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.