Thirty-one

I finished and submitted my thirty-first short story of the year this afternoon. This one's a 3,400-word bit of crime fiction I began writing on July 10, 2014.

Thirty

I completed and submitted my thirtieth short story of the year this afternoon. This one's a 4,000-word bit of crime fiction I started writing on May 21, 2015.

Twenty-nine

I completed and submitted my twenty-ninth short story of the year this evening. This one's an 800-word romance I began May 29.

23

I received my 23rd acceptance of the year this morning. This one's for a confession.

Twenty-eight

I completed and submitted my twenty-eighth story of the year this morning. This one's a 4,200-word confession I started June 20, 2013.

13 years and counting

Effective with the just-released July issues of True Confessions and True Story magazines, I have now had one or more short stories published each and every month for 156 consecutive months. That's 13 years.

Published 3x

My story "Summer School Sketches" appears in the July True Story and my stories "An Affair with My Sister's Fiance" and "New Love Caused by Divorce" appear in the July True Confessions.

Twenty-seven

I completed and submitted my twenty-seventh short story of the year this afternoon. This one's an 800-word romance I started May 17.

22

I received my 22nd acceptance of the year this evening, this time for a mystery.

Reviewed

At Little Big Crimes, Robert Lopresti reviews "Sugar" (published in Crime Syndicate, issue 2) and calls it a "terrific" story. Read the entire review here: http://lbcrimes.blogspot.com/2016/05/sugar-by-michael-bracken.html?spref=fb.

The Short Mystery Fiction Society at 20

In 2016, the Short Mystery Fiction Society turns 20. Long-time members and past officers have been invited to share their memories about the organization on the SMFS blog. Go here to read what I had to say: http://shortmystery.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-society-celebrates-20-years-michael.html.

21

I received my 21st acceptance of the year this morning. This one's for a confession.

20

I woke up to my 20th acceptance of the year. This one's for a confession.

19

I received my 19th acceptance of the year this afternoon. This is to reprint a story first published in 2010.

Published

My country noir story "Deep in the Heart of Texas" appears in the just-published anthology Black Coffee (Darkhouse Books, edited by Andrew MacRae).

18, Published

My recipe and 18th acceptance of the year, "Michael's Asparagus," appears in the May/June issue of Texas Gardener.

Twenty-six

I finished and submitted my twenty-sixth short story of the year this evening. This one's a 4,600-word confession I began on January 27, 2012.

Twenty-five

I completed and submitted my twenty-fifth short story of the year this morning. This one's an 800-word romance I started on May 12.

Twenty-four

I completed and submitted my twenty-fourth short story of the year this evening. This one's an 800-word romance I began writing yesterday.

Twenty-three

I completed and submitted my twenty-third short story of the year this evening. This one's a 3,900-word bit of crime fiction that I started April 23.

Reviewed

Robert Lopresti reviewed my story "Chase Your Dreams" (Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, June 2016) for his blog Little Big Crimes, calling it a "very touching story." Read the complete review here.

Writer's Block

What writer's block looks like in the movies: http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2016/05/06/writer_s_block_a_supercut_assembles_the_shining_misery_and_more_to_perfectly.html

Twenty-two

I wrote my twenty-second story of the year today, a 300-word bit of flash fiction. The publication to which I wish to submit the story doesn't reopen for submission until July 1, so I might just sit on it until then.

Published: "Chase Your Dreams"

My story "Chase Your Dreams" appears in the June issue of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine.

Twenty-one

I finished and submitted my twenty-first short story this morning, an 800-word romance I started yesterday morning.

Published 4x

My story "Sugar" appears in issue 2 of Crime Syndicate Magazine; my story "My Daddy is a Failure!" appears in the June True Confessions; and my stories "Values in Hard Work" and "Wags and Kisses" appear in the June True Story.

Nineteen, twenty

I completed and submitted my nineteenth and twentieth short stories of the year this afternoon. Both are 800-word romances. I started one on the 28th and the other yesterday.

