Show me the money!

A freelancer's financial life is much like roller-coaster riding: It has its ups and downs. Occasionally you go off the track, but, usually, you wind up back in the station where you started.

This is especially true for writers at or near my level of success (selling regularly, but mostly to pay-on-publication markets). I earn enough from freelancing to maintain a modest lifestyle, but the income is highly irregular. Budgeting is nearly impossible because I rely on many checks of varying amounts that arrive randomly throughout the year.

For example, on January 14 I had 4 cents in my checking account. The morning of January 20 the kitchen cabinets were mostly bare, I had a stack of unpaid bills almost 2 inches thick, and only a few dollars in cash. That morning I raided my savings account to pay the two most pressing bills. Only 10 days later, my kitchen cabinets are full, all my bills are paid, I've replaced the money I took from savings, and I have a healthy balance in my checking account and cash in my pocket.

Many people live paycheck-to-paycheck--some don't have a choice, others because they've made bad choices--but freelancers living check-to-check when they aren't sure when the next check will arrive and how much it might be deal with a much more difficult financial situation.

Are there ways to to turn the roller-coater ride into more of a train ride (still on a track and still with ups and downs, but at least with a destination in mind and more time to plan for the ups and downs)?

There are many, and here are a few that help me deal:

1) Find steady gigs. In my case, it's a former client that made me a part-time employee. That's two checks a month, for the same amount each time, paid like clockwork. For another freelancer it might be a regular column or a publisher that contracts for a specific number of articles or short stories each month.

2) Find semi-steady gigs. For me it's two clients. One hires me by the hour and cuts me a check every two weeks. Even though the checks arrive like clockwork, the amount varies wildly based on the number of hours I worked during that two-week period. The other pays me a flat rate each week. Even though the amount is the same each week, the checks arrive somewhat sporadically.

3) Produce a lot of a material for as many markets as possible. The more different places there are that owe you money, the more likely it is that one of them will send you a check on any given day.

4) Whenever possible, write for pay-on-acceptance publications.

On the flip side is managing outflow:

1) Pay your bills on time. This prevents late fees and damage to your credit rating.

2) Use credit cards sparingly and pay them off promptly. This prevents interest charges.

3) Build a savings account. The more money you have set aside to deal with emergencies, the less likely it is that a problem or bump in the road will turn into an emergency. (Many emergencies are the result of a failure to plan ahead.)

4) Stock up on non-perishables when you can.

5) Learn to love peanut butter.

I'm sure there are many other ways to deal with the ups and downs of a freelancer's financial life, but doing these things have helped me enjoy the ride. The next time my financial roller-coaster car crests the top and heads down I can throw my arms up and scream with joy rather than grip the steel bar holding me in my seat and quiver with fear.

Story four

I also finished my fourth story of the year, the 4,400-word story of a contract killer I mentioned a few days ago. I don't know where I'm sending this one, either, but it's finished and ready to submit.

Story Three

I finished writing my third story of the year earlier this evening. It's a 1,600-worder that straddles the line between dark crime and horror fiction. I haven't yet submitted it anywhere because I'm not up to speed on my dark crime/horror markets and will need to do a bit of market research before this one goes out.

Interviewed

I was just interviewed by Jeff Rutherford for readingandwritingpodcast.com. The interview won't be posted for a month or so. In the meantime, why not drop by and listen to some of the other interviews.

Another story I probably won't write: "The Vampire Umpire"

He only works night games, and every time he turns into a bat he gets hit with fastballs.

Published 2x

My stories "Lucky Clover" and "Spring Fling" appear in the March issue of True Confessions.

Tracking stories

Scott D Parker is tracking his short story production this year. His goal is 12 new short stories in 2010. Will he make it? Follow his blog to find out.

7

I received my seventh acceptance of the year this morning, for a short romance I submitted last July.

Stories without markets

Friday morning I woke with an idea for a short story, mostly an image and brief series of events that I knew would make a strong opening scene. I roughed out that opening scene before my morning shower, went about my day, and returned to the story around six that night. I worked on it until midnight, woke at seven the next morning and continued writing until I had a 4,400-word draft around three Saturday afternoon.

The story is complete, though I have to proofread/edit it and make make a few changes before I have a final draft to count as a completed story for the year.

My dilemma is that I have no clue where to submit the story. It doesn't fit any of my usual markets--too violent, too sexual, too long, too male--and the few Web zines that it might fit don't pay. (I'm not opposed to placing work with non-paying markets; I just can't put food on the table that way.) What to do, what to do?

Some of my best stories are like this. The ideas come unbidden, they don't fit any particular market, and they take bloody all forever to place.

Still, I'm not one to look a gift muse in the mouth. In a day or two I'll pick this story up again, give it a good going over and then submit the manuscript somewhere...because it'll never sell if it sits in my filing cabinet.

6

I received my sixth acceptance of the year earlier today, this time for a bit of crime fiction featuring a guy who collects debts for the mob. This will be in an anthology that wasn't specifically looking for crime fiction, but was looking for stories about "muscle men."

