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.