Google Update

When I tried to log-in today, Google "forced" me to upgrade my blog, a decision I've been putting off for the past few weeks. I don't yet know how the upgrade changes my blog, but apparently I now have more ways to maintain and customize. I guess I've just have to play with the settings and see what happens.

Record Keeping

Try as I might, I can't keep track of everything. This evening I discovered that two of my short stories were published last year and I didn't know it. Oh, I received acceptances, cashed the checks when they arrived, and even approved the copy edits; I just didn't realized the stories had been published.

Production

I finished a new short story this evening. It'll head off to an editor the next time I go to a mail box.

Today's mail/e-mail

Today's mail brought payment for three short stories published last year. In a perfect world we'd all write for pay-on-acceptance publications and in a slightly less pefect world all the pay-on-publication publications actually would pay on publication. Still, the money was enough to bring the bills up-to-date with some left over to set some aside for my quarterly estimated taxes.*

Today's e-mail brought page proofs of an anthology containing one of my short stories. I have five days to proofread my story and note any corrections I'd like.


*Learning to set aside money for taxes has been quite a challenge and marks one of the significant financial differences between being a full-time employee who writes on the side and being a full-time freelancer.

Writer's Disinterest

I don't believe in writer's block. Put me in front of a keyboard and I can write.

But, because I spend my life sitting at a keyboard--writing and editing and creating page layouts, Web sites, and advertising material, and doing other related tasks, and because a good portion of my social interaction comes via e-mail and Yahoo groups and blogs--I sometimes get "writer's disinterest."

Writer's disinterest might best be defined as: I can write; I just don't want to.

I want to be somewhere else doing something else.

So I usually do. I find something else to do until I either must return to the keyboard because of a client- or editor-imposed deadline to meet or I want to return to the keyboard because inspiration struck.

Writer's disinterest doesn't strike often, never lasts long, and is easily cured.

Reprint Published

My story "In the Death Ward," first published in Thin Ice back in 1995, has been reprinted in the Winter 2007 issue of Burst, and can be read at http://www.terra-media.us/burst/Winter2007.html

6

I received a contract today from True Romance for a short story tentatively scheduled for the April issue.

This is my sixth acceptance of the year, and I'm averaging one acceptance every 4.33 days, slightly better than my goal of one each week.

Fresh starts

I wrote the opening pages of four new short stories today. The shortest is only a paragraph; the longest is nearly three pages. I write a great many opening scenes and some of them sit on my computer for months before I come back to them. But I will, sooner or later, get back to them and mold those beginnings into stories.

The things we get ourselves into

Last fall I posed for a photograph that was used in a magazine ad. That ad has been converted into an on-line advertisement now up at http://www.wacowedosports.com/events/

On the right side of the screen is an ad that changes each time the page is refreshed. One ad comes up with a picture taken from a sand trap toward the flag on the green and asks "Has an injury gotten you off-course?" The ad is a three-parter. After a moment, the second part appears on the screen and shows a guy in a blue shirt and tan pants swinging a golf club. That's me.

I've posed for other photographs before this, most recently to illustrate something in Seeds, the weekly newsletter I edit, but the golfing photo may be the first time I've ever posed for a photo ultimately used in an advertisement.

Is this the start of a modeling career?

Somehow, I doubt it...

Too Short/Too Long

I've had a long ms. bouncing around for a couple of years now. At 27,000 words it's too short for traditional book publishers and too long for magazines (despite having a couple of magazine editors say the liked they story and wished they had room to publish it!).

Earlier this evening, an editor at a new small press responded to my query and asked to see the story. I e-mailed the ms. a couple of minutes ago and have my fingers crossed (though that makes typing really, really difficult) that the story will finally find a home.

How many words?

Jeff Stehman stumped me earlier today when he asked, "Do you know how many words you sold in 2006?"

The quick answer is: No.

I don't track my output by number of words written or number of words sold. I only track finished ms. For good or ill, that means a filler has the same weight as a novella.

But Jeff's question had me wondering. How many words did I sell in 2006?

I had to pry open the filing cabinets and rifle through the drawers to get an answer, and here's what I came up with:

In 2006 I sold:

At least 193,100 words of original material.

8,000 words co-authored with Tom Sweeney.

And some reprints that I didn't bother counting.

I'm pretty sure I missed a couple of ms. in my haste, and this count doesn't include any of the advertising or public relations material I wrote, nor does it include the miscellaneous writing I do as an editor (headlines, cutlines, blurbs, etc.).

Now I'm left with a question that I can't answer: Is there any direct correlation between number of words written and number of words sold?

5

I received a contract in today's mail--my fifth acceptance of the year--for a short story tentatively scheduled for the May True Story.

Self-Limitation vs. Marketing Ploy

When you identify yourself as a writer, do you categorize yourself? Do you say, "I'm a horror writer" or "I'm a mystery writer" or "I'm a science fiction writer"? Or do you just say, "I'm a writer"?

There's a difference...and it can either cause you to limit your opportunities or it can be an effective marketing ploy.

If you write in a single genre, and you do it either because that's all you want to write or all you're capable of writing, then clearly identifying yourself as a particular kind of writer makes sense. If Sally Editor or Joe Client needs a "horror writer" for a project, they know to contact Bill The Horror Writer.

But if Bill The Horror Writer has the ability and the desire to write many other things, then being so clearly identified with a single genre can prevent him from picking up assignments he might enjoy.

At the same time, if Bill The Horror Writer tells himself that all he wants to write is horror--in effect limiting himself to a single genre--he might not ever discover that he is capable of writing in other genres and may, in fact, be more successful outside of his chosen genre.

(I've related this story many times before, but I began as a science fiction writer and had modest success. Then a men's magazine editor liked one of my science fiction stories but couldn't buy it because the magazine's publisher wouldn't publish SF. The editor asked if I had anything else. I wrote a mystery. Sold it to him. I wrote another mystery. Sold it to him. I wrote a third mystery. Sold it to another editor. After years of watching my SF stories bounce around the markets before finding homes, I sold the first three mysteries I wrote. That opened my eyes to possibilities I'd never previously considered and I attempted, and found success, writing in other genres.)

