Thirty-five

I finished and submitted my thirty-fifth short story of the year this evening. This one's a 5,400-word bit of crime fiction.

Upcoming radio interview

At 1 p.m. Eastern time (noon Central time, etc.) Thursday, July 31, I'll be interviewed by Jean Maurie and Maggie Lukowski during their Personal Empowerment program on Attune Magazine Radio. I'll be discussing my writing career with an emphasis on writing confessions. Learn more, and learn how you can hear the program, at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/attunemagazineradio/2014/07/31/personal-empowerment-with-michael-bracken

Thirty-four

I finished and submitted my thirty-fourth story of the year this afternoon. This one's a 3,600-word confession.

Reviewed

Kristy at 3 Chicks After Dark reviewed Active Duty and had this to say about "Soaring," my contribution to the anthology:

Captain Hunter and Scott began their relationship when it was not safe for Captain Hunter to be out and proud. His career was on the line and he wasn’t willing to give it up so close to retirement. After a stolen weekend together they knew they had something special. Captain Hunter just couldn’t take the chance and walks away. The distance doesn’t last long and finally they both agree to hide their love and be very discreet. The short story is their wedding day! They didn’t waste any time tying the knot and declaring their love once they could with the repeal of DADT! The end is so sweet it will leave you verklempt! Husband, my husband?!

Read the entire review here.

20

I received my 20th acceptance of the year today, for one of the stories I mentioned in yesterday's post.

Like a virgin

"Submit it and forget it" was one of the best pieces of advice I received as a beginning writer, and, though it was difficult to do in the beginning when I only had a handful of manuscripts floating around, it became easier as time went on. When I had dozens of manuscripts under submission I could barely remember them all and, later, when I improved both my writing skill and my marketing abilities, I didn't fret much because nearly everything sold on first or second submission.

For the past several years I have been writing most of my short stories on assignment, on invitation, or for markets where I've already placed multiple stories. Life has been good.

On the other hand, it had been a long time since I wrote anything just for me or that really stretched my abilities in some way. At the beginning of the year, I decided to change that.

In an earlier post, I described how I've been triple-tracking my writing. During the first writing session of the day, I write stories for a pair of magazines that have published one or more of my stories each month for a bloody long time. During my second writing session of the day, I write stories in a genre where I've had long-term success, and much of what I write is sent to a handful of anthology editors who have each published several of my stories.  During my third writing session of the day I work on stretch-stories or just-for-me-stories.

One unexpected outcome from this is that I've created a few stories for markets to which I've never previously sold and a few stories for which I had no specific market in mind during the writing. So, like a beginning writer, I'm following the time-tested, time-proven theory of submitting to the best market and working my way down until I receive an acceptance or run out of places to submit.

An even more unexpected outcome is that, despite having more than three-dozen manuscripts under submission, I am acutely aware of only a few. I find myself unable to "submit and forget" them, which causes this:

The editor of one anthology, an editor to whom I had never previously submitted, mentioned in her blog that she had made decisions on all submissions and would be notifying writers this week. It's Wednesday already and I haven't heard a thing. Is that good news or bad?

A fellow writer mentioned in a Yahoo group that she had received a polite rejection from the top magazine in that genre after only three weeks. My story's been there five weeks already. Is that good news or bad?

I'm nervous and tingly all over, just as I was back in the day when I was sending out my first few manuscripts.

It's nice to know that I'm not really the jaded old writer I thought I had become and that I can still feel like a virgin writer submitting for the very first time.

Thirty-three

I finished and submitted my thirty-third short story of the year this evening. This one's a 2,500-word erotic story.

Published 2x

My story "Duped By a Con Man" appears in the August True Confessions, and my story "Trapped By a Tornado" appears in the August True Story.

Thirty-two

I finished and submitted my thirty-second short story of the year, a 5,300-word confession.

19

I received my 19th acceptance of the year this afternoon, this time for a confession.

18

I received my 18th acceptance of the year this morning. This one's for a confession.

Thirty-one

I finished and submitted my thirty-first short story this morning. It's a 3,400-word confession.

17

I received my 17th acceptance of the year this morning, this time for a confession.