Published & 5

My story "St. Patrick's Day Romance" is the lead story in the March True Love.

And today's mail also brought my fifth acceptance of the year in the form of a contract for another confession, an Easter-themed confession I submitted on December 27.

Hack House

A totally new writing environment.

An old hotel converted into individual "writing rooms." Each room comes with a private bathroom, a mini-fridge, a desk, and a couch. Writers are encouraged to decorate or outfit their private rooms as they wish.

The cafe on the main floor is open to the public, and is ideal for those writers who need to work in a busy environment, yet need to be close to their writing room for when they want/need privacy.

The lounge, also open to the public, is open in the evenings for writers who like to mingle. And drink.

The entire facility has wi-fi, a maid service, and other amenities. Once each quarter, Hack House sponsors a two-day writing conference for wanna-be and would-be writers not yet ready to have their own room at Hack House. Once a month, Hack House sponsors readings or open mic nights. Hack House writers-in-residence are encouraged to participate or to isolate themselves as appropriate to their needs.

To the extent possible, staff consists of college students majoring in English, Journalism, Creative Writing, and other related programs.

Hack House.

Where the words are.

4

I received my fourth acceptance of the year a few minutes ago, this for the private eye short story I submitted yesterday.

Published

My short romance "Putting the Kart Before Love" was published this week at The Long and Short of It.

Story Two

I finished writing my second short story of the year a few minutes ago. This time it's a 4,200-word private eye story written in response to an open anthology call. I started work on the story on July 19 of last year, wrote it in fits-and-starts, and then had to do some heavy editing of the last draft because I had put in too many dead-end clues and had to remove them for the story to make sense.

The editor of this anthology likes to see queries, so I queried him and am waiting to learn if he wants to see the full ms.

Update: The editor asked to see the full ms.

3

I received my third acceptance of the year today, this for the article I submitted yesterday.

Non-fiction

Though I'm not actively seeking non-fiction assignments, I did pick one up late last year. I just finished the 2,000-word article and submitted it to the editor. Because the article was assigned, and because it's already on the editorial calendar for the March/April issue of the magazine, an acceptance is highly probable. Still, it's never wise to count unhatched chickens...

Reviewed

Bookgasm reviews Out of the Gutter 6 and gives a shoutout to one of my two stories:

In longer pieces, Michael Bracken examines the dangers of sex with plastic bags in “Games[.]”

Looking ahead at 2010

I have a single writing goal, and it's been the same each year for several years: To receive an average of one acceptance per week over the course of the year.

Some years I achieve or exceed my goal, some years I don't.

Some years I alter my approach, in part to see what impact a new approach might have on my ability to write and sell, and sometimes simply as a reaction to changes in the marketplace. For example, last year I saw the demise or scaling back of several publications where I had previously placed multiple short stories, publications I could count on for several acceptances over the course of any given year.

Last year I made three changes:

1. I targeted one high-paying publication to which I had never sold anything and wrote several stories targeted specifically for that publication. The result: 12 rejections. (One of those stories sold this year, without revision, to a much lower-paying publication.)

2. I targeted a genre in which I had only a handful of sales over the previous 30+ years. The result: Nine acceptances, two rejections, and one editor who likes my stuff so much he asked to include my name as a probable contributor in an anthology proposal he's currently pitching.

3. I wrote and submitted more to a group of publications where I'm a long-established contributor. The result: 23 acceptances, 17 rejections.

(Of course, several stories that I submitted last year under points 2 and 3 above have not yet generated responses.)

One other thing I started doing late last year and hope to continue this year is an attempt to write and sell at least one short story tied to each month of the year. As I mentioned in a previous post, I've often done well with Christmas and Valentine's Day stories, but there are many other holidays and events throughout the year that might generate story ideas and story themes.

So far I've had three January stories published (all tied to New Year's) and two February stories published (both tied to Valentine's Day). I've placed three March stories (two tied to St. Patrick's Day, the other tied to Spring Break), and I've submitted two more Spring Break stories. I've also submitted two April stories (both tied to Easter) and two May stories (one tied to Mother's Day, the other to Memorial Day). This is an interesting challenge and it's going to be fun to see if I can actually do it.

Beyond that, I plan to use my uncommitted writing time for fiction and don't anticipate actively seeking additional editing, non-fiction, advertising or public relations assignments because my current clients keep me busy with these kinds of projects.

In the end, though, while my approach may have shifted a bit, my goal remains the same as each previous year: 52 acceptances.

I have two already; only 50 to go!

Story One

I finished and submitted my first short story of the year, a 4,500-word confession tied to Mother's Day. I started writing this on January 7, finished writing it late last night, and let it sit until this morning for a final proofread/edit before submitting it.

2

Editors have been taking advantage of the holiday weekend. I just received my 2nd acceptance of the year, this time for a 3,100-word story about a skateboarder who thwarts a purse snatching, by an anthology of stories about skateboarders.

2009 in review

Here's what happened in 2009:

37 acceptances

61 rejections

29 short stories published, 3 articles/essays published

I completed (to final draft) 216,310 words of short fiction. (I only tracked completed short fiction, not words written for incomplete projects, nor words written for non-fiction, advertising, or public relations projects).