Of course, one can self-identify without self-limiting. Both my Web site and my blog identify me as CrimeFictionWriter. I have probably been most successful writing crime fiction, but I was identified by others as a mystery writer before I pinned the label on myself. So I've run with it.

So I am "Crime Fiction Writer."

But I am also so much more.

Shouldn't you be?

Who am I today?

I occasionally cross paths with writers--either in person on in on-line forums--who self-limit their opportunities.

For example: I am a white male of a certain age. The self-limiting writers I meet would have me believe that I should only write stories about white males of my age to be read by white males of my age. This indicates a lack of imagination on the part of these other writers--writers who, ironically, may write science fiction or fantasy or horror and seem to have no problems imagining things that don't exist.

If I can imagine faster-than-light travel or ghosts of dead relatives speaking to me, why can't I imagine what it might be like to be a different gender or a different ethnic background or a different religion? Why can't I imagine what it might be like to be substantially younger or substantially older than I am? Why can't I imagine what it might be like to be handicapped or to have substantially more or less education or to live at a substantially different socio-economic level?

Why indeed?

So I write for men's magazines and women's magazines, white magazines and black magazines, teen magazines and senior magazines, and on and on and on.

But one thing I don't do is pretend to be something other than what I am when I'm dealing with editors. I present myself as a writer, and as long as I meet editorial requirements with my submissions, few editors question who I am off the page.

Of course, sometimes editors change my byline so readers think I'm someone else...

4

Today's e-mail brought my 4th acceptance of the year; this time an anthology editor accepted a short horror story.

Ice & Productivity

Icy roads have kept me home more than usual the past few days, and today, because I couldn't go anywhere until late morning, I finished another new short story. This one was requested by an anthology editor and I hope I met his expectations. If not, I'll only have about 10 days to write something else.

I also received a request from another anthology editor, the second time she's emailed me about her current project, and I've been noodling around with ideas that might meet her requirements. Alas, this isn't a commission or a specific assignment, just a note that we'd previously worked together and that she'd "welcome the chance to read" anything I submitted for her current project.

Productivity

I finished two new short stories today--one at 1,300 words and the other at 7,000 words--and will drop them in a mailbox tomorrow.

3

This afternoon I received my third acceptance of the year. Burst will be reprinting "In the Death Ward," a story first published in 1995.

2

I received my second acceptance of the year earlier this morning--a deal-with-the-devil story.

(There are two stories that have been overdone--or so I've been told: Adam-and-Eve stories and deal-with-the-devil stories. Yet, I've sold one Adam-and-Eve story and at least two deal-with-the-devil stories. Go figure.)

Published & etc.

My short story "Love From Above" appears in the February True Story, on newsstands now.

Yesterday I received my first rejection of the year. So far, no acceptances and no rejections today.

Seton Hill

It's official: I'll be speaking at Seton Hill University's "In Your Write Mind," June 22-24. I signed the contract earlier today.

Anthology Proposal & Etc.

I completed the anthology proposal today, thanks to help from a couple of mystery/private eye historians, an anthology editor with more experience working with large publishing houses, and some well-known writers willing to have their name attached to the project. I have high hopes for this one as my historian friends were unable to find any previous anthology with this theme!

I also found markets for an essay and a short story that had not yet found homes and prepared them for submission.

And, I added a significant chunk to a story-in-progress.

I've been working 12-plus hours a day all week, so I might just shut the computer down and veg in front of the TV all night. We'll see.

Productivity

I finished a new short story yesterday and have it ready to go in the mail the next time I leave the house. I spent most of the yesterday concentrating on two projects: editing a monthly newspaper that's due today and preparing the anthology proposal. I managed to write only a few paragraphs of fiction--additions to two short stories in-progress--and made notes for a couple of more stories.

Anthology bite

I've edited eight private eye/hardboiled anthologies for a small press. During the past year I've been trying to move up the food chain and have been sending queries to New York publishing houses. I received my first bite today, and I’ve been asked to submit an outline/proposal.

So I'll spend the next day or two--in and around my other projects--putting the proposal together.

1

My first acceptance of the year, a short article titled "Types of Community Gardens," appears in today's issue of Seeds, an e-mailed newsletter. It was originally written as a sidebar to an article published in the January/February issue of Texas Gardener, but there wasn't room for it in the magazine. After a touch of rewriting, I was able to place it in the newsletter.

Typical day

Kitty asked, "Have you ever done a post on what your typical day looks like?"

Until I read Kitty's question in a response to one of my previous posts, I didn't think I had a "typical day," but the more I think about it, the more I think I do.

Monday through Friday I rise around 8:00. I meet with one or more of my clients to determine their needs and I do whatever needs to be done for them. It may be writing a press release, advertisement, or brochure. It may be selecting and editing material for publication. It may be something else related to those projects, such as contacting a printing company.

Each of my three primary clients has work that is deadline driven. For example, I edit a weekly newsletter, a monthly newspaper, and a bi-monthly magazine. The symphony concerts occur on specific dates and require appropriate advertising/publicity to ensure that people show up at the right place at the right time.

Additionally, I occasionally pick up one-shot projects--a short story for this magazine, a magazine article for that magazine, a Web site for a company. Each of those projects has a deadline.

Then a juggle like crazy to keep all projects on schedule.

In addition to deadline-driven work for clients and deadline-driven assignments from editors, I also write a great deal of fiction on speculation ("on spec" means that I am writing without assignment and with only a hope of future income). I do that in the "down" time between everything else during the week and on weekends and holidays.

The downside of all of this work is that I'm a bit of a stick-in-the-mud. I wind up not giving my family the time and attention they deserve, I don't have wild adventures (scuh as flying off on spur-of-the-moment vacations), and I don't socialize a great deal.