Thirty

Earlier today I finished, but I have not yet submitted, my thirtieth short story of the year. This one's 5,200 words and might be generally classified as a ghost story. I've not done this in a long, long time, but I wrote this story with no particular market in mind, and now I have no idea where to submit it.

Too many ideas, not enough time

There isn't enough time to write every story I want to write. I have several hundred stories-in-progress and each day I seem to add to the list. In an effort to become more efficient without quashing my flow of ideas, I recently reviewed many of my stories-in-progress, with an emphasis on confessions.

I found 52 confessions that I felt I could finish without undue stress. In each case I had written at least 1,000 words or had written a rough plot outline. Now, when I sit down each morning to write confessions, I select a story from the list and work on it until it is complete rather than bounce from story-to-story as I often used to do. Confessions are written for a specific market, so I know where to submit each one as I complete it, and I've already completed and submitted five of the stories on the list.

I also found three stories that have no specific known market--a noir story, a ghost story, and a fantasy--and I've been doing the same thing with this much-shorter list during my evening writing sessions. I've finished the noir story, am about to complete the ghost story, and will work on the fantasy next.

Most of the erotica I write during my mid-day writing session is written for specific projects, so I don't have a list of stories-in-progress that I dip into. Rather, I write erotica based on the due date of whichever anthology is up next.

So, now, when I sit down to write--regardless of which of the day's three writing sessions it happens to be--I know what I'm going to work on. This has eliminated a lot of fumbling around and helped to increase my productivity.

At the same time, I keep myself open to new story ideas. I jot them down whenever I have them, but I only jot down enough to remind me what I hoped to write. Then I return to the work-in-progress.

At some point, I'll have to create new lists to work from, and that's a good thing because it means I've finished writing everything on the existing lists.

Twenty-nine

I finished and submitted my twenty-ninth short story of the year a few minutes ago. This story is a 4,200-word bit of noirish crime fiction.

Look at me! Look at me! Look at me!

Brian Thornton provides some great advice to writers about social media in "How Not to Be the Guy Biting the Heads Off of Chickens in the (Virtual) Carnival Sideshow," his post today at SleuthSayers. (And, yes, he mentions me.)

11 years and counting

Effective with the just-published July issues of True Confessions and True Story magazines, I have had one or more short stories published each and every month for 132 consecutive months. That's 11 years.

While I know a handful of short story writers who are at least as productive as I am, I don't know any living short story writers who have been published in as many consecutive months as I have.

Published 3x

My stories "Safe at Home" and "Seeing Double" appear in the July True Confessions, and my story "Desperate for Fireworks" appears in the July True Story.

16

I received my 16th acceptance of the year this morning, this time for a confession.

Twenty-eight

I finished and submitted my twenty-eighth short story of the year this afternoon. This one's a 3,700-word confession.

Twenty-seven

I finished and submitted my twenty-seventh short story of the year a few minutes ago. This one's a 2,500-word erotic romance.

Twenty-six

I finished and submitted my twenty-sixth short story of the year this afternoon. This one's a 3,800-word erotic Viking romance. This was a third-track challenge story, and my challenge was to successfully write a story set in a time period about which I knew little. I spent quite a bit of time doing research for this story--for the Viking parts, not for the erotic or romance parts--and now need to determine what I want my next challenge story to be.

Writing fiction

"Writing fiction is, in many ways, like a religion. It is a daily practice, a way of life, a set of rituals, an orientation toward the universe. It is a communion with the intangible, a bridge between the finite and infinite. There’s a reason religions use stories to communicate, and it’s the same reason religions persecute storytellers: Stories are powerful. They are how we make sense of what cannot be known."

--Mohsin Hamid

"What Are the Draws and Drawbacks of Success for Writers?"

The New York Times Sunday Book Review

Twenty-five

I finished and submitted my twenty-fifth short story of the year this evening, a 3,600-erotic romance written in response to an anthology's open call.

I violated my triple-tracking system to write this story, but couldn't have finished it in time otherwise. I don't know how long the open call has been out, but I've had a printout of it on my desk for at least a month and the deadline is May 15. Each time I looked at the open call, I knew I wanted to write a story. Unfortunately, no idea came to me.