That's an average story length of 2,884 words; the shortest story was 10 words, the longest was 6,600 words.

I completed and submitted an average of 1.4 short stories each week.

Income from
Advertising & Public Relations: dropped to $0 (My primary client for A&PR put me on payroll in 2008 and I did not seek freelance A&PR work in 2009)
Editing: Up 6.77%
Fiction (not novels): Up 20.49%
Non-Fiction (not books): dropped to $0 (I did not seek non-fiction assignments in 2009)
Royalties (from all books): Up 175.86%
Seminars/Teaching: Down 15.85%
Salary: Up 50% (See Advertising & PR above)
Overall gross income up 6.45%

Observations and lessons learned:

Although I am now employed part-time, I still earn the majority of my income from freelancing.

My rejection rate was much higher this year than in years past. This is, in part, because I attempted to break into new markets in 2009. (Woman's World, for example, generated 12 of my rejections. Although many of the rejections included a personal note from the editor, thus encouraging me to continuing attempting to break into this market, a rejection is still a rejection.)

Income from short fiction increased, in part because I sold to fewer low-end markets and to more mid-range markets.

Income from editing went up as a result of additional work from one of my two primary editing clients.

There's an old cliche that says, "Do what you love and the money will follow." Maybe there's some truth to that statement. My gross income was higher in 2009 than in any year since 1996, and I still love what I do.

1

I received my first acceptance of the year today, for an 800-word romance I submitted October 16.

Hopeful notes

My year ends on a pair of hopeful notes. A few minutes ago I learned that one of my essays has been tentatively accepted for an anthology, and yesterday I learned that one of my short stories is being held for further consideration by a magazine that has published my work in the past.

While neither will count as an acceptance for this year (alas, "maybe" isn't "yes"), perhaps they'll count in next year's total.

Published 2x

My story "Chance Encounter" appears in the February True Story and "Total Package" appears in Best Gay Romance 2010, edited by Richard Labonte and just out from Cleis Press.

Story seventy-five

I just finished and will tomorrow submit my 75th short story of the year. This time it's a 4,500-word Memorial Day confession. Plot Monkey and I came up with the idea for this story and roughed out the plot on November 7. We were sitting on the bench in my front yard and we challenged ourselves to come up with a story based on something we could see in my neighborhood. What we saw, about a block away, was a group of bikers--motorcycle riders, not bicyclists--and that became the impetus for the story. Because the plot was fully formed I was able to write the entire story yesterday and today and still enjoy my third Christmas celebration, an evening out at the movies, and a couple of extra hours of sleep this morning.

Story seventy-four

I'm about to submit my 74th short story of the year, a 4,100-word Easter confession I started writing December 18. I finished writing it yesterday but didn't have a chance to proofread/edit the manuscript until this afternoon. It'll go into the mail tomorrow.

Reviewed

At MobileRead.com, Gummy has this to say about my 2005 crime fiction collection Yesterday in Blood and Bone:

The stories are sometimes short to the point of being abrupt. One author called him this era's Mickey Spillane. He may be better, actually.

Cool, huh?

36, 37

One of my Christmas wishes has already been partially granted. A few minutes ago I received my 36th and 37th acceptances of the year. One is for a St. Patrick's Day confession submitted November 3; the other is for a Spring Break confession submitted December 6.

All I want for Christmas...

...is for editors to respond to my submissions (acceptances preferred).

...publishers to pay me what they agreed to pay me, when they agreed to pay it.

...and the opportunity to keep writing for another year.

Published 3x

My story "Love After Death" appears in the February issue of True Love and my stories "Games" and "Snub Nose Love" appear in issue #6 of Out of the Gutter.

I miss rejection slips

When I started writing in the early 1970s, photocopiers were not ubiquitous. Not every publishing office had a photocopier, so multiple copies of generic rejection slips were often printed on the office mimeograph or on a printing press using hot metal type. Later, photocopiers mostly replaced mimeographs in the office and offset printing mostly replaced letterpress in print shops.

But rejection slips remained slips of paper that accompanied unwanted manuscripts home from the slush pile.

Over time we learned how to read those rejections slips. No, not the generic copy printed on them that said, in one way or another, "Thanks, but no thanks." We learn to read the implied messages.

A poorly photocopied rejection slip? Didn't make it past the intern who's being punished for accidentally insulting a senior editor's spouse.

A crisp, photocopied rejection slip? The intern actually read the first page of the manuscript.

An original, printed rejection slip--not a photocopy? The intern kicked the manuscript up to an assistant editor.

An original, printed rejection slip with one or two words indecipherably scrawled at the bottom? The assistant editor read a few pages.

An original, printed rejection slip with "Not for us" or "Try again" scrawled at the bottom? The assistant editor read the entire manuscript.

An original, printed rejection slip with the editor's name scrawled at the bottom? The assistant editor kicked the manuscript up to the editor, who read a page or two.

An original, printed rejection slip with "Not for us" or "Try again" scrawled at the bottom, followed by the editor's name? The editor read the entire manuscript.