Writer's block?

Kitty wrote, "I'm pea-green with envy that you are such a prolific writer because I've been trying to break through my writer's block for months. Have you ever experienced it? If so, got any suggestions for me? So far, the 'just do it' approach isn’t working."

Although this probably isn't the answer you're looking for: There's no such thing as writer's block.

You either write or you don't write. It's that simple.

I view writing as a job. (I have to because it's how I put food on the table.) Just like any other job, I have good days and bad days. I have days when I am stunningly brilliant and other days when I even bore myself. I have days when I'm highly productive and other days when I barely manage to put two words together and spell both of them correctly. I can't afford to have a "block."

Think of it this way: If you were a plumber, how long could you afford to have "plumber's block" before you found yourself living on the street? If you were a doctor, how long could you have "doctor's block" before creditors started hounding you for repayment of all those school loans? If you were an airplane pilot, how long could you have "pilot's block" before your jumbo jet hit the ground?

That said, I realize writing--particularly creative writing--requires more emotional involvment than, say, snaking a drain. Our emotions can interfere with our productivity.

The key is to work around whatever is interfering with your ability to write.

If one of your parents just died, your spouse just walked out, or your cat's in cardiac arrest, for God's sake take care of the situation. Writing can wait.

If you can't pinpoint an external reason preventing you from writing, perhaps it's the particular project you're trying to work on. Maybe you're forcing yourself to work on something you shouldn't be working on. Unless you're writing on assignment and have a deadline, set the work aside. Start a new project. Pick something in a different genre (if you're a mystery writer, try writing a science fiction story) or a different form (if you're a short story writer, try writing a poem).

One of the ways I manage to be productive is by project-hopping and genre-hopping. If I get stuck on one piece of non-assigned writing, I stop, set it aside, and start something else or pick up something else. I constantly have three dozen or more short stories in-progress at any given time. Some I'll write in a matter of hours or days; others may take years from first word to final draft.

One last thing you can do if you just aren't getting words on a page: Work on your writing career. Spend your non-writing time studying (reading books about writing, perhaps), researching markets (go to the magazine section of your local supermarket or bookstore and look through a couple of dozen magazines you've never looked at before), or clean and organize your workspace so that it is comfortable and inviting.

One last suggestion: Don't obsess over your inability to put words on a page. If you're a writer, it's only temporary and you'll be writing again sooner or later. If you're not a writer, it really won't matter.

Writer's block?

Kitty wrote, "I'm pea-green with envy that you are such a prolific writer because I've been trying to break through my writer's block for months. Have you ever experienced it? If so, got any suggestions for me? So far, the 'just do it' approach isn’t working."

Although this probably isn't the answer you're looking for: There's no such thing as writer's block.

You either write or you don't write. It's that simple.

I view writing as a job. (I have to because it's how I put food on the table.) Just like any other job, I have good days and bad days. I have days when I am stunningly brilliant and other days when I even bore myself. I have days when I'm highly productive and other days when I barely manage to put two words together and spell both of them correctly. I can't afford to have a "block."

Think of it this way: If you were a plumber, how long could you afford to have "plumber's block" before you found yourself living on the street? If you were a doctor, how long could you have "doctor's block" before creditors started hounding you for repayment of all those school loans? If you were an airplane pilot, how long could you have "pilot's block" before your jumbo jet hit the ground?

That said, I realize writing--particularly creative writing--requires more emotional involvment than, say, snaking a drain. Our emotions can interfere with our productivity.

The key is to work around whatever is interfering with your ability to write.

If one of your parents just died, your spouse just walked out, or your cat's in cardiac arrest, for God's sake take care of the situation. Writing can wait.

If you can't pinpoint an external reason preventing you from writing, perhaps it's the particular project you're trying to work on. Maybe you're forcing yourself to work on something you shouldn't be working on. Unless you're writing on assignment and have a deadline, set the work aside. Start a new project. Pick something in a different genre (if you're a mystery writer, try writing a science fiction story) or a different form (if you're a short story writer, try writing a poem).

One of the ways I manage to be productive is by project-hopping and genre-hopping. If I get stuck on one piece of non-assigned writing, I stop, set it aside, and start something else or pick up something else. I constantly have three dozen or more short stories in-progress at any given time. Some I'll write in a matter of hours or days; others may take years from first word to final draft.

One last thing you can do if you just aren't getting words on a page: Work on your writing career. Spend your non-writing time studying (reading books about writing, perhaps), researching markets (go to the magazine section of your local supermarket or bookstore and look through a couple of dozen magazines you've never looked at before), or clean and organize your workspace so that it is comfortable and inviting.

One last suggestion: Don't obsess over your inability to put words on a page. If you're a writer, it's only temporary and you'll be writing again sooner or later. If you're not a writer, it really won't matter.

Three for the Road

I completed three new short stories today. I submitted two via e-mail; the third is packaged and ready to travel via USPS the next time I leave the house.

2006 publication stats

My publication stats for 2006:

Short fiction: 50

Non-fiction: 18

Filler: 1

2006 in review

2006 is history. So, how'd I do?

66 acceptances. 31 rejections and/or non-acceptances. (Non-acceptances include lost ms., non-responses, etc.)

I became a full-time freelancer on April 1, 2003. My total gross income from freelancing in 2006--my third full calendar year as a full-time freelancer--exceeded my total gross income from all sources for any year since the mid-90s.

Income from
Advertising & Public Relations: up 215.82%
Consulting: down 84%
Editing: up 32.02%
Fiction (not novels): down 34.64%
Non-fiction (not books): up 48.85%
Royalties (from all books): down 38.17%

Of course, percentages don't tell the entire story.

Advertising & Public Relations generated the largest dollar increase, while Editing generated the second largest dollar increase.

Editing generated the largest revenue stream, while Advertising & Public Relations generated the second largest revenue stream.

Key developments:

An Advertising & Public Relations client I gained in September 2005 kept me busy throughout 2006 and was entirely responsible for the income increase in that category.

