Published...sort of

My story "The Great Little Train Robbery," a bit of crime fiction suitable for the entire family, is now available in audio format for $.88 from Sniplits at http://www.sniplits.com/storiesforauthor.jsp?a=70.

14, 15, 16, 17

My 14th acceptance of the year came as a surprise when I received an e-mail from an editor asking if it was OK to make minor alterations to three of my stories so that they became interrelated and could be published as a trio next week. Two of the stories had been accepted and paid for a while back, but the third is one I submitted earlier this month and for which I had not yet received an acceptance.

Of course, I agreed to the changes.

And by return e-mail learned that the editor was accepting three more of my stories.

Published, 13

Today's mail brought welcome news, news that felt even more welcome because of last Friday's manuscript massacre: I received a contributor copy of the May True Love containing my story "Up Close & Personal" and I received a contract from True Love (my 13th acceptance of the year) for a story tentatively scheduled for the July issue.

Ouch

Perhaps I was starting to get cocky and whatever deity controls the karmic balance of the universe decided to bitch-slap me back to reality, but today's mail brought an unexpected mountain of bad news. I received four rejections.

It's been a long, long time since I received four rejections in a single day. In fact, I haven't even received four rejections in the same month since May of last year when I received five.

If ever there was a day made for crawling into bed and pulling the covers over my head, this is the day.

But hiding from the rejections piled on my desk doesn't make me a better writer, nor will it make me more successful. What will make me a better, more successful writer is a close examination of the stories. Why were they rejected? Is there a problem with the stories, or did I submit them to inappropriate markets?

Maybe I'll seek the answers to those questions tomorrow, after I crawl out from under the covers.

And the significance is...

Several years ago the local Barnes & Noble had a selection of how-to-write titles that pretty much filled three shelving units (a shelving unit being approximately six shelves tall by approximately four feet wide). Over the years the shelf space devoted to how-to-write titles has slowly diminished. Today, for the first time, only a single unit contained how-to-write titles. The other two units that once held how-to-write titles was filled with dictionaries.

I'm certain this is significant in some way. I just can't figure out what the significance is.

Success is in the volume

The promotional blurb for Confessions: How To Write & Sell True Stories (Toad Hall Press, 2001), claims "Lorraine Henderson now earns a five-figure income from writing--all from writing short stories needed by the many confessions magazines that are published every month."

At an average of 3-cents/word it would take 333,333+ words/year to earn a minimal five figure ($10,000) income from writing confessions. That sounds like a lot of words, but is only 947 words each day, 365 days a year.

I type about 50-words/minute, so I should be able to produce 947 words with 19 minutes of effort.

Sounds easy, doesn't it?

Now imagine generating story ideas and plots for one to two stories each week. How long does that take? If I devote 30 minutes a day to generating story ideas and plots, 19 minutes to writing, and 11 minutes to revision and proofreading, I'm only working one hour a day writing confessions and am left with seven hours a day for other writing.

If it were this easy, we'd all be doing it. And if we all did it, we'd inundate the editors with more submissions than they could possibly publish and, thus, increase our rejection rates.

Still, 947 words a day doesn't sound that difficult does it?

Ready, set, go...

12

I received my 12th acceptance of this year this afternoon, this time for a bit of crime fiction.

Hell week

If I didn't enjoy what I do, this would have qualified as Hell week. I had--and met--editing/production deadlines for a weekly newsletter, a monthly newsletter, a monthly newspaper, and a bi-monthly magazine. Additionally, I wrote a new 3,700-word short story and finished work on a 5,700-word short story that I started several weeks ago. I did manage to squeeze in a little personal time, but I am worn out.

Fifth anniversary

Today is my fifth anniversary as a full-time freelance writer/editor.

Here's what I've learned:

There's no overtime pay. And there's plenty of overtime.

Health insurance and self-employment tax take a huge bite out of my bottom line.

Budgeting is a challenge when income is erratic.

Developing good relationships with key clients is instrumental in achieving success.

Success is self-defined. But ability to pay the bills is a key component of it.

Happiness like this makes all the challenges seem inconsequential.

The crabby editor is back

Much of my time the past few weeks has been occupied with copyediting, and I've kept a list of recurring errors and things that bugged me in the copy I've been editing. In no particular order:

The improper use of "insure" in place of "ensure."

The improper use of "draught" in place of "drought."

The improper use of "like" in place of "such as" or "for example." "Like" doesn't mean what many writers seem to think it means.

The improper use of "since" in place of "because." "Since" refers to a passage of time while "because" refers to a cause-and-effect relationship.

The use of phrases such as "be sure and" and "try and" when "be sure to" and "try to" would be more accurate.

The abuse of "etc." to end lists. This is a clear sign that the author hasn't completed his thought.

Now available on e-bay

Now available on e-bay is a copy of the second issue of Expanse, a science fiction magazine containing one of my short stories. The story--"In the Still of the Night"--is actually a cross-genre piece, about a murder that takes place in the far future.