Tuesday afternoon I thought I had an idea, but two paragraphs into it I realized I had an opening but no story. Then another idea came to me, one that arrived with an opening and a rough plot.

I made some notes. That afternoon I started writing. Client work and social engagements interrupted my writing plans, but I wrote feverishly during the bits of time I had Tuesday afternoon, late Tuesday night, this morning, and this afternoon. I completed a full draft this afternoon and, after returning home this evening, I edited the draft, proofread the manuscript after entering all the editing changes, and emailed it to the editor on the eve of the deadline.

Tomorrow I'll return to triple-tracking and pick up where I left off on the stories in each track.

Twenty-four

I finished and submitted my twenty-fourth short story of the year this evening. This one's a 2,400-word bit of magical realism that blends erotica with gardening.

Twenty-two, Twenty-three

I finished and submitted my twenty-second and twenty-third short stories of the year this evening. Both confessions, one is 2,400 words and the other is 3,200 words.

Write different

I have been writing fiction for more than 40 years and writing it professionally for at least 35. Over time I have developed several writing habits--some good and some not--that impact everything from what I write to how I write to when I write.

For a variety of reasons, not all of them related to the actual process, my productivity dropped a few years ago and, for each of the past few years, I've missed my target of producing at least 52 short stories per year.

Earlier this year I made some changes to what, how, and when I write. I wrote about some of the changes in a January 18 blog post, but I have made several additional changes since then.

The most interesting change wasn't one I made on purpose, but it has become a significant reason for a dramatic uptick in productivity. I've started triple-tracking.

During a typical weekday, I have three periods of time I can devote to writing fiction: First thing in the morning, late afternoon/early evening after I finish with work for clients, and mid-/late evening.

Though I did not initially set out to do this, I found myself using each track differently and realized that it had brought new vigor to my writing.

Track One

Each morning I have 30-60 minutes between waking and leaving the house that I can devote to writing. I use this time to write confessions, a genre I have been writing in for much of my career and in which I sell approximately two stories each month.

I have been writing confessions for so long that I know the three basic story types, the chatting-with-friends conversational style, and the must-do/must-not-do elements without any deep thought. Though I still must envision a suitable narrative hook and appropriate plot, once I do, these stories roll off my fingertips.

For me, the ideal length of a confession is 3,500 words and if I write 300+ words each weekday morning, I can finish a new confession approximately every two weeks.

This I've been doing.

Track Two

When I return home each afternoon, I have time before--and sometimes after--dinner when I can again write. Because I had been invited to contribute to some erotica anthologies, I initially spent this time, and have continued to spend this time, writing erotica.

Erotica is another genre in which I've been writing for much of my career and, though the style can vary significantly depending on editorial requirements, the essence of an erotic story remains the same: get the protagonist in a sexual situation.

Erotica is also open to cross-genre stories, so I write erotica, erotic romance, erotic horror, erotic crime fiction, and so on. Incorporating cross-genre elements sometimes means these stories don't always flow from my fingertips as easily as confessions, but I can still produce 300+ words each weekday, and can complete a new erotic story approximately every two weeks.

Track Three

Mid-/late evening, usually after a dinner break or after watching one of the few television programs I still follow, I switch gears and work on what I've been calling my challenge stories. These are stories that require something different from me.

For example, I might work on a story that has no known market, a story that requires extensive research, a story in a genre in which I've not previously or only rarely written, or a story in which the actual process is unlike my usual approach.

For example, I'm not usually a detailed plotter, but I wrote one story that I had completely plotted using the "Save the Cat!" beat sheet before I wrote a single word of the story. I wrote one that required me to research Puerto Vallarta (which I had visited years before to speak at a writing conference). I wrote a fairy tale, which involved extensive research into what made a story a fairy tale and not just fantasy, and then had to plot extensively to ensure that I incorporated all the elements into the story. I'm currently working on a story that has involved extensive research into the daily lives of Vikings, and I've been tinkering with a ghost story I started several years ago that has no known market.