An original, printed rejection slip with any comment related to the story--"weak plot" or "unbelievable characters," for example --scrawled at the bottom, followed by the editor's name? The editor read the entire manuscript and liked it enough to offer a few thoughts.

A personalized rejection letter that the editor took the time to type? That's almost a sale. Or the editor had too much free time, in which case the publication didn't have much of a slush pile.

Beyond that are responses that aren't actual rejections; suggestions for revision, requests for revision, acceptances contingent upon revision, and acceptances.

Today, though, all that implied information is lost to writers. With manuscripts submitted via e-mail, and responses, when they come, also arriving by e-mail, it isn't possible to easily suss out who may or may not have looked at the manuscript and what they may or may not have thought of what they read. Rejections are often cut-and-paste blocks of type with no personal touches added, and when personal touches are added, they may be nothing more than dropping the writer's name into a space reserved in the salutation and the story title dropped into another spot in the opening sentence.

And a sig line isn't a signature. It's just another cut-and-paste block of type.

Sigh.

Although I don't receive nearly as many rejections as I did back in the early 1970s, I miss rejection slips.

If writers worked the drive-through

So that's one novel, extra plot. Do want a short story with that?

35

I received my 35th acceptance yesterday, this time from an anthology for the story of a mafioso and what he does to move up in the organization. I submitted the story on December 4.

Story seventy-three

I finished and submitted my 73rd short story of the year this afternoon. This one is a 2,700-word Easter-themed confession. I began writing it on November 27.

Story seventy-two

I finished and submitted my 72nd short story of the year, a 5,500-word Spring Break-themed confession that I started writing October 16, 2008.

34

I received my 34th acceptance of the year a few minutes ago, this time for a 3,800-word confession I submitted on November 8.

Terminology

A few days ago, an agent asked her readers which conferences they would recommend to other writers, but in her example listed both conferences and conventions as examples. It bothers me that people who should know the difference, don't. My response:

Although there is some overlapping of programming and opportunity for writers between the two, there is a significant difference between conferences and conventions.

Conventions--such as Bouchercon, mentioned in your post--are FOR the readers/fans while conferences--such as Pennwriters, mentioned by a previous poster--are FOR the writers.

At a convention you're most likely to hear a well-known writer give the "and then I wrote" speech to a roomful of fans. At a conference, that same writer is more likely to give the "here's how I wrote" speech to a roomful of writers and would-be writers.

While attendence at both conferences and conventions can be beneficial to a writer, it's in the writer's best interest to understand the difference and to understand what they should bring to the event (if a speaker or panelist) or take from the event (if an attendee). Having appropriate expectations will play a significant factor in evaluating the experience post-event.

This morning I read a pair of blog posts by a writer assembling his first collection of short stories, where he continually refers to it as an anthology. It isn't. A collection contains the work of a single author. An anthology contains the work of several authors.

I frequently read blog posts and articles by authors who claim to have received galleys of their work, but have probably never seen a galley in their lives. The advent of desktop publishing programs such as Pagemaker, QuarkXPress, and InDesign virtually eliminated the need to produce galleys because these programs allow you to skip that production step and produce page proofs instead.

Why do these errors bother me this morning? Because if we, as writers, can not be trusted to properly use the terminology appropriate for our own industry, how can be be trusted to write about anything else?

Story seventy-one

I finished writing my 71st short story of the year earlier this evening, and the manuscript will go into the mail tomorrow. This is a 3,500-word Spring Break-themed confession that I started writing on October 27.

Published 2x

My story "My New Year's Casanova" appears in the January True Confessions, and my story "A Big Scoop of Love" appears in the January True Love.

Story seventy

I finished and submitted my 70th short story of the year this evening. This time it's a 2,600-word bit of crime fiction about a mobster angling to move up. I started writing the story on November 24, almost four months after seeing an anthology's call for submissions.

Published

My story "Hot New Year" appears in the January issue of True Story, which just hit newsstands in central Texas.

Google Books and my work

I am not a fan of Google Books and am even less so now that I've discovered significant portions of nearly every book I've written and anthology I've edited available via Google Books. Because many of my books are short story collections, this means many of my short stories are available for free, eliminating much of the incentive for readers to purchase the collections.

This, however, is an opportunity for you. If you've ever had any desire to read some of my short stories or portions of my novels, go here.

Tiger troubles

Tiger Woods is rumored to have had an affair with a woman in Las Vegas.

Apparently, he wasn't satisifed with a hole in one.

Story sixty-nine

I completed and submitted my 69th short story of the year this evening. This time it's a 2,000-word confession set during Spring Break that I started writing on October 29.

33 and published

I learned of my 33rd acceptance of the year--a bit of non-fiction--when I picked up the publication containing my article while at the grocery store earlier today. I wrote the article on assignment so I fully expected it to be accepted; I just didn't know that it had been.

32

Sometimes it pays to be on intimate terms with an editor. Sometimes it pays to look one in the mirror every morning.

My 32nd acceptance of the year is a science fiction/children's story first published in 2005 that I will be reprinting in a newsletter I edit.