One editing client increased my workload mid-way through 2005, kept the workload at the new level through 2006, and was responsible for part of the income increase in that category. Another editing client launched a new publication in early 2006 and was responsible for the rest of the increase in that category.

Some of the periodicals I wrote for ceased publication, some changed editors, some cancelled or cut back the use of fiction, and some have been dragging out payments the past few months, thus leading to a decrease in both freelance fiction sales and freelance fiction income.

The bulk of the increase in non-fiction income came from two sources: an existing editing client and a periodical that's already cancelled the column to which I had become a regular contributor.

Key concerns:

The bulk of my freelance income comes from three sources. While I think all of my clients are happy with my work and intend to continue our relationships, I wish I had a little more diversity in my client base.

I completed no new fiction during much of September, October, and November. While I finished a number of new stories in December, the three-month gap in productivity will probably impact my pocketbook in mid-2007.

There's a possibilty that I'll lose medical insurance in 2007. Could a desire for medical insurance make me consider returning to full-time employment?

So, how'd I do?

2007 Goals

It's the time of year when writers make resolutions and set goals. Many of my fellow writers set productivity goals--so many words per day or so many pages per day or so many hours at the keyboard per day--believing that productivity goals are easier to achieve than sales goals. They may be right. After all, how much control does a writer have over what editors buy and publish?

I take a different approach. I set sales goals. My goal for 2007 is the same as it's been for many years now: To average one
acceptance per week (that's 52 for the year).

Unless I receive an acceptance in the next few hours--and, really, how likely is that?--I'll finish 2006 with 66 acceptances (while that total primarily consists of short stories, it does include other freelance writing such as essays and articles), the fifth year in a row that I've exceeded my goal.

A secondary goal is to increase my average income from freelancing. That'll happen--if it happens--one of two ways:

1. By increasing the amount I earn from the short stories, articles, and essays I write by selling more work to my existing markets or by finding and selling to better paying markets.

2. By doing more work for my exisiting clients or finding new clients for editing and copywriting.

To achieve my goals, I have to believe I do have some control over what editors buy and publish. (Or what clients purchase from me, but that's a different subject.)

I can control what editors buy and publish by studying their publications and producing material that is similar in subject and similar in style to what they already publish. I can control what editors buy and publish by producing manuscripts that are well-written and, to the best of my ability, grammatically correct. I can control what editors buy and publish by accepting and completing assignments that are offered to me. I can control what editors buy and publish by responding appropriately when editors post want-lists or need-lists or calls for submission.

Do I have a great deal of control? Absolutely not.

But I can pretty much eliminate guesswork and chance from the equation.

Another Pair

Two more new short stories went into the mail today.

Today's Mail

I received payment for a short story today, a nice after-Christmas addition to the wallet. It's for a bit of crime fiction that, if I read the check stub correctly, will be published in April.

Two more

I finished two more short stories this morning and have them ready to go in the mail the next time I leave the house.

Will be speaking in PA

For those of you who like to plan in advance, I'm scheduled to speak at "In Your Write Mind," Seton Hill University's 6th Annual Writing Popular Fiction Reunion & Retreat, at Seton Hill University, Greensburg, PA, June 22-24, 2007.

Preliminary info is available at:

http://alumni.setonhill.edu/s/279/index.aspx?sid=279&gid=1&pgid=13&cid=97&event_id=104

and additional info will be available later.

Record keeping and document handling

One of the most important things a freelance writer can do is maintain good records. Unfortunately--based on the number of posts I've seen on various writing forums--many don't.

I regularly see posts from writers who can't find a copy of a contract and want to know if any other writers have sold to the same market and might know what rights they've signed away, posts from writers who don't when or to what magazines they've sent their manuscripts, posts from writers who haven't been paid for published work and don't know who to contact, and any number of other posts that make it painfully obvious that those writers need a good lesson in record-keeping.

I admit my method isn't perfect, but it's quite effective. I know each manuscript that's out to an editor, which editor/publication I sent it to, when it left my hands, and whether it was submitted via e-mail or snail mail. I know where every manuscript has been and when it came back. I know which were rejected and which were sold. I have copies of all of my acceptance letters and/or contracts and I have contributor copies (or copies I purchased myself) of nearly everything that I know has seen print.

And, perhaps more importantly, I can lay may hands on all of it within a few minutes.

I know other writers with fancy spreadsheets and databases who handle much of this electronically, but I'm still a paper-and-folder guy. After all, most contracts still arrive on paper and most work still gets published on paper. Even if I maintained an electronic database of some kind, I'd still need file folders for the paper.

So I use file folders and file drawers. Every finished manuscript gets a file folder (which contains a copy of the ms., related research materials and, ultimately, a contract and a printed copy of the published work) and each folder moves through a series of file drawers--one for finished/not submitted; one for submitted; one for accepted; one for paid for/not published; one for published/not paid for; one for published and paid for; etc.

In this way I spend my time writing and submitting, not looking for lost documents.

Writing is a business. Maintaining records is part of doing business and developing and maintaining a good record-keeping system is especially important for a beginning writer to develop. After a few hundred sales, the task may be too daunting...

Published again and still productive

Today's mail brought a contributor copy of a magazine containing one of my short stories...and I finished a new story this morning and dropped it in the mail at lunchtime.

Published & Productive

My article "Urban Harvest: Improving Houston from the Ground Up" appears in the January/February Texas Gardener, which should hits newsstands in Texas any day now.

Yesterday I finished writing two new short stories and they went into the mail this morning.

Published

My story "A Holiday Lesson" appears in the January issue of True Confessions.

Two stories off to market

I finished and prepared two new short stories for submission earlier this evening. This wouldn't normally be news, but I've not completed--and have barely written--any new fiction in months. Most of my work recently has been non-fiction or advertising copy written on assignment.

I'm not sure if this means I'm moving into a fertile time for writing fiction or if this was just a momentary productive phase. We'll see.