I'm not setting myself productivity goals with my challenge stories because my goal isn't to produce a certain number of them. My goal is to find new ways to write that--if successful--I may be able to incorporate into my writing routine.

Weekends

Weekends are not as structured as weekdays, so they have become productivity free-for-alls. If I have a story from any track that's almost finished, I may concentrate my efforts on that story. If I have a complete draft of a story written earlier in the week, I may use time during the weekend to edit and/or proofread the story prior to submission. If I'm working on a story that requires extensive research, I may spend time during the weekend doing that research.

Result

My productivity is on the rise. I have produced more than one story each week since the beginning of the year, and I have several stories lined up to write in all three tracks to avoid lag time in any track.

How long I will continue triple-tracking, I don't know. For now, though, it's really helped increase my fiction productivity.

14, 15

I received my 14th and 15th acceptances of the year this evening, this time for a pair of confessions.

Published 3x

My story "Chasing Love" appears in the June True Confessions and my stories "Pregnant on Father's Day and "Prom Rescue" appear in the June True Story.

Twenty-one

I finished and submitted my twenty-first short story of the year this evening. This one's a 2,500-word bit of erotica.

USA Today

Along with the other contributors to Cowboy Heat, I'm quoted in this USA Today article: "Cowboy heroes: Can you feel the heat?"

Twenty

This has been quite a productive weekend. I finished and submitted my twentieth short story of the year a few minutes ago. This one's a 3,000-word bit of erotica.

Nineteen

I finished and submitted my nineteenth short story of the year this afternoon. This one's a 2,000-word Halloween confession.

Eighteen

I finished and submitted my eighteenth short story of the year this morning. This one's a 5,200-word confession.

13

I received my 13th acceptance of the year this evening, for a 4,200-word confession.

Seventeen

I finished and submitted my seventeenth short story of the year this evening. This one's a 2,500-word bit of erotcia.

Sixteen

I finished and submitted my sixteenth short story of the year. This one's a 2,600-word bit of erotica.

Published

My essay "Eat Fresh" appears in the May/June 2014 issue of Texas Gardener.

Fifteen

I finished and submitted my fifteenth short story of the year this evening. This one's a 6,000-word erotic lesbian fairy tale, written to meet the requirements of an anthology's open call for submissions...and because I've never before written a fairy tale.

12

I received my 12th acceptance of the year this evening, this time for a 5,800-word summer confession.

Fourteen

I finished and submitted my fourteenth short story of the year this morning. This one's a 4,200-word confession I started writing on April 28, 2012.

11

I received my 11th acceptance this morning. This is for the erotic story I submitted a few days ago.

Thirteen

I finished and submitted my thirteenth story of the year. This one's a 1,700-word erotic romance.

Twelve

I completed and submitted my twelfth short story of the year this morning. This one's a 4,900-word erotic story written for an anthology.

Published 2x

Today I received copies of The Mammoth Book of Urban Erotic Confessions (Running Press), an anthology edited by Barbara Cardy that contains two of my stories.

9, 10

I received my 9th and 10th acceptances of the year this morning. Both were for confessions.

8

I received my 8th acceptance of the year a few minutes ago, this for the brief essay I submitted this afternoon.

Essay

I completed and submitted a 550-word essay this afternoon.

Eleven

I completed and submitted my eleventh short story of the year this evening, a 5,800-word confession.

This is the first story I've written using The Save the Cat! Beat Sheet. I actually outlined the story on January 16, and then I let the outline sit until last week because I don't usually write from tight outlines. I used this outline because it was for a confession set during the summer months and it's time to submit summer confessions.

The final story more-or-less follows the plot I created in January, but I did find myself taking a few liberties as the writing progressed.

Back in January, I outlined two other stories using The Save the Cat! Beat Sheet. At some point in the future, I will probably write those stories, too.

 Will I outline any more stories using The Save the Cat! Beat Sheet? It's too soon to tell.

"Cowboy Adonis"

I'm one of the contributors to Cowboy Heat, a collection of erotic cowboy romances scheduled for release later this month.

Today I posted a little about my inspiration for the story and a brief except from the beginning of the story at  http://cowboyheat.delilahscollections.com/2014/03/15/cowboy-adonis-by-michael-bracken/.

