CrimeFictionWriter

I finished and submitted my 68th short story of the year a little while ago. It's a 2,200-word story of seduction, written for an anthology. I started writing this story on November 12, after I saw that an anthology to which I had already submitted a story had extended the submission deadline. Who knows, maybe the editor will take both stories...

I enjoy reading what other writers have to say about the genesis of their stories because they are either a) full of pretentious hooey or b) their muse is the antithesis of mine.

For example, one writer might claim that his story came about because he "wanted to explore the dichotomy of the yin-yang of male-female relationships in a post-Apocolyptic America."

Me? I just wanted to write a story about boinking a zombie.

I received my 29th acceptance today, this time for a 2,400-word Valentine's Day-themed confession I submitted on October 7.

I submitted my 67th story of the year this morning. It's a 2,400-word "deal with the devil" story. Sort of. The devil sends an underling to deal with a lawyer.

I wrote the opening sentence on March 27, and it sat on my computer for several months until I matched it to an anthology's call for submissions. Then I thought about it for another month or so before spending the past few days writing and revising.

My 28th acceptance of the year arrived in today's mail, a contract for a 4,300-word New Year's Eve-themed confession submitted September 27.

I completed and submitted my 66th short story of the year this morning. It's a 1,100-word bit of erotica, but with a twist ending. I don't know if I had the idea before I saw the call for submissions or not, but I wrote a one-line description of this story on October 30, wrote a full draft of the story yesterday, and put the story through several drafts this morning.

I completed and submitted my 65th short story of the year a few minutes ago. This time it's a 3,100-word story about two skateboarders and a purse-snatcher. I started writing this October 22, after seeing a call for submissions and spending several weeks trying to come up with an appropriate idea.

I had a story rejected today. Not my story. Somebody else's. It arrived in one of my SASEs.

This rarely happens. After more than 30 years and several thousand rejections, this may be the third time I've received someone else's rejection.

It's an odd feeling of dismay to open the envelope and see the enclosed rejection, followed by a sense of relief that the rejection wasn't meant for me, following by another round of dismay as I wonder where MY manuscript went.

And there's also a feeling of Peeping Tomism because I read the rejected manuscript and study the editor's note (when there is one). What did this writer do or not do? How does my work compare? Do I agree or disagree with the editor's decision to reject? If it were my manuscript, how would I revise it?

In this case, the writer's eddress was on the manuscript. I've emailed her to let her know of her rejection, and tomorrow I'll mail the manuscript back to her so she can read the editor's note.

And I'll continue wondering where my manuscript went...