Eighteen

I completed and submitted my eighteenth short story of the year this morning. This one's a 5,300-word confession I started writing March 8, 2015.

16, 17

I received my 16th and 17th acceptances of the year this afternoon, both for confessions.

15

I received my 15th acceptance of the year this afternoon, this time for a 5,200-word confession.

Published

My story "Let Dead Dogs Lie" appears in the current issue of The Molotov Cocktail: https://themolotovcocktail.com/vol-7/vol-7-issue-2/let-dead-dogs-lie/

14

I received my 14th acceptance of the year this evening. This one's for a story that straddles the line between dark crime fiction and non-supernatural horror.

The bookwork is killing me

Keeping track of 1,100+ short stories that have been published or accepted and are awaiting publication is a time-consuming task. Unfortunately, things sometimes fall through the cracks.

For example, today I learned that two stories were reprinted in 2013. I'm unsure if I was unaware of it at the time or if I knew, forgot, and failed to record the information in my files.

Regardless, my stories "In Love With the Easter Bunny" and "Easter Magic" both appear in the anthology Enchanting Easter.

Seventeen

I completed and submitted my seventeenth short story of the year this afternoon. This one's an 800-word romance I started writing during a road trip yesterday.

Sixteen

I finished and submitted my sixteenth short story of the year this evening. This one's a 4,100-word confession I started writing March 14, 2013.

13

I received my 13th acceptance of the year this afternoon. This one's a bit of crime fiction I wrote by invitation back in 2014. Unfortunately, the periodical for which I wrote the story ceased publication before using it and I had to find a new home.

Published 3x

My story "Mother of the Year" appears in the May True Story, and my stories "Mom's Midlife Crisis" and "Windows" appear in the May True Confessions.

Fifteen

I completed and submitted my fifteenth short story of the year this evening. This one's an 800-word romance I started yesterday.

Lifetime Achievement Award

Today I learned that I am the recipient of a lifetime achievement award for my involvement with short mystery fiction. The Short Mystery Fiction Society honored me with the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer.

To see a complete list of this year's Derringer Award recipients, visit: http://shortmystery.blogspot.com/2016/03/2016-derringer-award-results.html

Fourteen

I completed and submitted my fourteenth short story of the year this afternoon. This one's an 800-word romance I started yesterday.

12

I received my 12th acceptance of the year, this time for a private eye story, back in February. I didn't count it then because the acceptance letter wasn't explicit. Luckily, an email I received this morning confirmed that it was, in fact, an acceptance.

Thirteen

I completed my thirteenth short story of the year today, a 330-word bit of flash fiction I started June 26, 2015. I've not submitted it yet because I don't yet know of an appropriate market.

Twelve

I finished and submitted my twelfth short story of the year this afternoon. This one's a confession I started writing August 19, 2005.

Published

"To Live and Die in Texas," a noir bit of crime fiction, has just been published at Honeysuckle magazine's website: http://www.honeysucklemag.com/to-live-and-die-in-texas/

11

I received my 11th acceptance of the year a few minutes ago. This one's for a 4,800-word noir story, accepted by a new periodical that released its first issue last summer.

Eleven

I completed and submitted my eleventh short story of the year this afternoon. This one's a 5,200-word confession I started writing April 4, 2013.

Published

My story "Bathhouse Backstabber," a romance involving a would-be mystery writer, appears in the just-published anthology Men in Love (Bold Strokes Books).

Always spell the first word correctly

A mention on Twitter about a book on writing caught my attention. I found the book on Amazon. I used Amazon's "Look Inside" feature. I started to read the book. The first word was misspelled. I stopped reading.

Sigh.

8, 9, 10

I received my 8th, 9th, and 10th acceptances of the year this evening, all for confessions.

The "King of Confessions" rules

Earlier today, in my guise as the "King of Confessions," I spoke to the Creative Minds writing group at the West Waco Library in Waco, Texas.