Blast from the past

A copy of Fantasy Macabre #8, published in 1986 and containing my short story "The Passenger," is now available for purchase on eBay. Opening bid is $9.99. See for yourself here.

31

I received my 31st acceptance earlier this evening, for a 1,500-word relationship story I submitted to an anthology on October 21.

30

I received my 30th acceptance of the year in today's mail, this time for a 3,600-word Valentine's Day-themed confession I submitted October 26.

Story sixty-eight

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

Story genesis

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

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

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

29

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

Story sixty-seven

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

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

28

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

Story sixty-six

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

Story sixty-five

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

Rejected...psych!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Story sixty-four

I just finished and submitted my 64th short story of the year, a 3,800-word St. Patrick's Day love story.

I started dictating this story on November 11, 2008, using the dictation software I purchased for my laptop when I was recovering from quadruple bypass,* and had completed the first four pages or so. A couple of weeks ago, Plot Monkey and I looked at what I had written and plotted out the rest of the story. This week I finished writing the story the conventional way (fingers on keyboard).

___
*I know I mention this too often, but the four months I spent recovering had an impact on my writing that I'm still dealing with more than a year later.

27

I received my 27th acceptance today.

I woke up this morning to find a response to last evening's query, submitted the full ms., and received an acceptance within hours.

Story sixty-three

I finished writing my 63rd short story of the year earlier this evening. It's a 2,300-word story intended for an anthology of stories about athletes. Rather than going for the obvious--wrestlers or football players, for example--I opted to write about a caber tosser.

I had a rough idea for this story on May 3, but had only written a few sentences prior to seeing the call for submissions. I did a little research about caber tossing and then wrote the story yesterday and today.

The editor of the anthology requires queries prior to submission, so a query left here a few minutes ago.

26

I received my 26th acceptance earlier this evening, a bit of crime fiction to appear in an anthology of biker fiction. I knew this acceptance was coming--had even mentioned it in an earlier blog post--but didn't count it as an official sale because the editor was awaiting approval of the publisher before issuing contracts. The contract arrived today.

Story sixty-two

I finished my 62nd short story of the year a few minutes ago, a 4,000-word St. Patrick's Day confession I started writing on October 25. Rebecca--aka Plot Monkey--provided me with the idea and helped me rough out the plot before I started writing. I'm printing the final draft now and will put the ms. in the mail tomorrow.

Published

My story "He Was a Substitute Santa" appears in the December True Story.

Some story ideas deserve to die

Brokeshell Mountain

The tragic story of misguided snail herders. They ride turtles and drive the snails from the midwest toward the west. They intend to sell the herd to fancy French restaurants in California. But they never make it. A wrong turn sends the herd across the Great Salt Lake.

25

I received my 25th acceptance of the year earlier today, this time for a 3,400-word confession/romance I submitted on September 30.

Quoted

I get quoted in the strangest places. From an October 19 blog post titled "When You’re Starting Your Own Business – What Successful Businesswomen Know":

Starting a new business can be hard, and many entrepreneurs quit because finding clients is harder than they thought, they feel discouraged, they lose hope, or they no longer believe in themselves or their product. The longer you persevere, the more you improve your chances of starting a successful business. “A writing career is nothing more than a long series of disappointments punctuated by occasional moments of success,” says Michael Bracken. Successful businesswomen know that this isn’t just true of writing careers!

Story sixty-one

I completed my 61st short story of the year a few minutes ago. It's a 3,600-word confession that begins with a woman being stood up on Valentine's Day and progresses from there. The ms. will go in the mail tomorrow.

I started writing this on February 11 and had about a third of it complete but no clear sense of how to get to the happy-ever-after ending the story needed. Plot Monkey and I spent Saturday evening looking at some of my incomplete manuscripts and she helped me finish plotting this one and a handful of others.

Published x3

My stories "Keeping Secrets" and "Falling in Love" appear in the December issue of True Love. Both are romantic confessions.

And I forgot to post this a few days ago when my contributor copy arrived: "Pussy & the Cat Burglar," a hardboiled erotic mystery, appears in the November issue of Hustler Fantasies.

Story sixty

I finished and submitted my 60th short story this evening. It's a 3,200-word bit of sexually-charged women's fiction. It seems a bit too explicit for the confession magazines and not explicit enough for the erotica market, so I sent it to New Love Stories Magazine.

I started "writing" this story November 25, 2008. Actually, I started dictating the story on that day. I had been unable to write because of my bypass surgery the previous September and the drugs I was taking at the time futzed up my brain. In an effort to overcome the physical and mental challenges I was then facing, by changing how and where I wrote, I purchased a new laptop computer and dictation software and tried to dictate new work.

I dictated about half the story before I stopped. I wrote the rest of the story this week using the conventional method--by typing on the keyboard of my desktop computer--but, amazingly, kept the first half almost word-for-word as I had dictated it.

24 and published

I just received my 24th acceptance of the year, this for a 2,600-word romance/confession I submitted November 8, 2008.

And I received a copy of the Winter True Experience containing my story "The Unwanted Christmas Present."