Reviewed

Michelle at MsRomanticReads reviewed Cowboy Heat and had this to say about "Cowboy Adonis," my contribution to the anthology:

"The shortest story thus far but no less hot. I enjoyed their flirtatious banter and mature confidence."

Read the entire review here.

Ten

I finished and submitted my tenth short story of the year this morning. This one's a 2,200-word bit of crime fiction.

I dictated the entire story on January 26, corrected some formatting problems, printed it out, and let it sit. Today I reread it, made some minor changes, and submitted it.

This is one of the few stories I've dictated start-to-finish. I'm still not comfortable with the process, but will try it again soon with another story.

Nine

I finished and submitted my ninth short story of the year this evening. This one's a 4,700-word confession set in Mexico that I began writing February 28, 2011.

Unlike many of my stories, this one has an origin tale.

I travelled to Mexico to speak at the Puerto Vallarta Writers Conference February 25-27, 2011. I led two workshops, titled "Sin, Suffer, Cash the Checks," about writing and selling confessions. When I lead confession-writing workshops, one of the things we do as a group is to plot several stories.

During the first workshop of the conference, the group plotted a story that I liked so much I told the attendees I would write the story. I finally did, and the end result sticks pretty close to the plot we outlined.

Nominated

I have stories in two anthologies nominated for Lambda Literary Awards: Richard Labonte's Show-Offs (Cleis Press) and Winston Gieseke's Team Players (Bruno Gmuender).

Published

My story "All-American Male" appears in the just-published anthology Blowing Off Class.

7

I received my 7th acceptance of the year late this afternoon, this time for a confession.

6

I received my 6th acceptance of the year this evening, this time for an erotic romance story.

Eight

I finished and submitted my eighth story of the year a few minutes ago. This one's a 6,000-word Father's Day story I started February 20, 2013.

Reviewed

Vanessa Clark reviewed Big Man on Campus on her blog and thought "Discovering the Underground," my contribution to the anthology, was "a solid story, not amazing but I did enjoy it." Read the entire review here.

Published 2x

My story "A Knight for a Night" appears in the April True Confessions and my story "Easter Lilies" appears in the April True Story.

Seven

I finished and submitted my seventh short story of the year this evening, a 1,700-word Father's Day story.

5

I received my 5th acceptance of the year this afternoon, this time for a 4,700-word Mother's Day story.

Six

I finished and submitted my sixth short story of the year this morning. This one's a 5,800-word confession that I began on February 1 after seeing a cowboy sitting alone at at dance hall.

4

I received my 4th acceptance of the year this evening, this time for a 2,000-word light-hearted confession submitted in December.

Reviewed

V.C. reviewed Nasty Boys and had this to say about "Dicked," my contribution to the anthology:

"This one is an undercover cop story. No surprises really. This one left me underwhelmed for some reason. [...] This story overall was just okay. It didn't wow me."

Read the complete review here.

Published 3x + 1

"Stealing Roses to Save a Friend" appears in the February True Confessions, "I Dumped Him but He Won't Get Out of My Life!" appears in the February True Story, and "The Girl Who Had it All" appears in the March True Story.

My Derringer Award-winning story "Getting Out of the Box," appears in a new edition of Crime Square, edited by Robert J. Randisi. The original publisher went out of business and the anthology has been reprinted by Perfect Crime Books.

Reviewed

My short story "Total Package" is reviewed by N.S. Beranek at her website, and she sums up the story:

"An examination of the loneliness and isolation one feels living in a world built around secrets and silence, the hyper-awareness of people forced to find one another in hostile environs, and the joy inherent in discovering, at last, that you are not as alone as you feared."

Read the entire review here.

Five

I finished but have not submitted by fifth short story of the year. I've been looking for an appropriate market, but haven't found one yet. This is what happens when I write a story without a specific market in mind.

Published

"Dicked," a bit of erotic crime fiction, appears in the anthology Nasty Boys (Cleis Press).

Writing: What we do to get rich

I received a royalty payment today via PayPal from a Canadian publisher for a story published in an anthology: $.82 (Can). After conversion to U.S. currency and after PayPal deducted their fee, my net: $.43.