Ten

I finished and submitted my tenth short story of the year this morning. This one's a 3,800-word confession I started writing March 12, 2013.

The Unacceptance

Today, in a guest post at Rejectomancy, I write about the most disheartening rejection of all:

The Unacceptance Letter by Michael Bracken

			The Unacceptance Letter by Michael Bracken Hey, folks, we’ve got a very special guest author today, the talented and prolific Michael Bracken. Michael has graciously agreed to write a post about one of the ...
			View on rejectomancy.com	Preview by Yahoo

7

I received my 7th acceptance of the year today, this time for an essay about writing.

Published 2x

My stories "Coffeemaker" and "Dangerous Jokes" appear in the April True Story.

Nine

I finished and submitted my ninth short story of the year this evening. This one's a 1,400-word bit of romantic magical realism I started on December 15, 2015.

Eight

I finished and submitted my eighth short story of the year this morning. This one's a 5,000-word Father's Day confession I started on the 25th.

5, 6

I received my 5th and 6th acceptances of the year this afternoon, both for Mother's Day stories.

4

I received my 4th acceptance of the year this afternoon, this time for a Mother's Day story.

Speaking about writing confessions

Creative Minds – all writers welcome, Saturday, March 12, 2016, 11:00 a.m., West Waco Library-Conference Room, 5301 Bosque Boulevard, Waco, Texas – Guest Speaker: Michael Bracken - Writing Confessions for Fun & Profit.

Seven

I finished and submitted my seventh short story of the year this morning. This one's an 8,000-word private eye story I started January 18 in response to an invitation to contribute to an anthology.

Published

Now available in paperback, A Slice of Sin contains my erotic Viking story "Saga of the Sailmaker's Widow." Order a copy at Amazon.

Published

My erotic romance "Heart On" appears in Gym Boys (Cleis Press). Though the anthology was published in December,  I received my copies today.

Published 3x

My story "Spring Break Surprise" appears in the March True Confessions and my stories "Cemetery Fundraiser" and "Marking Territory" appear in the March True Story.

Six

I finished and submitted my sixth short story of the year this evening. This one's a 4,000-word confession I started October 24, 2015.

3

I received my 3rd acceptance of the year while I was sleeping. This one's for a confession.

2

I received my 2nd acceptance of the year this afternoon, this time for an April Fool's Day story.

Lida Bushloper's 30-year story

On her blog today, Lida Bushloper writes about her experience writing and then shepherding to publication "The 30-Year Story," which isn't the title of the story but how long it took to find a home, and she mentions my role in its eventual publication.

Interviewed at Rejectomancy.com

I've been interviewed by Aeryn Rudel at Rejectomancy.com, a blog about being rejected and what writers might glean from the various ways in which editors reject submissions. Read the interview at: http://rejectomancy.com/2016/01/13/ranks-of-the-rejected-michael-bracken/.

1

I received my first acceptance of the year this evening, this for a 4,200-word bit of Texas noir.

2015 in review

41 acceptances (vs. 42 in 2014).

32 rejections (vs. 21 in 2014).

37 short stories published (vs. 36 in 2014), 3 articles/essays published (vs. 1 in 2014).

I completed 41 short stories (vs. 53 in 2014).

I completed (to final draft) 153,000 words of short fiction (vs. 198,000 in 2014).

That's an average story length of 3,732 words (vs. an average of 3,375); the shortest story was 1,400 words; the longest was 7,000 words.

I completed and submitted an average of .79 short stories each week (vs. an average of 1.02 each week in 2014).

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

Observations:

My productivity decreased last year, my rejections increased, and my sales remained stable. There are several reasons these things happened.

1) I married and moved. Moving took up a great deal of my time during the final third of the year and still impacts me now as I prepare to sell the home in which I lived for 21 years.

2) I was engaged in a year-long writing-related project that involved no actual writing. I recently completed that project.