Published Again

My essay "Learning Life's Lessons" appears in the December Senior News.

66

I had a short story accepted today. It's my 66th acceptance of the year.

I also had a short story published.

Published Twice...and more

My story "The Greatest Gift" appears in the December True Romance and I wrote the Manspeak column--"Giving Thanks"-- in the December True Confessions.

I also had an article accepted for publication in January.

Published

My story "God Bless Us, Every One" appears in the December issue of True Story, on newsstands now.

Two Sales

I received contracts for two short stories today, making them my 63rd and 64th acceptances of the year.

The Writing Rollercoaster

2006 is turning into a rollercoaster year. While I'm earning more from freelancing than any previous year, and while this is on track to be one of my best years ever for total number of manuscripts accepted for publication, my editors have been playing musical chairs and publications I'd been selling to have either downsized or ceased publication.

As I wrap up 2006 and look forward to 2007, I find that I need to split my attention. I need to find ways to increase the amount of work I do for existing clients and editors. At the same time, I need to spend time seeking new markets to replace those I've lost or am about to lose.

It also means I need to do more writing on spec than I have the past year. I'd been feeling comfortable--too comfortable, as it turns out--with the number of assignments and opportunities that were dropping in my lap. It's time to get back to my roots, in a sense, and see if I can start flooding slush piles with new manuscripts as I explore new markets or make new attempts to break into markets that have previously kept their pages remarkably free of my work.

Halloween Serial update

The Halloween serial written by five area writers, "A Waco Ghost Story," was published in full in today's edition of the Waco Tribune-Herald. It had been serialized in five parts on the newspaper's Web site, with the final installment appearing this morning, and the complete version is available on-line at:

http://www.wacotrib.com/featr/content/features/halloween_06/stories/complete.html

I wrote part 2.

Today's Mail

I received a contributor copy of a magazine that contains a story I wrote under a pseudonym.

Today's Mail

I received a contributor copy of a magazine that contains a story I wrote under a pseudonym.

Today's Mail

I received a contributor copy of a magazine that contains a story I wrote under a pseudonym.

Cover!

My article "Trees for Texas" is the cover story in the November/December issue of Texas Gardener, which should be at newsstands around Texas any moment now.

Halloween Serial Begins

Carl Hoover, the arts editor of my local newspaper, the Waco Tribune-Herald, wrote the first part of a five-part Halloween serial and asked four local writers to finish the story. I wrote part 2. Part 1 of the serial is now posted at http://www.wacotrib.com/featr/content/features/halloween_06/stories/part1.html and a new part will be posted each day through Sunday. On Sunday, all five parts are supposed to be printed in the newspaper.

Story Published

My short story "A Crime on Christmas" is the lead story in the Winter True Experience.

Essay Published

My essay "Where Evil Lurks" is the Manspeak column in the November True Confessions.

Organization

One of the most important things a writer can do is to establish and maintain an organized record-keeping system. While this is easy for someone who produces a single finished manuscript each year (a novelist, for example), it can be difficult for a writer that produces a large number of finished manuscripts each year (a prolific short story writer or a non-fiction writer).

There are multiple parts to organizing. At the one end of the writing process is developing a method to keep track of work-in-progress and assignments with deadlines. At the other end is developing a method to keep track of work submitted, accepted, paid for, and published.

Much of my work is written on spec, so I don't often deal with conflicting deadlines. During the past few years I've probably not had more than three deadline-driven assignments overlap. It isn't hard to stick a Post-It note to my computer monitor and jot a note in my Day Planner to remind me of these deadlines. I know writers who use spreadsheets and electronic calendars to keep track of multiple assignments.

The back end of the process is where I've put most of my organizational efforts. While some writers claim to keep all their records on a computer, I find it impossible to do that. There's just too much paperwork.

Every manuscript I finish gets its own folder. Into that folder goes a hardcopy of the ms. and copies of any research material I used; a record of where the piece has been submitted and the results (rejection, request for revision, acceptance, etc.); copies of all acceptance letters, contracts, check stubs, and etc.. That folder travels around my office through various file drawers depending on what stage the ms. is at.

Under submission? One drawer for that.

Accepted? One drawer for that.

Paid for/not published? Drawer for that.

Published/not paid for? Drawer for that.

Published and paid for? Nine drawers for that.

While not a perfect system, it's served me well since I started writing more than thirty years ago. And it would be bloody hard to change now.

The Mail

Today's mail brought a check for a short story. Friday and Saturday I received contributor copies of magazines containing my short stories.

Submit Until There Are No Markets Left

A story being published later this year was first written in early 1991 and received its first rejection March 31, 1991. It was rejected by 25 publications, finally finding a home earlier this year on its 26th submission.

That's 16 years from creation to publication...and it isn't the longest gap between creation and publication for one of my stories.

If there's a lesson here, it's that a writing career doesn't happen overnight. It takes hard work and a tenacity that most would-be writers don't have.

Oh, and a good filing system never hurts.

Streak Remains Unbroken

I was beginning to sweat.

I've had one or more pieces of fiction published every month* beginning August 2003 and continuing through December 2006...except I had nothing published yet this month.

Until a few minutes ago.

I received an e-mail from the editor of a weekly publication letting me know I had a story in this week's issue.

That's 41 consecutive months. Does Ed Hoch have a rearview mirror? Can he see me in it yet?

---

*I use a publication's cover date, not its actual on-sale date to calculate this stuff.

Today's Mail

Today's mail included a magazine with one of my short stories in it.

Assignments galore

Although the day started poorly, around mid-day things picked up considerably. I've received three assignments--one expected and the other two out of the blue. The first is to write one installment of a five installment ghost story to be serialized by the local newspaper later this month. Other local writers will write the other four installments. The second is for an essay, and the third is for a magazine article.

Luckily, the deadlines are such that the assignments shouldn't confilict with each other.

Half A Sale

Tom Sweeney and I received a contract today from Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine for "Snowbird," a private eye story we co-authored. It's the first sale to EQMM for either of us.