Sigh.

3

I received my 3rd acceptance of the year this afternoon, this time for an Easter confession.

Write different

My writing process has remained essentially unchanged for many years. How I do what I do has proven reasonably successful. But when does habit become rut?

I've recently attempted to change my process to see if I can improve the process.

I rarely outline my stories prior to writing, and even then my outlines are nothing more than a sentence or two. So, I studied the "Save the Cat!" beat sheet, which is a general outline for successful movies, to see if it could be used to outline short stories.

Though many of the "beats" in "Save the Cat!" match the beats I use instinctively when writing fiction, there are additional beats I can add to flesh out stories. After a few false starts, I've successfully outlined three short stories using every beat in "Save the Cat!"

I have not yet written any of the stories I outlined this way, but it's clear this method can produce valid plots. And, though I have yet to write these specific stories, I have a greater appreciation for and understanding of my own method of plotting.

I have also reached the point where I'm starting to worry about carpal tunnel syndrome, among other things, and desire a less manual method of putting words on paper.

After I had my quadruple bypass surgery in 2008, when I couldn't sit upright for long stretches of time, I purchased dictation software for my computer. I attempted to write stories with it, but found the process cumbersome and frustrating.

Shortly before Christmas I purchased a new computer and installed new dictation software. Two of the four stories I've submitted this year were dictated, one successfully and one not.

The first draft of the first story I dictated was a garbled mess. Though the software usually correctly interpreted what I said--a vast improvement over the software I used in 2008--I attempted to dictate the same way I write.

My process is sometimes chaotic. I may write the first scene and then follow with part of the third scene, jump back to make notes for the second scene, and then write a rough draft of the last scene, jumping back and forth until I've created a full draft. This did not work while dictating and I found scenes out of order and parts of scenes stuck in the middle of other scenes.

The first story required extensive editing prior to submission, and I found myself rewriting entire sections. In short, dictating added work rather than saved it.

On the other hand, my second dictated story was successful. I thought more about the story before I began dictating, I had a better grasp of the plot and the characters in my head before I began, and I was able to dictate each scene in order so that I had little editing or rewriting to do after I had a complete draft.

I suspect studying "Save the Cat!" helped with dictating my second story because I was thinking more about plot prior to dictating than I usually do before I sit down to write.

I doubt I will use "Save the Cat!" to plot all of my stories, and I doubt I will dictate all of my stories from this point forward, but I do know I've added new tools to my writer tool chest and, perhaps, will be a little more productive in the future.

Four

I finished and submitted my fourth short story of the year this morning. This one's a 3,200-word erotic romance I started on January 4.

Life without email

My email provider's server crashed at approximately 1 p.m. yesterday. I have been unable to send or receive email since then. My two biggest clients use the same email provider, so I am unable to use those email accounts.

Life without email, even as short a time as it's been, is interesting. Luckily, I have nothing that I absolutely must send. On the other hand, I have several submissions under consideration and am expecting responses this month.

If an editor sends an email that bounces, will they bother to pick up the telephone? Past experience says they won't, even though my telephone number is on every manuscript I send. So, I'm left wondering: am I missing sales?

2

I received my 2nd acceptance of the year this evening, this time for an erotic romance I submitted last January and revised at the editor's request last February.

Three

I finished and submitted my third short story of the year this evening. This one's a bit of erotic crime fiction that I started yesterday in response to an anthology's call for submissions.

1

I received my 1st acceptance of the year this afternoon, this for an erotic romance submitted to an anthology back in July.

Two

I completed and submitted my second short story of the year this morning. This one's a 4,700-word confession I started in January 2012.

One

I completed and submitted my first short story of the year this afternoon. This one's a 3,700-word Easter story I started in November 2009.

2013 in review

41 acceptances (vs. 63 in 2012)

8 rejections (vs. 25 in 2012)

45 short stories published* (vs. 66 in 2012), 0 articles/essays published (vs. 0 in 2012)

I completed 40 short stories (vs. 46 in 2012).