It's a good day, eh!

Healthy competition

Even though I often think of myself as the poster boy for prolific short story writers, I know I'm not the only highly productive short story writer currently writing, Over the past few years I've developed a strong e-mail relationship with Laird Long, another prolific short story writer. Like me, he writes in many genres under many names, and we regularly sell to the same markets, sometimes even appearing in the same anthology or same issue of a magazine.

We regularly share market information and I'm sure I have a few sales that resulted from information he's shared with me; I can only hope the reverse is also true.

Earlier today we shared year-to-date stats. I've finished and submitted 59 short stories; he's finished and submitted 72. We challenged each other to see who can end the year with the most completed short stories.

He's 13 stories ahead of me and there are 10 weeks left in the year. That's OK. I figure he needs the head start.

(Then again, maybe I'll cheat. I should be able to knock out 13 pieces of Twitterfic between the end of Survivor and bedtime...)

Story fifty-nine

I finished and submitted my 59th short story of the year, a 1,500-word bit of erotica.

I started writing this story in December, 2003, but had managed to write only the opening two paragraphs before setting it aside. I picked it up again earlier today and finished it in time to meet an anthology's impending deadline.

The James Patterson of short fiction

Sometimes I wish I could become the James Patterson of short fiction, generating ideas, farming them out to other writers, and then slapping my byline on the finished manuscripts and taking all or most of the credit.

Why? Because I have far more short story ideas--many of them in some partially written draft form--than I can ever hope to turn into finished manuscripts.

Unfortunately, my short story ideas are often unexplainable until I have a complete draft, and after I've gone to the trouble of doing all that work, there isn't a need for the farm team to enter the game.

Sigh.

Maybe after I die--which I hope is a gazillion years from now--someone will come along and do a V.C. Andrews with my partials, giving me a writing career that continues long after my death.

Story fifty-eight

I finished and submitted my 58th short story of the year a few minutes ago. It's 2,500-words about a gardener, written to the specifications of an anthology's call for submissions.

I started writing this yesterday afternoon, after several weeks spent kicking around possible ideas, and finished it this evening.

Story fifty-seven

I completed and submitted my 57th short story of the year today. It's a 2,200-word Valentine's Day romance.

I began writing it on August 8, 2008, but had completed only the first scene before I picked the story up again a few days ago.

Unnumbered

I received a tentative anthology acceptance earlier this evening. The editor is awaiting confirmation of his selections from the publisher before issuing contracts. When that happens--presuming I make the final cut--I'll move this from tentative to actual and give it an acceptance number.

Story fifty-six

I just completed and submitted my 56th short story of the year. This time it's a 3,000-word ghost story.

I don't know exactly when I started writing this story. The oldest piece of paper with a date on it shows March 6, 1999. But the draft shows my address as one I left in 1994, and the oldest draft in the folder is even older than that. So, I've been working on this story for somewhere between 15 and 19 years.

I finally completed a full draft of the story earlier this month in response to an anthology's call for submissions. Then I tore the draft apart and rearranged the order of scenes. Then I revised/rewrote parts of it. The "finished" manuscript has been sitting on my desk all week. Because I've been working on this story for so long, I've completely lost objectivity. Today Plot Monkey read the story and liked it. So, after one last pass to correct a few typos and whatnot, off it went to the anthology editors.

We'll see what they think of it.

Story fifty-five

I finished and submitted my 55th short story of the year today. It's a 3,000-word Valentine's Day romance that starts with the theft of a rose.

I started writing this story on August 1, 2006, and had about half of it completed before I picked it up again earlier this week.

Harlequin vs. Hard Case Crime

While at the grocery store this evening I spotted three novels published by Harlequin that reminded me--in look, feel, and genre--of Hard Case Crime novels.

A little Internet sleuthing revealed this: http://www.eharlequin.com/store.html?cid=2440.

Harlequin is reissuing "suspense and adventure" novels they originally published many years ago, with six titles already released.

Are they any good? I can't say. I didn't have enough scratch with me to buy any of them.

Emotion vs. writing

Although I'm loathe to admit it, emotion plays a significant role in my writing process. For example, this month is crunch time for submitting Valentine's Day stories and my personal life is such that the last thing on my mind is happy-ever-after.

I've seen variations of this in the past. Some of my darkest, most violent stories were written when I was angry (at the world, at the people around me, at myself), some of my saddest stories were written when I was in my deepest funks, and some of my best happy-ever-after stories were written when I had hopes of a happy-ever-after for myself.

Of course, market requirements mean that the stories driven by my emotional state and the stories editors want to buy aren't always in synch. Sometimes I just let my emotions spill onto the page and don't worry about placing the resulting manuscript until it's finished; other times, like now, I try to quash my emotions so that I don't miss a window of opportunity.

So, happy-ever-after, here I come!

Story fifty-four

I completed and submitted my 54th short story of the year earlier today. It's a 2,400-word Valentine's Day story I started writing on October 2.