3) I continued to write a few stories just for me rather than for specific markets. These stories are often difficult to place because they don't clearly fit the needs of existing markets with which I am familiar. They often collect rejections while I work my way through potential markets.

Five

I finished and submitted my fifth short story of the year this evening. This one's a 2,600-word Mother's Day story I started writing March 22, 2013.

Four

I finished and submitted my fourth short story of the year. This one's a 1,300-word bit of crime fiction I started writing October 12, 2014.

Three

I just finished and submitted my third short story of the year. This one's a 3,500-word Mother's Day story I started writing February 9, 2013.

Two

I finished and submitted my second short story of the year, a 1,300-word Mother's Day story I started writing July 3, 2005.

One

This is a new year and the count starts over in my annual goal to write and sell an average of one short story each week.

A few minutes ago I completed and submitted my first short story of the year, a 2,700-word confession I started writing December 7, 2009.

Published 4x

My stories "Mistaken Identity: Will this Ruin Valentine's Day?" and "A Blind Date: Can This be Real Love?" appear in the February True Confessions; "Mardi Gras Mistakes: Regret in the Bayou" appears in the February True Story; and "Writing Dialog," mentioned earlier today, appears in the January WritersTalk.

Forty-one

I finished writing my forty-first short story of the year this evening. It's a 3,800-word confession I started writing on January 15, 2007. I'll submit it tomorrow. Right now, I plan to celebrate the coming of the New Year.

"Writing Dialog"

A few years back I wrote "Writing Dialog," a lesson in writing dialog written as a short romance. I don't think many people saw it, but "Writing Dialog" has been reprinted in the January issue of WritersTalk, the newsletter of the South Bay Writers Club. You can read it on page 6:

http://southbaywriters.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/SmallJan2016WT.pdf

Forty

I completed and submitted my fortieth short story of the year a few minutes ago. I started writing this story February 24, 2010 and, because it doesn't fit neatly into any specific genre, I'm referring to it as an alternative history mystery.

41

I received my 41st acceptance of the year this afternoon.

Apparently, another writer failed to return a contract in time and the editor needed something at the last minute to fill the hole. Luckily, I had a story that was the right length waiting in the slush pile.

Of course, I signed and returned the contract immediately.

Thirty-nine

I finished and submitted my thirty-ninth short story of the year this morning. This one's a 3,100-word confession I started writing September 19, 2009.

40

I received my 40th acceptance of the year this morning, this time for an erotic mystery.

Thirty-eight

I finished and submitted my thirty-eighth short story of the year this morning. This one's a 2,000-word confession I started writing December 11, 2012.

38, 39

I received my 38th and 39th acceptances this evening. Both stories are confessions.

Thirty-seven

I finished and submitted my thirty-seventh story of the year. This one's a 4,500-word confession I began writing on May 24 of this year.

Thirty-six

I finished and submitted my thirty-sixth short story of the year this morning. This one's another confession, started November 25, 2010.

Thirty-five

I completed and submitted my thirty-fifth short story of the year this evening. This one's a 3,100-word confession I started writing August 4, 2013.

Thirty-four

I finished and submitted my thirty-fourth story of the year this afternoon. This one's a 4,400-word confession I started October 27, 2011.

Will it go 'round in circles? Uh-huh!

Many years ago, when I was in my early 20s, one of my first expensive purchases was a component stereo system from JCPenny that included a receiver, turntable and cassette tape player. During subsequent decades, the receiver failed and was replaced, two different CD players were added, and I blew out of one the original speakers. (I later blew out one of the replacement speakers and now have a mismatched set. Alas, the remaining original speaker now needs to be replaced.)

For the past ten years or so, the system had been stored in a bedroom closet, in part because the turntable belt had broken and I had a small self-contained CD player I could use to listen to music. My LPs, 45s, and cassette tapes were also hidden away because without the stereo I had no way to play them.