I completed (to final draft) 142,500 words of short fiction (vs. 150,500 in 2012).

That's an average story length of 3,563 words (vs. an average of 3,272); the shortest story was 600 words, the longest was 6,200 words.

I completed and submitted an average of .77 of a short story each week (vs. an average of .88 each week in 2010).

(I only track completed short fiction word counts, not words written for incomplete projects, nor words written for other forms of writing.)

Income from
Editing: Up 1.55%
Fiction (not novels): Down 3.3%
Non-Fiction (not books): $0
Royalties from Fiction (from traditionally published and, beginning in 2010, from self-published work): Down 61.47%%

Royalties from Non-Fiction: Up 13.14%
Seminars/Teaching/Tutoring:  Up from $0
Salary: Up 1.31%
Overall gross income: Down .75%

Observations:

My short story productivity has diminished for the second year in a row and is the lowest it's been for the five years I've been tracking it.

I continue to sell more than I write, which in past years has been thanks to a large number of previously written stories finding homes. That stockpile is rapidly diminishing. This year I've sold more than I've written thanks to placement of a few reprints.

My fiction income, though down, was an insignificant change. My income from royalties, however, was significant and attributable primarily to diminished sales of self-published material offered through Amazon. The majority of this material is reprints for which I have previously been paid so any extra it earns is icing on the cake. Even so, that sales dropped so far is disheartening. (I'll explore this more later in the year after I have my December reports from Amazon.)

___
*Updated 1/21/14. I may update this information later; I may have had additional stories published but have not yet received my contributor copies.

Forty

I completed and submitted my fortieth short story of the year a few minutes ago. This one's a 5,000-word confession I started writing December 18, 2009.

Thirty-nine

I completed and submitted my thirty-ninth short story of the year this morning. This one's a 3,300-word confession I started writing June 6.

Free today

The Kindle version of Deadhead Miles, a horror anthology containing a reprint of my story "Black Mack," is free today. I don't know how long it will remain free. Learn more here.

41

I received my 41st acceptance of the year this afternoon, this time for a Spring Break-themed confession I submitted December 12.

Published

My story "Extra Money" appears in the just-published anthology Ignite.

Published

My story "Jumpers" has been reprinted in The Big Book of Bizarro Sci-Fi & Fantasy Collection.

Published

My story "Black Mack" was reprinted in the recently published horror anthology Deadhead Miles.

"Because," I said.

Over at SleuthSayers.org there was a recent discussion about dialog tags. I joined in and, I think, summed it up best:

"If a speech tag draws attention to itself, it draws attention AWAY from the dialog, and if a speech tag is used to prop up weak dialog, then the problem isn't the choice of an unusual speech tag, the problem is weak or poorly written dialog. 

"As a writer, then, your goal should be to write dialog so good it doesn't need speech tags to prop it up."

Thirty-eight

I finished and submitted my thirty-eighth short story of the year this evening, a 3,500-word Spring Break confession that I started November 13, 2012.

Thirty-seven

I finished and submitted my thirty-seventh short story of the year this evening. This one's a 3,500-word confession I started February 15, 2011.

40

I received my 40th acceptance of the year today, this time for what may be the world's only erotic story about gay surfing vampires.

Interviewed

There's a brief interview with me on ncreadergirl's blog in conjunction with the publication of Ignite!, an anthology of erotica for mothers. Read it here.

Thirty-six

I finished and submitted my thirty-sixth short story of the year this evening. This one's a 4,000-word confession I started January 9, 2012.

Thirty-five

I finished and submitted my thirty-fifth short story of the year this evening. This one's a 2,000-word confession I started April 18, 2009.

39

I received my 39th acceptance this evening, this for the confession I submitted on the 11th.

Published 2x

My story "Don't Judge a Book" appears in the January True Confessions, and my story "I Need a New Boss" appears in the January True Story.

38

I received my 38th acceptance of the year this morning, this time for a 3,500-word confession.

Thirty-four

I finished and submitted my thirty-fourth story of the year this morning, a 3,500-word Valentine's Day confession I started writing on February 16.

37

I received my 37th acceptance of the year this evening, this time for a New Year's Eve confession.