Quoted

I'm quoted in Terri Lyndie's blog post "20 Reasons Manuscripts are Rejected."

12

I received my 12th acceptance of the year. This one's for the Independence Day story I submitted Friday.

Published

My erotic crime story "What a Rush" appears in the just-published anthology Pledges (Cleis Press).

Ten

I finished and submitted my tenth short story of the year a few minutes ago. This one's a 3,100-word Independence Day confession/romance.

Published

My fantasy "Alehouse Dragon" appears in the Spring 2013 issue of Big Pulp.

11

I received my 11th acceptance of the year earlier today, this time for a Father's Day story.

Ten-year anniversary

Ten years ago today I became a full-time freelance writer/editor. The irony of the date is not lost on me because it was quite the fool's journey I began back then.

My employer and I had parted company, but within a week one of my former clients hired me to do freelance editing for his publication. The income from this client, who is still a client today, provided the foundation upon which I built my freelance career. For the next few years I juggled a variety of one-off and short-term freelance projects until I ultimately settled into my current routine with my current clients.

During the past ten years I graduated college, divorced, survived quadruple heart bypass surgery, and dealt with all the everyday issues we all deal with. I've written things I never thought I would write, received awards I never expected to receive, and managed to pay all of my bills on time doing what I love most of all.

My dreams came true.

I write. I edit. I love my life.

Here's hoping the next ten years bring at least as much success and happiness as the past ten years.

Nine

I completed and submitted my ninth short story of the year this evening. This one's a 4,700-word Independence Day-themed confession that I began writing last Thursday.

Derringer Award recipient

My story "Getting Out of the Box," published last year in Crime Square (Vantage Point), today received a Derringer Award for Best Short Story from the Short Mystery Fiction Society.

Published

My story "Trapped with a Rapist" appears in the just-released issue of Mysterical-E.

Eight

I finished and submitted my eighth short story of the year this morning. Like yesterday, this one's a 2,500-word erotic story for an anthology.

Seven

I completed and submitted my seventh short story of the year a few minutes ago. This one's a 2,500-word bit of erotica for an anthology.

Published

My story "I Need a Husband by Mother's Day" appears in the May True Story.

10

I received my 10th acceptance of the year this morning. This one's for the bit of erotica I finished and submitted on Sunday.

9

I received my 9th acceptance of the year a little while ago. This one's for a Father's Day story.

Six

I completed and submitted my sixth short story of the year a few minutes ago. This one's a 4,200-word bit of erotica written at the invitation of an anthology editor.

Dan A. Sproul unpublished short story

In 2004 I accepted "Costa Rica? No Thanks," a short story by Dan A. Sproul for an anthology I was editing. Sproul, the author of several short stories published in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and other publications—including two of my anthologies—died in 2007.

Unfortunately, the anthology was cancelled by the publisher. While other contributors have placed their stories elsewhere, Dan's story languishes in my filing cabinet.

I do not know how to contact Dan's surviving relatives and suspect they may be non-writers who have no idea what to do with Dan's unpublished manuscripts. I suspect they have trashed the hardcopies of his manuscripts and/or erased them from his computer drive because they do not understand the value of what he left behind.

I am left with a conundrum. I have a contract with Dan to publish his story, but the contract was tied to a specific anthology. Unless I somehow resurrect the dead anthology, I have no right to publish Dan's story nor do I have the right to see that someone else publishes it.

On the other hand, if I do nothing, the story may never see publication.

If anyone knows Dan's surviving relatives and can connect us, I would greatly appreciate it.

If anyone knows of a loophole in the copyright law that would allow me to shepherd this story into publication without his family's permission, I would greatly appreciate that information as well.

Five

I finished and submitted my fifth short story of the year this morning. This one's a 4,000-word Father's Day story I started writing October 11, 2012.

Published

My story "Helping Mother Nature" appears in the April True Confessions.

Four

I finished and submitted my fourth short story of the year this evening, a 2,600-word Father's Day story I started on February 26.