A few years back I attempted to purchase a new belt for the turntable, and either purchased the wrong one or installed it incorrectly because the turntable still didn't work. I shoved the stereo system back into the closet.

My recent move resurrected the system and there is a place in my new office where it fits perfectly. So, I once again went in search of a new belt for the turntable. This attempt was a success, and I've since been listening to LPs I had forgotten I owned. (For example: That's Freddie Bell and the Bellboys playing in the picture. Remember them? Neither do I.)

There's an entirely different vibe in my office when LPs are on the turntable than when CDs are playing. I'm wondering what it'll be like after I've worked my way through all the albums and 45s and start playing my cassette tapes.

36, 37

I received my 36th and 37th acceptances this morning, these for a pair of Valentine's Day romances.

35

I received my 35th acceptance of the year this morning, this time for a romance I wrote in 2012.

Published 2x

"Taking Down the Lights" appears in the January issue of True Story, and "Missed Kiss at Midnight" appears in the January True Confessions.

Workshop covered in newsletter

WritersTalk, the newsletter of the South Bay Writers Club, includes "Building Saleable Short Fiction," Chess Desalls' front-page article about my recent seminar "Write Short Fiction for Fun & Profit." If you flip to the end of the article on page 6, you'll find a photograph of me standing with Andrew MacRae, Darkhouse Books editor/publisher. See for yourself at http://southbaywriters.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Small.Dec2015WT.pdf.

Published

My story "Saga of the Sailmaker's Widow" appears in the just-released anthology A Slice of Sin (A Two Dame Production) and available from Amazon.

Interviewed

Dr. Jac Fitzenz interviews me today: http://drjacbooks.com/wp/interview-with-michael-bracken/.

34

I received my 34th acceptance of the year this morning, this time for a confession.

33

I received my 33rd acceptance of the year this afternoon. This one's for a reprint.

Do you know the way to San Jose?

I spent Saturday in San Jose, Calif., leading "Write Short Fiction for Fun & Profit," a one-day writing workshop for South Bay Writers, a branch of the California Writers Club. Not everyone had arrived yet when I took the somewhat blurry photograph of the venue from my position behind the podium.

Though I didn't have a chance to count the number of attendees, there were 36 pre-registered, a handful of walk-ins, and the organizers, so I'm guessing about 44 writers participated.

We worked our way through plotting, characterization, description and dialog, and wrapped up the day with random writing tips, a discussion of copyright, and a participant-driven Q-and-A.

Andrew MacRae, editor/publisher of Darkhouse Books, provided a copy of And All Our Yesterdays, an anthology containing my story "Beneath Still Waters," and a coffee mug with the anthology cover printed on it as door prizes. He joined us toward the end of the day with calls for submissions for two anthologies he's currently working on, so participants learned the basics of writing short stories and met an editor actively seeking stories to publish.

Brian Evankovich, whose first story I published in Fedora II and who now writes as Brian Drake, was one of the participants. Also participating was Madeline McEwen, a writer I know from the Short Mystery Fiction Society. Dick Yaeger first contacted me about leading the workshop, Vice-President Jenni Everidge negotiated the details with me, and she, President Patrick McQueen, and his wife Jennifer welcomed me at the airport the evening before the workshop.

I had a chance to speak with all—or nearly all—of the participants one-on-one before, after, or during the lunch break, and I wish I could remember all of their names so I could list them here.

I hope the participants enjoyed themselves and learned something about writing short fiction.

I certainly enjoyed myself, and I look forward to the next time I have the opportunity to lead a writing workshop.

Thirty-three

I finished and submitted my thirty-third short story of the year this afternoon. This one's a 2,900-word Valentine's Day story I started writing February 15, 2011.

Unaccepted

Last year I had a story accepted by a new publication, and I was looking forward to its publication this year. Unfortunately, earlier this afternoon I learned from the editor that the magazine didn't survive past its first issue. Sigh. Sometimes I think an unacceptance is worse than a rejection.