23

I received my 23rd acceptance a few minutes ago, for the story I finished writing last night. It's the story of a young man interning at a prestigious firm who is approached by the police to do a little "undercover" work, and it will appear in an anthology scheduled for publication next year.

Query to submission

Last night's query resulted in a request to see my latest story, so off it went this morning.

Story fifty-three and an essay

I finished writing my 53rd short story of the year earlier today and a few minutes ago I completed and submitted an essay.

The story is a 3,300-word bit of crime fiction. I started writing it January 17, 2007, in response to an anthology's call for submissions. I had written about half the story before the deadline for submissions passed. That was OK, I suppose, because the story seemed about to take a turn that would have made it inappropriate for that anthology. A month or so ago I spotted another anthology's call for submissions, realized that this story, after taking its turn, would fit. So, I finished it and sent a query off to the editor because he only wants queries, not full ms. submissions.

I wrote the essay in response to another anthology's call for submissions. I spotted the call on September 29 and the essay rolled out of me this evening. It's about 650 words and went to the editor a few minutes ago.

i enjoy writing essays, wish I had more opportunity to write them, but I have more trouble locating good essay markets than I have locating short story markets.

Story fifty-two

I finished writing my 52nd short story of the year earlier this evening and it's already been mailed to an editor. It's a 3,400-word confession that features a bet and a kiss at midnight New Year's Eve.

I wrote the first 500 or so words on July 24, 2007, and wrote the rest of it this week.

Published

My story "Under Watchful Eyes" is the lead story in the November True Confessions.

Story fifty-one

I finished writing my 51st short story of the year yesterday evening and this afternoon I proofread it one last time. I'm printing it now and it'll go into the mail tomorrow.

This time it's a 4,300-word confession that starts a few minutes before midnight on New Year's Eve. I began writing this story on July 22, 2006, but had only completed the opening few hundred words because all I had was the opening scene. I wrote most of the rest of the story this week.

Organizing for anthology success

I track a few dozen print and electronic newsletters, periodicals, and web sites, constantly scouting for new markets. I regularly find guidelines for anthologies with open submissions policies--guidelines that may only appear one time in one newsletter, or may only be posted for a few days on a single web site. At first, I printed every guideline and I soon found my desk littered with paper. When rooting through the mess, I would often rediscover anthology guidelines months after the submission deadlines had passed. I tried bookmarking every site containing anthology guidelines, but soon found my browser yards deep in bookmarked sites and again missed important deadlines.

A binder, a highlighter, and a three-hole punch finally rescued me from disorganized data overload. Each time I discover guidelines for an anthology to which I think I would like to submit, I print the guidelines and immediately highlight the submission deadline. Then I three-hole punch the guidelines and place them in my binder. Guidelines are organized chronologically by submission deadline so that each time I open the binder, the first thing I see is the anthology with the nearest deadline.

When I’m between assignments, I open the binder to see which anthologies have deadlines forthcoming, then attempt to revise work-in-progress or create new work which meets the anthologies’ requirements. While I haven’t managed to write something for every anthology that appeals to me, my success rate has improved significantly. Since adopting this method of tracking anthology guidelines and deadlines, I’ve placed stories in three anthologies, have been rejected by two anthologies, and have stories awaiting a decision at two others. I also completed two additional stories too late for their intended anthologies and am floating them around to other markets.

Had I not adopted this method, there are at least nine stories I probably would not have written and three acceptances I definitely would not have received.

And my desk is much, much neater.

-----
"Organizing for Anthology Success" was originally published in Gila Queen's Guide to Markets, May, 2007. I still have the binder open on the desk beside me and I've placed many more stories in anthologies because of it.

Story fifty

I finished writing my 50th short story of the year a few minutes ago. The final draft is printing as I type.

This is a 2,000-word vampire story, written in response to an anthology's open call that I saw mid-summer. I began work on the story on July 22 and have been niggling at it ever since. I worry that the story is too short, based on the parameters in the call for submissions, but I can't see any way to lengthen the story without resorting to fluff-and-fill. So, out it goes. Fingers crossed. Hope for the best.

Guest blogging

I'm the guest blogger tomorrow at Sleuths' Ink. I'll be providing tips on becoming a short story writer and maintaining a long-term career as a short story writer. Then I'll be popping in throughout the day to respond to follow-up questions.

Story forty-nine

I just finished and submitted by 49th short story of the year. This one is a 3,200-word bit of crime fiction featuring a soft-hearted debt collector for a bookie/loan shark.

After seeing an anthology's call for submissions, I knew my protagonist, and back on August 10 I made a few notes about him. I didn't have a plot until earlier this week when it came to me in a rush. Most of the time working on the story since then has been spent getting all the pieces to fit together just right.

On site it must be right

On the WWWriters Yahoo Group, a short story writer asked if she should list her sales to confession magazines on her yet-to-be-created Web site. Another writer--a romance novelist--responded that she has a Web site for readers to visit and wondered "how often will a reader of a confession story need to find out more about the author?"

My response:

A confession reader may not care about the authors of the stories they read, but a writers' Web site can do much more than connect with readers. It can, among other things, serve as a connection to editors and other potential clients.