Reviewed

In "Short & Sweet," his column in Mystery Scene #128, Bill Crider reviews the Fall/Winter 2012 Needle Magazine and mentions two stories by name: Jim Winter's "The Heckler" and my "Yellow Ribbon." About my story, Bill writes,

"Michael Bracken's 'Yellow Ribbon' is hardboiled Texas fiction narrated by a guy who's won 207 straight games of solitaire on his computer. You don't want to mess with a guy like that."

To read the entire review, you'll have to buy your own copy of Mystery Scene.

Nominated

My story "Getting Out of the Box," published last year in Crime Square (Vantage Point), has been short-listed for a Derringer Award.

See the complete list of nominees here.

Published

My story "Bunny Slippers and Sunrise Service" appears in the April True Story.

Quoted

I am quoted in, and my photograph is included with, "Turing a No into a Yes," an article by Glynis Scrivens in issue #137 of Writers' Forum, a UK magazine for writers.

Three

I finished and submitted my third short story of the year this evening. This one's a 2,000-word bit of cowboy erotica that I started on Friday.

Although I'm off to a slow start this year, I did write twice as many stories this month as last.

Published 2x

"Total Package," a romance, has been reprinted in Best Gay Romance 2013 (Cleis), and "Bareback Rider," an erotic story, has been reprinted in Best Gay Erotica 2013 (Cleis).

8

I received my 8th acceptance of the year earlier today, this time for a bit of erotic crime fiction.

7

I received my 7th acceptance of the year this evening. This is for the Mother's Day confession I submitted last week.

6

I received my 6th acceptance of the year late this afternoon, for a woman-in-jeopardy story I submitted in 2011.

2012 Cash-in-hand from creative writing

Recent discussion with a friend who asked what creative writing genres generated my writing income prompted me to breakdown of last year's writing income. (The following does not include advertising, public relations, and similar work.)

71% Confessions
  8% Erotica*
20% Royalties-Fiction**
 1% Royalties-Non-Fiction

*Includes all forms and includes cross-genre stories (erotic mystery, erotic horror, etc.) **Includes novels, short story collections, and short stories, and represents multiple genres

I don't think 2012 represents a typical year because:
a) a good portion of the confession income represents past-due payments from previous years not received until 2012
b) Though much of the erotica is cross-genre, most years I sell non-erotic stories in those genres
c) Non-fiction sales were non-existent in 2012. Most years I sell one or more essays and/or articles

Reviewed...sort of

Two of my stories are given a lot of attention in a "review" by Mark Hill of the March 2013 True Story and February 2013 True Confessions. Read the Zug review here.

Published

The print edition of Out of the Gutter 8 arrived today--the electronic edition was released in December--and it contains my lesbian noir story "Family Dynamics."

Two

I completed and submitted my second short story of the year this evening, a 4,400-word Mother's Day confession.

One, again

I've only written one story so far this year, and it came back for revisions. The revision added 1,100 words, lengthening the story to approx. 3,700 words. I just submitted the revision.

Reviewed

Brian Callaghan reviews Sexy Sailors (Cleis Press) for Edge and has this to say about my contribution:

"In one of the book's stranger contributions, Michael Bracken's 'Let’s Go Down to the Sea,'* two elderly lovers enjoy a final romp in a harbourside bar before Death shows up to take one of them away on his final voyage."

Read the entire review here.

*Note: The actual title of the story is "Let Us Go Down to the Sea."

Published 2x

My story "A Leprechaun in Love" appears in the March True Story and my story "Willie the Worm" appears in the March True Confessions.

Published

The paperback edition of Boys in Bed (Xcite), containing my story "Memories," has been released.

5

I received my 5th acceptance of the year today, this time for an Earth Day-themed confession.

Published

"Pitching Woo," a short romance, appears in the January 30 issue of Seeds. Read it here.

Reviewed

Rebecca Besser reviews the anthology D.O.A. - Extreme Horror Collection (Blood Bound Books) at varietyreviews and has this to say about my contribution:

Les Sperme Vampire by Michael Bracken: A vampire “tricks” a man into getting what she* wants, and she partakes…greedily.