Expect the Unexpected

Yesterday's mail brought a check for a story for which I did not expect to be paid. It wasn't a large check, but I should be able to buy lunch at Wendy's.

59

Today's mail brought my 59th acceptance of the year, this time for an essay.

58

Today's mail brought a contract for a story story. This is my 58th acceptance this year, one more than all of last year.

Published Again

My humorous gardening essay "Why My Face Is Red But My Tomatoes Aren't" was published in today's edition of Seeds. The current issue is archived at:

http://www.texasgardener.com/newsletters/060920/default.htm

Charles L. Grant

Charles L. Grant--Charlie--died shortly after 10:00 p.m. Friday evening. While my recent contact with Charlie had been sporadic at best--mostly messages sent back and forth via his wife, Kathy Ptacek--Charlie was instrumental in the early part of my writing career. A young author with a handful of short stories to his credit when I "met" him, he ultimately published a bazillion novels in a variety of genres under numerous pseudonyms. He was probably best known for the quiet horror he published under his own name.

When we "met," I was a teenaged science fiction fan publishing a fanzine. We "met" after I sent Charlie a copy of my fanzine containing an article someone else had written about him. We began corresponding the old-fashioned way, sending typewritten letters via the postal service. Charlie wrote a column for my fanzine, and he once interviewed one of his pseudonyms as an inside joke.

In addition to writing, Charlie also edited many horror anthologies, and he published one of my first short stories in 1985. ("Of Memories Dying" was my 15th published short story, my first to appear in an anthology.)

More importantly, though, Charlie was one of the people who taught me how to be a writer. He treated me with professionalism and respect, he treated my fanzine as if it were a professional magazine, and he lived the life that I wanted to live.

Writers often talk about the idea of "paying forward," of helping new writers, but Charlie actually did it. He helped me. For that I am eternally grateful.

Published, again

My essay "Is That A Book In My Pocket?' is the Manspeak column in the October True Confessions, which just hit the newsstands locally.

Pay for Play

After reading yesterday's post, Steven asked, "Just out of curiosity, would you be willing to say how many of the 57 are bringing in checks? Or is it all of them?"

After a quick glance through my records, it looks like the 57 acceptances include two short stories for which I did not/will not receive pay for initial publication and two reprints (one fiction, one non-fiction) for which I did not/will not receive pay.

That means 53 of this year's acceptances have or will result in payment of some kind.

Accepted, again

I had a short story accepted earlier this afternoon, a hardboiled story featuring my reoccuring character, Waco, Texas-based P.I. Morris Ronald Boyette. It's my 57th acceptance this year, tying my total number of acceptances for all of last year.

This Morning's E-mail

This morning's e-mail brought two acceptances--an article I submitted last night and a short story I submitted in April.

Show Me The Money

The money's in non-fiction.

That's the mantra we're all forced to learn when we become freelance writers.

Alas, I've yet to prove that true.

Although I often earn more per-word for non-fiction, I don't seem to earn more per-hour. I've been writing and selling short stories for so many years that they often just roll off my fingers. Articles take more research and more drafts before I feel comfortable that I've produced a publishable manuscript.

Part of my dilemma is limited formal training in journalism. I've not mastered the art of the interview, and often find myself with far more material than I need. I've not mastered the art of organizing my material and developing a preliminary outline, so I often toss my outlines out the window once I start drafting copy. I've not mastered the hook and the nut graf, so I often struggle producing them.

My wife--a journalism professor at a major university--must think I'm a moron when I ask for her advice, which I often do when crafting articles, and she repeatedly pounds the same lessons into my head that she pounds into the heads of her entry-level journalism students.

It may be that I lack confidence or that I wear blinders when viewing my non-fiction. After all, a good part of my freelance income comes from editing other writers' non-fiction! I can see and correct the problems in their work that I can't seem to see and correct in my own.

Ah, well, maybe it's just a time and experience issue. If I had written as many articles as I've written short stories, they might just roll off my fingers the way short stories do.

And maybe someday, after I have written many more articles, someone will show me the money!

School Daze

Homework has taken up a fair bit of my time lately--more reading than anything else--so I'm still not writing much on speculation. I have an article assigned to me last month that I hope to finish this weekened, and last night I received an essay assignment that's due on the 19th.

The window of opportunity on Christmas/holiday stories is shut now, so all the Christmas/Holiday stories I didn't finish last month will go into a virtual folder, and I'll pull them out again next summer.

Thinking of editorial calendars, what should I be working on now? Valentine's Day stories! I already have notes/roughs for six Valentine's Day stories...and almost no time to work on them. Maybe next week/weekend, after I finish the two assignments I already have in hand.

From Flood to Trickle

During the past few months the volume of non-spam e-mail I receive has slowly diminished. I'm receiving fewer e-mails from editors and fellow writers, and I've pondered the reasons for the reduction in volume.

I was once quite active on a couple of Yahoo groups--including serving as president of the Short Mystery Fiction Society and, thus, moderator of its Yahoo group--but have limited my participation in on-line discussions this summer.

I'm producing less work on-spec and thus seeing fewer rejections (which is the kind of editor contact I'd prefer to avoid!). At the same time, a couple of editors with whom I had good on-line working relationships have moved on (and not always by their choice), and I've not developed that kind of relationship with their replacements.

On the other hand, it could just be that good weather and summer vacation has taken everyone away from their keyboards and the volume of e-mail will increase as we move into fall.

Return of the Damned

A week ago today I started grad school. I'm only enrolled in one course--at this pace it'll take five years to complete, so I'll need to step it up a notch later--and I'll still trying to balance my workload. As a result, I'm slightly ahead of schedule on my classwork, on schedule with all of my writing/editing assignments, but have not written anything on spec since class started.

Alas, most of my on-spec work is short fiction and short fiction is what I most enjoy writing.

On the other hand, I have made a few notes about stories in progress and have outlined a new story that could be pretty cool if I can write it the way I outlined it.