I've seen other magazines containing my work on e-bay. One of these days I might even see something I don't have and will bid on it.

57 in a row

I have now had one or more pieces of short fiction published each month* for 57 consecutive months, but I thought the streak was about to be broken. Many of the publications that regularly publish my fiction work two or more months in advance, so I can look at my contracts and know what will be published during the next few months.

I had nothing scheduled for March.

So I was surprised this morning. In my e-mail was a note from the editor of a weekly publication, letting me know that my story** was in this week's issue.

I made it. By a squeaker.

I submitted the story at the tail-end of February, it was accepted three days later, and was, apparently, immediately scheduled for publication. I can only guess that the publication had an editorial hole to fill. Regardless of why I squeaked into print in March, I'll take it.

It keeps my streak alive.
___
*I count publications by cover date (magazines) or release date (anthologies).

**Before you ask: This one's published under one of my pseudonyms. And, no, I won't tell you what the title is or what my pseudonym is.

CONfession

Many genres of fiction have ardent fans who hold conventions celebrating their favorite genre. It may be possible to attend a different science fiction convention every weekend of the year, and the number of mystery conventions isn't far behind. There are also conventions for fantasy, horror, and romance.

Maybe it's time to celebrate confessions.

I propose CONfession, where confession readers can learn all about the genre from the writers and editors who sin, suffer, and repent for the enjoyment of their readers.

Of course, none of the writers will be allowed to wear name badges because we are, and must remain, anonymous.

Imagine the panel discussions we could have:

"Sleeping with the Neighbor's Spouse: Honest, Honey, It was Just Research!"

and

"Contracting a Fatal Disease: Tragedy or Tax-Deductible Expense?"

Of course, during the annual banquet, we would present the Connies--awards for the best confessions of the year.

Ah, well, maybe I should stop day-dreaming and get back to writing...

Fourth!

Mystery writer Ernest Brown gave me a heads up about this earlier in the month, but I waited to post anything until I'd seen it for myself.

"Snowbird," a private eye story Tom Sweeney and I co-authored, captured fourth place in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine's 2007 Readers Award competition.

I'm not sure how close we came to actually winning, but first place was a tie, second place was only one point shy of first and third place was only one point shy of second. So, lacking any evidence to the contrary, I'd like to believe our story was a close fourth.

The forgotten vowel

I have discovered that people who are approximately five years or more younger than I am weren't taught all of the vowels, and that even people my age and older don't always remember the missing vowel.

The vowels are: a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y and w.

W?

W is to vowels what Roebuck used to be to Sears & Roebuck or what Western used to be to Country & Western. It's a forgotten member of the team, important once, but kicked to the curb over time.

My uncle (my stepfather's brother) used to win bar bets because he knew what may be the only word in the English language that uses w as a vowel: crwth. (A crwth is a musical instrument.)

On behalf of vowel lovers everywhere I say: Teach W!

But maybe we should tell children that the vowels are: a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y and on extremely rare occasion w.

My legacy

Mystery writer Rob Lopresti discusses the words and whatnot that he overuses and how he makes a final check of his manuscript before sending off to an editor in his blog post at http://criminalbrief.com/?p=462.

"Next come the weak words that usually add nothing to a sentence, such as very and just. After having been edited by Michael Bracken I added got to the suspect list. Michael hates got with a passion and while I don’t feel that strongly about it, I agree it needs to be considered carefully."

Apparently, my intense hatred of "got" is going to be my lasting legacy as an editor.

11

This morning's e-mail brought word from an anthology editor in England that I have another acceptance--my 11th of the year. If I'm counting weeks correcting, this is the end of the 11th week, which means I'm still on track for my goal of one sale per week.

Cats and desks

Cats do not respect a messy desk and I, unfortunately, have two cats and a desk that, despite my best efforts, is never neat. Today my desk became "the place where cats vomit," and I've been picking through the, um, residue trying to determine the value of the affected paper. A few things were obviously trash, and a few things are no longer recognizable, and a few, well, let's just say they're drying out.

The IRS is not my friend

I received my completed tax forms back from my accountant today and am reminded, once again, that the IRS is not my friend. Self-employment tax, combined with the health insurance costs, make it difficult to freelance successfully.

On the other hand, the most significant way to reduce my self-employment taxes is to invest in my business. Legitimate expenses--purchasing office equipment, for example, or attending seminars and workshops--reduces my taxable profit.

But what do I need that I don't currently have? Or, what should I do that I'm not currently doing?

Overused phrases

I'm certain most writers have favorite phrases and word combinations that they use without thinking. I had one of mine slap me in the face last night when I was editing a story that I had written for a market to which I've never submitted.

In a five-sentence block of text I used the phrase "and then" three times. Then I searched the entire 5,100-word story and found it several more times. I revised every occurrence but two and now find myself wondering if I overuse "and then" in everything I write, or just this one story?