This was more of an explicit scene than a short story, but was still well written and interesting. I rate it 2Q.

Read the entire review here.

*Note: The character to which she refers is actually male.

One

I finished and submitted my first short story of the year this afternoon. I'm off to a slow start.

4

I received my 4th acceptance of the year this evening, this time for an Easter-themed confession/romance.

3

I received my 3rd acceptance of the year today, this time for a short romance.

2

I received my 2nd acceptance of the year earlier today, this time for a reprint.

2012 in review

61 acceptances (vs. 73 in 2011)

25 rejections (vs. 28 in 2011)

66 short stories published* (vs. 82 in 2011), 0 articles/essays published (vs. 4 in 2011)

I completed 46 short stories (vs. 52 in 2011).

I completed (to final draft) 150,500 words of short fiction (vs. 180,200 in 2011).

That's an average story length of 3,272 words (vs. an average of 3,465); the shortest story was 1,500 words, the longest was 5,200 words.

I completed and submitted an average of .88 of a short story each week (vs. an average of 1 each week in 2010).

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

Income from
Editing: Up 3.39%
Fiction (not novels): Down 12.66%
Non-Fiction (not books): $0
Royalties from Fiction (from traditionally published and, beginning in 2010, from self-published work): Up 98.49%

Royalties from Non-Fiction: Up from zero
Seminars/Teaching:  $0
Salary: Up 2.69%
Overall gross income: Up 1.85%

Observations:

I should have written more, but my productivity has been erratic.

Even though my gross income increased, expenses also increased so I’m no better off.
___
*I may update this information later; I’m confident that I’ve had additional stories published but have not yet received my contributor copies. Updated 4/28/13.

1

I received my 1st acceptance of the year today, from an editor working on New Year's Day.

Published 3x

My story "I Gave Up Men" appears in the February 2013 True Story, and my stories "My Son's 1st Date" and "Uncommon Solutions" appear in the February True Confessions.

61

I received my 61st acceptance of the year this evening.

Published

"Crimewave," a Christmas mystery, has just been published in Kings River Life. Read it here.

Published

My lesbian noir story "Family Dynamics" appears in the just-published Out of the Gutter 8. Order your copy here.

Forty-six

I completed and submitted my forty-sixth short story of the year this evening, a light-hearted Easter romance I started on November 5.

Forty-five

I finished and submitted my forty-fifth short story of the year this evening. This one's a St. Patrick's Day confession that I started writing October 11, 2011.

Published 2x

My story "Punch-Drunk Love" appears in the January 2013 True Confessions and my story "Snowballed into Love" appears in the January True Story.

60

I received my 60th acceptance of the year a few minutes ago, this time for another Valentine's Day-themed confession.

59

I received my 59th acceptance of the year this evening, this time for a Valentine's Day-themed confession.

Forty-four

I completed and submitted my forty-fourth short story of the year this morning. This one's a 3,500-word confession that I started writing November 19.

58

I received my 58th acceptance of the year this afternoon, this time for a bit of erotic crime fiction.

With six acceptances in six days, it seems apparent that editors took advantage of the Thanksgiving holiday, giving me much to be thankful for!

Writing tip of the day

Use the fewest words possible to make your point or tell your story...unless you're paid by the word.

57

I received my 57th acceptance of the year this afternoon, this time for a bit of crime fiction that might best be described as lesbian noir.

56

I received my 56th acceptance of the year a few minutes ago, this time for a bit of erotica.

55

I received my 55th acceptance of the year this afternoon, this time for a Lent-themed short story.

53, 54

I received my 53rd and 54th acceptances of the year this evening, for stories to appear next year in two different erotic anthologies.

Published

My erotic crime fiction story "The Hitter and the Stall" appears in Wild Boys (Cleis Press). This anthology was released a few months ago but my copies didn't arrive until today.