Essay reprinted

My essay "Gardening Rocks" was reprinted in today's edition of Seeds, a weekly newsletter for Texas gardeners. The issue is archived at:
http://www.texasgardener.com/newsletters/060823/default.htm

When Editors Attack

I received, approved, and returned edits for two of my short stories this evening.

I quibbled with a couple of minor points, but was satisfied overall. At best the edits improved my work; at worst they did no harm. What more can you ask of a copyeditor?

Proposal and other projects

I've been juggling a trio of projects the past two days: I've been doing prelimiary research for an assigned non-fiction article, roughing some notes for an unassigned essay I hope to submit to an anthology with a deadline only weeks away, and preparing a proposal for another anthology. I finished the anthology proposal this evening and it'll go in the mail tomorrow. I made progress on the other two projects, but am nowhere near completion on either of them.

Essay Accepted

The essay I turned in Tuesday was accepted today. The editor's comment: "I really like it."

Today's Mail & Etc.

Last night, I emailed the essay that was due today. I've not yet heard from the editor, so I'm hoping that's good news.

Today's mail brought a contributor copy of a magazine containing one of my short stories.

And, earlier today, I started doing research on the article that's due in a couple of weeks.

Christmas makes 52

I received an e-mail earlier today telling me that another of my Christmas stories has been accepted and that a contract will follow shortly.

This is my 52nd acceptance this year, putting me 4.5 months ahead of schedule. (My goal is to average one acceptance each week. Maybe someday I'll get ambitious and set a target of TWO acceptances each week.)

Good Day To Be A Writer

Today was a good day to be a writer. I received checks for two short stories, received author copies of a magazine containing a short story, received an assignment for a non-fiction piece, and may be helping one of my clients update a non-fiction book first published in the early '80s. My work on the book will be more production--editing, proofreading, design, and layout--than writing, but it'll be a good bit of extra work nonetheless.

Today's Contract

The decision to concentrate on writing Christmas/holiday stories for the past month and a half is paying off. Today's mail brought a contract for one of them.

Holiday Fiction

Early last month, after an extended period without writing fiction because other freelance work (editing and advertising/public relations, primarily) kept me busy, I decided to concentrate my efforts on holiday fiction. I felt I had the greatest opportunity to write and place these stories in a short period.

The window of opportunity for submitting Christmas-themed stories essentially closes at the end of this month, but I just finished my fourth Christmas-themed story and will drop it in the mail tomorrow. I have four more Christmas-themed stories in progress, two of them already past the halfway point, and I hope to finish them before the month ends.

Last week, I sat down and roughed out six Valentine's Day stories. Unless editors and clients overload me with assignments, I'll work on those stories until the window of opportunity closes around the end of October.

Then what? St. Patrick's Day? April Fool's Day? Mother's Day?

We'll see.

Today's Assignment

I received an assignment via e-mail earlier today, from an editor who wants a Halloween-themed essay with a twist I never would have thought of on my own. And it's due on the 16th.

Most Prolific?

There's an excellent profile of Edward Hoch at http://www.crimetime.co.uk/make_page.php?id=600 in which it's noted that Hoch has produced an average of 18 short stories each year since he sold his first story in 1955 and that he was working on his 909th story at the time the profile was written.

Hoch is one of the most prolific short story writers producing new material on a regular basis, but reading the profile started me thinking: Who are the most prolific short story writers working today? Do they write genre fiction, as Hoch does, or do they write literary fiction, as Joyce Carol Oates mostly does? Are they well-established names, or are they the often nameless scribes who turn out short stories for confession magazines? Should equal weight be given to writers who turn out flash fiction for non-paying, publish-almost-anything Web sites as is given to writers who are published in respected literary journals or "professional" genre magazines?

In short, how does one identify a prolific short story writer?

Today's Don't

If you don't know the difference between "insure" and "ensure," don't use either word.

Before Desktop Publishing

While helping my wife clean the garage this evening, I discovered a box filled with technical documentation--some of which I wrote--that immediately took me back to the days before desktop publishing.

I entered publishing through the production department, setting type, doing paste-up, and proofreading advertising, newspapers, magazines, books, and just about anything else that could be printed. Although I initially worked on some smaller phototypsetting systems such as Compugraphic and strike-on systems such as the IBM Composer, I ultimately "mastered" the Penta System--a multiple terminal typesetting sytem running on Data General computer hardware--first as a typesetter and then as a systems manager. I wrote complex typesetting "programs" utilizing Penta's typesetting language and I wrote systems programs in Data General's RDOS language and, later, their AOS/VS language.

At one point I was so good at what I did that I was a panelist at the annual convention of the Penta Users Group, that some of the things I created were shared with Penta users other than my immediate employer, and I consulted with other companies (McDonnell-Douglas, among them). I job-hopped my way up the ladder from typesetter to systems manager to shift supervisor to department manager and so on.

Desktop publishing made most of my skills obsolete almost overnight. I was lucky that I was employed in a supervisory/managerial position with one plant of a multi-national printing company just dipping its toes into desktop publishing when it exploded, and I was there to oversee the desktop publishing department's transition from a Macintosh, a PC, and an imagesetter to a department with multiple Macs, multiple PCS, and multiple imagesetters. I traveled around the country helping the plant's clients make the transition to desktop publishing and training the plant's clients in best practices for submitting files to the printing plant.

Somewhere along the way I shot my career in the foot. After a few more job changes, I found myself managing a prepress company/service bureau at a time when prepress companies and service bureaus were disappearing at an alarming rate. Shortly after the turn of the century, all three of the prepress companies/service bureaus in the city where I live either went out of business or were absorbed into printing companies.

Seeing computer printouts of coding--dozens of pages of single-spaced coding--I wrote that made a computer do an extremely specific task still impresses me. Seeing the pages upon pages of technical documentation I wrote to explan to others what the programs did and how to use them impresses me as well.

Why?

Because I am not that person today.

