timber!” by Scott Almes
“Go Karts of the Gods” by Michael Kurland
“No Silver Lining” by Zach Shephard
“If You Act Now” by Sergey Lukyanenko
“My Kingdom for a Horse” by Stephen D. Rogers
“First Date” by Jamie Lackey
“All I Want for Christmas” by Siobhan Gallagher
“Venus of Willendorf” by Deborah Walker
“An Unchanted Sword” by Jeff Stehman
“The Day They Repossessed my Zombies” by K.G. Jewell
“The Fifty One Suitors of Princess Jamatpie” by Leah Cypess
“The Secret Life of Sleeping Beauty” by Charity Tahmaseb
“The Velveteen Golem” by David Sklar
“The Worm’s Eye View” by Jody Lynn Nye
“Cake from Mars” by Marko Kloos

 Web content:

“The Ogre King and the Piemaker” by Tarl Kudrick – September
“You Bet” by Alex Shvartsman – October
“Mr. Terwilliger Confesses” by Amanda C. Davis – November
“Demonology for Nerds” by Andrew F. Rey – December
“A Midnight Carnival at Sunset” by Terra LeMay – January
“Morte Cousine” by Kara Dalkey – February

1 in 333: The Odds of Being Published in a Professional Magazine

Thanks to Shimmer, who have just published an interesting insight and some hard stattage concerning their submission process:

How Shimmer Falls in Love With Fiction

Shimmer have recently moved to paying pro rates. I'm actually surprised that their subs have doubled, as Shimmer has an excellent reputation and is consistently rated very highly amongst my writing friends. 

30 acceptances in an estimated 10,000 subs, or 1 in 333. 

Wow. 

Is that discouraging? Maybe. But what encourages me is that two of my writing buddies have had recent acceptances for Shimmer. Congratulations again, Cate and Milo. 

And if they can do it, then maybe just maybe ... the odds be damned.

My Feelings are Rubbish

Just received a personal rejection from an anthology. That's not news. But what I'm smiling about is that I had a really strong feeling that it was going to sell.

*shakes head* When will I ever learn? My feelings are rubbish.You'd think they be right 50% of the time, but they're running at a 90% failure rate.

But I do have a strong feeling that this story will sell, somewhere. Yes, fate-- I tempt you.