Forty-three

I finished and submitted my forty-third short story of the year this morning. This one's a 2,000-word confession I started writing October 22.

52

I received my 52nd acceptance of the year this evening, this time for a story to be reprinted in a "best" anthology.

With this acceptance I have now met my annual goal of 52 acceptances. Though I certainly hope to receive a few more acceptances before the year end, it's going to be tough to beat last year's 73 acceptances. In fact, I have to look all the way back to 1995 when I had 77 acceptances and 1991 when I had 84 acceptances to find the only two years when I did better than last year.

51

I received my 51st acceptance of the year this morning, this time for an erotic story written on request for an anthology to be published next year.

50

I received my 50th acceptance of the year this morning. This one's for a mystery set at Christmas.

49

My 49th acceptance of the year was confirmed today, for a story picked up by an annual "Best" anthology. I knew last week that this was a probability but didn't count it as an acceptance until I had the contract in hand.

Reviewed

Nathan Burgoine reviews Wild Boys, a recently published anthology that I've not yet seen, at Erotica Revealed, as has this to say about my contribution:

"The type of story I was expecting most from the collection was Michael Bracken's 'The Hitter and the Stall.' Here we've got a cute young blond who picks the pocket of the wrong guy – someone better at that job than he is. Here there's a kind of mentoring involved, but the younger punk's attitude and nonchalance was exactly what was conjured for me with the title, cover, and description of Wild Boys. That the two men end up sharing more than pickpocketing skills is a given, and the narrator's awareness that this boy could be trouble, even as he's tumbling the fellow into bed, rang true.

Read the entire review here.

Forty-two

I finished and submitted my forty-second short story of the year this evening, a 4,000-word Valentine's Day romance that I started writing on November 5.

Published

My erotic story about love and death, "Let Us Go Down to the Sea," appears in the just-released anthology Sexy Sailors (Cleis), edited by Neil Plakcy.

Published

My private eye story "Yellow Ribbon," featuring my series character, Waco-based Morris Ronald "Moe Ron" Boyette, appears in the Fall/Winter 2012 issue of Needle. I've not yet received my copy, but you can order yours here.

Forty-one

I completed and submitted my forty-first story of the year this morning, a 4,300-word bit of erotica. This story was started on October 20 after I received an invitation to submit from an anthology editor who had published two of my short stories when he was a magazine editor.

Now, I wait to see if I met his needs or not.

47, 48 and published 3x

"Memories," the story of a couple spending their tenth anniversary reminiscing about all the good times, appears in the just released anthology Boys in Bed (Xcite). It has also been reprinted in April Showers (Xcite).

"One for the Toad" has been reprinted in Restored to Love (Xcite).

The two reprints constitute my 47th and 48th acceptances of the year.

Forty

I finished and submitted my fortieth short story of the year this evening. This one's an erotic spy story I started writing on October 28.

Published

My erotic fantasy "One for the Toad" appears in the just-published anthology Dead Sexy (Xcite), edited by Antonia Adams. Currently available as an ebook, the paperback version will be released soon.

Thirty-nine

I completed and submitted my thirty-ninth short story of the year this evening, a 3,900-word Valentine's Day story.

46

I received my 46th acceptance of the year this afternoon, this time for the New Year's Eve-themed confession I submitted on the 19th.

Published 2x

My story "A Holiday Disaster Turned into a Miracle" appears in the December True Confessions and my story "1 Little Tree with Big Heart" appears in the December True Story.

Thirty-eight

I finished and submitted my thirty-eighth story of the year this afternoon. This one's a 3,900-word story about a woman torn between romance and religion that I began writing December 23, 2009.

45

I received my 45th acceptance of the year a few minutes ago, this time for the winter-themed confession I submitted on the 13th.

Thirty-Seven

I finished and submitted my thirty-seventh short story of the year a few minutes ago. This one's a New Year's Eve-themed love story that I started writing August 2, 2011.