I can no longer do those things...and there's no longer a need for me to.

On the other hand, the wealth of knowledge I gained on the production side of the fence has been a tremendous boon to my freelance career. While I freelance as a writer and editor, many times the opportunities presented to me require more than wordsmithing. I'm called upon to write the brochure...and then to design it and prepare it for the printer using desktop publishing programs such as Pagemaker, QuarkXPress, and InDesign.

Alas, I'm unlikely to ever attain a skill level with desktop publishing comparable to what I once had with Penta Systems, but it isn't for lack of effort.

And, after looking through the entire box of material, I pulled out a stack of paper about half an inch thick and dumped the rest in the trash bin.

I need space in the garage for something else I'll try to save way beyond its useful life.

Essay Reprinted

My humorous essay, "Fashionable gardeners say pink in the new green ," first published in Texas Gardener, was reprinted in today's edition of Seeds. Non-subscribers can read it at:
http://www.texasgardener.com/newsletters/060802/default.htm

Reading My Published Work

When I first started seeing my work in print, I read every word of every published piece. I even pulled out my manuscripts and placed them side-by-side with the publications. I compared everything. I studied what the editors had done, asking myself, "Why did he insert this comma? Why did she remove that comma? Why did he insert a scene break here? Why did she change the name of my secondary character?"

Later, I read my published work less for the editing lessons I might learn and more just because I received pleasure from seeing my work in print. There is a certain feeling reading a story, article, or essay in a magazine or anthology that's quite different from reading it in manuscript.

I don't read my published work much these days. Perhaps I just haven't enough time. Perhaps I'm jaded. Either way, I've been writing for some editors for so long that whever editing lessons I might learn are minimal and whatever thrill I might get from reading my own work is negligible.

When I have time to read, I read the work of others. These days, there's more to learn from studying how others write and more joy in discovering what others create.

Yesterday's Mail

Yesterday's mail brought a check for a short story, just in time to pay end-of-month bills.

Today's Mail

Today's mail brought a contract for an essay to be published in True Confessions. This is my 49th acceptance of the year; three more acceptances and I'll reach my annual goal of 52.

Writing Confessions

In addition to writing crime fiction, I write confessions. I recently found two blog mentions of my work--one where I'm named, the other where I'm not--by a new reader of confessions and by a former confession editor.

First, the new reader:
http://redmolly.typepad.com/picayunedemocrat/2005/03/index.html
(Read the March 30, 2005 post.)

Second, the former editor:
http://blogs.mediapost.com/magazine_rack/?p=146
(That's my story--"New Year-New Marriage"--mentioned in the 6th paragraph.)

Guerilla Marketing

Back in 2000/2001, when seven of my books were released within a two-year period, I prepared a lot of promotional/marketing material. Too much, actually, but at the time I managed a prepress company and, though connections, had access to deeply discounted printing. I made folders and posters and postcards and bookmarks. I also created a series of business card-sized promotional pieces for each of five of the books.

Alas, much of that stuff remains in my office.

My mailbox is filled nearly every day with junk mail I neither request nor desire. Much of it contains postage paid returned envelopes. Until recently, I just threw the junk mail away.

About a month ago, I started doing something different. Before discarding the junk mail, I remove the postage paid envelopes. Once each week, I stuff two business card-sized promotional pieces into each envelope and drop the envelopes in the mail.

There is an infinitesimally small chance that someone on the receiving end will do anything more than throw the cards away. On the other hand:

a) I slowly reduce the pile of otherwise unusable promotional material in my office without the heartbreak of actually throwing it away.

b) I produce a small, but steady, flow of business for the USPS, an organization that has faithfully delivered my manuscripts to editors in good times and bad.

c) I make companies that waste my time with junk mail spend a few fractions of a cent, thereby "sticking it to the man" in my own subtle way.

d) I just might sell a book, and that would be one sale I never would have had otherwise.

Pseudonym success

It's no secret that I write under a variety of pseudonyms, even though the exact pseudonyms aren't freely shared, but I've been faced with a bit of a personal challenge lately. One of my pseudonyms has had a streak of good fortune this year, placing 15 short stories and receiving an Honorable mention in a writing contest.

And I can't/won't tell anyone (other than the editors who bought the stories so they can write the checks to me!) what name I've having success under.

Web site in flux

I haven't had much time lately to do some of the things I need to do as a freelancer, but I have been reworking my Web site -- www.CrimeFictionWriter.com -- in an effort to make it easier to navigate, easier to read, and more focused on telling the "story" of what I can do for potential clients rather than the odd mishmash of personal and business information I had on my "old" site.

My work is far from complete, but I'm able to take some time every few days to add information, tweak links, and do other things. At this pace, I may have it lokking and functioning the way I want in a month or so (until then, every new page has a link to the old site).

Settling Back In

After a crush of non-writing freelance work that kept me busy beginning around Easter, I finally returned to the keyboard.

I finished a new short story last week and two new essays this week. I also revised two essays and sent them to editors, and dropped a recently rejected short story back in the mail. Additionally, I've written maybe a dozen more pages of fiction, though they've been spread among a handful of stories.

I've received four acceptances within the past 48 hours--three short stories and one essay--and expect another acceptance any minute now for an essay I wrote on assignment. So, even though my production dropped for a couple of months, my sales continue.

Career Turns

My freelancing career took a hard left turn about a month ago, and I found myself creating Web sites for two clients. Between that work and the weekly newsletter I now edit, I've had less time to write fiction. Still, work keeps selling and getting published. Recent publications inlude:

Non-Fiction:
“Making that Time with Your Man Special,” Jive, September, 2006

Fiction:
“Young Love,” Jive, September, 2006

And a few stories under a pseudonym.

Honorable Mention

I don't often enter writing contests, but I just learned that I received an "Honorable Mention" for a hardboiled crime fiction story I submitted under a pseudonym.

Published, Again

My essay "Money for Nothing and Burnt Fingers For Free" appears in the June Senior News.