Eight

I finished and submitted my eighth short story of the year this evening, an 1,800-word noir crime story.  I started the story on February 20, actually finished it a few days ago, but hadn't added it to the count until now because I had to find an appropriate market.

Seven

I finished and submitted my seventh short story of the year this evening, a 2,200-word bit of noir I started February 24.

Reviewed: "Dixie Quickies"

In "Short & Sweet," his column in the just-arrived Winter issue of Mystery Scene Magazine, Ben Boulden reviews the first issue of Wildside Press's Black Cat Mystery Magazine, devoting two paragraphs to the issue, and singling out two stories for closer attention, including my "Dixie Quickies," which he calls "a thriller dressed as a straight crime story where a dead cartel gangster, a motel clerk, and a motel room maid, are all caught in the same gravitational pull."

Six

I completed and submitted my sixth shorty story of the year this evening. This one's a bit of crime fiction I started November 20, 2017.

Published: "My Stripper Past" and "The Mourning Man"

My story "My Stripper Past" appears in Pulp Adventures #28, and my story "The Mourning Man" appears in the March/April Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine.

Five

I finished and submitted my fifth short story of the year this afternoon. This one's a 5,600-word private eye story I started January 16.

Published: "Plumber's Helper"

My story "Plumber's Helper" was published today on The Saturday Evening Post's website: http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2018/02/16/post-fiction/contemporary-fiction-art-entertainment/plumbers-helper.html

Published: "Poster Child"

Today I write about all the mystery publications that have come and mostly gone, and about how publication in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine ties short story writers to the genre's history in a way publication in no other magazine does, in my guest post, "Poster Child," at Something Is Going to Happen: https://somethingisgoingtohappen.net/2018/02/14/poster-child-by-michael-bracken/

Note: I also now blog as one of the SleuthSayers. My posts appear every third Tuesday at SleuthSayers.org.

4

I received my 4th acceptance of the year this afternoon. This one's for an essay.

Best American Mystery Stories

My story "Smoked," first published in Noir at the Salad Bar, has been selected for inclusion in this year's The Best American Mystery Stories.

Published: "Texas Hot Flash"

"Texas Hot Flash" appears today at Tough.

Published: "Skirts"

"Skirts" appears in Black Cat Mystery Magazine #2, released at the tail-end of last month.

3

I received my 3rd acceptance of the year last evening, this time for a reprint.

2

I received my 2nd acceptance of the year yesterday, this one for a romance.

Four

I wrote and submitted my fourth short story of the year today. This one's a 250-word dark-crime/horror flash.

1

I received my first acceptance of the year, this for a short romance. My two previous appearances in this publication were short pieces of humor published in 1980 and 1982.

Three

I finished and submitted my third short story of the year this morning. This one's a 5,000-word bit of crime fiction I started October 1, 2017, and it's the third (and final story) I found in nearly complete form when I cleaned off my desk this past weekend.

Lesson learned: Don't let things pile up!

Two

I completed and submitted my second short story of the year this morning. This one's a 3,700-word bit of crime fiction I started writing May 4, 2017, and it's the second one I found on my desk this past weekend that only needed a good proofread before being ready for submission.

2017 in review

37 acceptances (vs. 45 in 2016).

40 rejections (vs. 35 in 2016).

33 original short stories published and two reprinted (vs. 40 in 2016), and no articles/essays published (vs. 4 in 2016). (Even so, I did write some guest blog posts and became a regular contributor to SleuthSayers.org.)

I completed 32 short stories (vs. 56 in 2016).

I completed (to final draft) 130,600 words of short fiction (vs. 169,430 in 2016).

That's an average story length of 4,081 words (vs. an average of 3,026); the shortest story was 1,100 words; the longest was 6,700 words.

I completed and submitted an average of .62 short stories each week (vs. an average of 1.08 each week in 2016).

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

Observations:

1) The decreased number of completed stories and the increase in the average length of my stories is partially attributable my not writing any stories intended for Woman's World, a market I have never cracked. 

2) Two magazines, responsible between them for 21 of 2017's published stories, ceased operation mid-year. This negatively impacted the number of acceptances and the number of published stories, and it put a crimp in my productivity.

3) Some publications do not send rejections. Non-responses are not included in the rejection count.

2018 Goals

For the past several years, my annual goals have been:

1) To complete and submit an average of at least one short story each week.

2) To receive an average of at least one acceptance each week. (Reprints and non-fiction pieces count for this goal.)

3) To continue to have one or more short stories published each and every month, as I have for several years now.

Given that I've lost two of my primary markets, these goals may no longer be realistic. So, my primary goal this year is to rebuild and re-establish myself as I move into new markets and/or new genres.

One

I completed my first short story of the year this afternoon. This is a 1,200-word horror story I found in nearly complete form when I was cleaning off my desk yesterday. I began work on it March 27, 2017, and all it needed was a final proofread. So, it's finished, but I don't yet know where to send it.