Shout-outs

In his review of Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction, Kevin Tipple mentions my contribution to the textbook and writes, among other things:

"Prolific author Michael Bracken [...] makes the point that short stories can be more lucrative than novels while also making you a stronger writer."

Kevin concludes that Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction is "an excellent book that you must have and use." Read his extensive review here. (And purchase Mind Slices, Kevin's latest collection, here.)

In his review of this blog in "Blog Bytes," his column in the December issue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Bill Crider refers to me as "the hardest working guy in the short-story game."

You may have to purchase the magazine to read the entire review, but failing that you can read more from Bill at Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine and follow the links to learn more about his extensive list of publications.

Thirty-six

I finished and submitted my thirty-sixth short story of the year this evening. This one's a confession I started writing on September 18, 2011.

Published

My paranormal love story "Mourning has Broken" appears in the Fall issue of Bohemia. See the on-line edition here and turn to page 30.

Thirty-five

I finished writing my thirty-fifth story of the year this morning, a 1,900-word action-packed erotic romance that I started writing September 29.

44

In this morning's batch of email is an acceptance from an anthology editor in England, my 44th acceptance of the year.

I wrote this story in 1991, it received a dozen rejections back in the early '90s, and it had been sitting in my files since the mid-'90s.

Lesson learned? Sometimes you write for the market; sometimes you write and wait for the market to catch up.

43

I received my 43rd acceptance this morning, this time for a Christmas story.

42

I received my 42nd acceptance of the year today.

I wrote a romance two years ago that was rejected by the anthology I'd originally targeted. This morning, while looking through my binder of anthology submission calls, I found one the story might fit if I could revise it a bit. The deadline for submission was listed as tomorrow.

I spent the morning adding 500 words to the story, submitted it, and promptly received an acceptance and a note that my story had squeezed in under the wire because the editor had actually closed the anthology earlier today.

Published 2x

My story "Relationships 101" appears in the November True Confessions and my story "Handprint Turkey" appears in the November True Story.

41

I received my 41st acceptance of the year this morning, this time for a Christmas-themed confession.

Number crunching

I have 1,025 short story sales, a number which surprised me when I totaled them today because I had not realized I'd passed the 1,000-sale mark.

The total does not represent 1,025 different short stories. Buried in the total, and too difficult for me to calculate based on the way I keep my records, are several reprint sales.

The total also does not represent 1,025 short story publications. Some of the stories are awaiting publication later this year and next, and a few were sales to magazines that ceased publication prior to publishing my story.

Even so, that's a hell of a lot of short stories.

Thirty-four

I finished and submitted my thirty-fourth story of the year this evening, a 4,800-word Christmas story I started writing July 29, while sitting in a restaurant during the final day of ArmadilloCon.

40

I received my 40th acceptance of the year this evening, this time for a bit of erotic crime fiction.

Reviewed

Subrei reviews "Late One Night at the Tourist Court" (Past Pleasures, Xcite) at Thoughts of a Growing Sub, and concludes

"Due to the one surprise during the first sex scene and the ending I would say this story is worth a read. It’s not great but it isn’t the worst thing I’ve ever read either."

Read the entire review here.

Published

My hardboiled mystery short story "Bumfuck, Egypt" appears in Crime Factory 11.

Download a PDF of the magazine here.

Thirty-three

I finished and submitted my thirty-third story of the year this afternoon, a 3,900-word Christmas-themed confession that I began writing August 2, 2011.

Reviewed

Midnight Boudoir reviewed Past Pleasures (Xcite, 2012) and said my contribution, "Late One Night at the Tourist Court," is

A brilliant post-war Bonnie and Clyde style storyline, on the run after a robbery, they stop for some celebrational sex, well written and brilliant plot and great twist to the ending.

39

I returned from a short trip out of town to discover that I'd received my 39th acceptance of the year while I was away. This one's for a 4,400-word confession.

Published

My story "Tips" has just been publish at Out of the Gutter's website:

http://www.outofthegutteronline.com/2012/09/bareknuckles-pulp-no-9-tips.html