I list my confessions on my Web site (with nearly 200 confessions to my name I've been dubbed the "King of Confessions"), and that information--in addition to the other information presented on my site--has helped me obtain speaking engagements and copywriting assignments, gigs that than earn me more income than I earn when a confession reader buys a magazine containing one of my stories.

When developing a Web site, first determine your intended audience. Then decide what your site should include to help you reach that audience.

22 and why I love Christmas

I received my 22nd acceptance of the year in today's mail, this time for a Christmas romance I submitted September 9. Unless I've miscounted, this is the fourth Christmas story I've sold this year and the fifth story scheduled for publication in December.

If it isn't obvious, I like Christmas. I write Christmas stories every year. Several Christmas stories. In several genres. And I sell them. (Well, most of them. There are three still floating around out there.)

Why is Christmas so good for my writing career? Because it comes around every year, because most magazines publish end-of-year Christmas or Holiday issues, and because every editor who publishes fiction keeps at least one eye open for a good Christmas or Holiday story.

I had sold a few Christmas stories throughout the first few dozen years of my writing career, but I didn't intentionally start writing Christmas stories until I saw something SF writer James Van Pelt posted in a discussion group several years ago. He mentioned--and I'm relying on memory here, so don't take this as a literal recreation of what he said--that he was writing a Christmas story every year and that he'd been having good luck selling them.

Just one? Do you know how many magazines there are?

I stuck a note in my mental writer's calendar (that's the one that tells you it's Christmas in July and Independence Day in December) and started writing Christmas stories during the blistering days of summer. Every summer.

And started selling them.

Then I realized Christmas isn't the only holiday we celebrate every year, so I started writing and selling Valentine's Day stories and, though not with the regularity and consistency of Christmas stories, New Year's Eve, Easter, April Fool's Day, Halloween, and Thanksgiving stories. I've even written a few Mother's Day, Father's Day, and National Diabetes Month stories.

There's a holiday damn near every month. Sometimes two, or three, or a dozen.

So I write stories tied to holidays and significant annual events.

And sell them.

If you're a writer, go forth and do likewise.

But stay away from Christmas.

That's MY holiday.

Where to submit?

A member of the Short Mystery Fiction Society recently asked the group how experienced writers decide where to submit their stories. I suggested the following:

You can approach this in one of two ways:

1) Write the story and then try to find a market.
or
2) Study a market and then try to write a story for it.

There are advantages and disadvantages to each approach. If you write the story first, you may write a great story but find that it does not fit any publication's current needs. If you study a publication first, you may write a story so specific to that publication's requirements that it has little hope of selling anywhere else.

If you've read any of the mysteries in Woman's World, you'll know what I mean. WW has unique story needs. The likelihood of sitting down and writing a story for Woman's World without ever studying the magazine is highly unlikely. On the other hand, any story you write to WW's requirements is highly unlikely to sell anywhere else (at least, not without significant revision).

I take a combined approach. I study markets so that I have markets in mind while I write. While the basic story might not change, details within the story might be different depending on the market(s) I think I want to submit to. Do I put the violence on-stage or off-stage? Is there a sexual element and is it hinted at or blatant? Do I use obscenities or do I clean up the language? Do I stretch out scenes to add to the word count or do I tighten them to cut the word count?

Does this approach work? I’ve sold more than 800 short stories, and I’ve had one or more short stories published every month for the past 74 consecutive months. So, yeah, it works pretty good.

Flash fiction

Yesterday Carol Kilgore discussed repetitious sentence construction in her blog post "Wake Up Your Writing" at UnderTheTikiHut.blogspot.com. Earlier today I replied with an example and then realized I'd unintentionally written a bit of flash fiction.

Here it is:

She went to the store. She bought eggs. She bought rat poison. She went home. She prepared her husband's breakfast.

Guest Blogger

Last month I was invited to be a guest blogger at the group blog of a writers' group in Missouri. I just finished and submitted a 700-word post and am waiting to hear if it's what they wanted. If not, I'll post it here and write something else for them.

19, 20, 21

Some days are better than others--much, much better. Today I received my 19th, 20th, and 21st acceptances of the year.

True Love accepted two stories--a light-hearted Christmas romance I submitted on September 4 and a romance about a single mother who thinks she's fallen for a man already involved with someone else that I submitted on August 13--and True Experience accepted a Christmas confession--no romance involved--that I submitted on July 19.

Bonus year

Three days ago I celebrated my 52nd birthday.

Today I celebrate the end of my first bonus year.

One year ago today I had a quadruple bypass. Since then my life has changed in significant ways, and yet it hasn't changed at all. I'm the same person, doing the same things, in--mostly--the same ways. But I do everything now with a sense of my own mortality that I didn't have before.

No great epiphanies here, just the observations of a guy who spends too much time sitting on his ass writing and not enough time exercising.

Story forty-eight

I just submitted my 48th short story of the year. This one's a 2,900-word romance/confession that takes place on New Year's Eve and the following two days.

I don't know when I started writing this story because my records are incomplete, but I had the first three pages already written and waiting for me when I picked it up again on September 6.