Incoming Alert! Incoming Alert!

(klaxons)
(red lights flashing)
(members of the Enterprise bridge crew throwing themselves around)

I have a brand new story in the latest issue of Grimdark Magazine! The issue is available for purchase here. It's a gorgeous little volume; kudos to the editors! My own contribution, "Lessons of Necessity," concerns a mother trying to teach her son to survive in a post-zombie apocalyptic world...

The next few months should be exciting. I have a couple more publications lined up, and maybe a surprise or two more... and then, in November, I plan on throwing my hat into the ring for NaNoWriMo for the first time. Yikes!

Till next time.

A Little Bit of Good News

Okay, so, waking up at 4:30am on the regular sucks.

It sucks for me, at least.  I'm certain that there are many fine morning people in the world who prefer things that way, but I'm not among them, except out of necessity.  My current necessity is having a moment's peace and quiet before the family (bless them) wakes, because really that's the only time I can gather sufficient focus to write.

But why am I complaining?  Isn't this post entitled "A Little Bit of Good News"?  Glad you asked!

It's paying off!  Waking up early is hard enough, but it's impossible if I don't see that I'm doing good with that time.  Fortunately, the good folks on Whidbey Island have seen fit to grant me the Penn Cove Literary Arts Award for the second month in a row.  I do believe that's a first, ladies and gentlemen -- back to back wins.  (And also a last: their newly updated rules specify that previous winners should not submit again... which is a shame, since it was a good source of inspiration to me these last couple of months.)

Furthermore, one of my short stories has been selected as a finalist in the 2015 Defenestrationism Short Story Contest!  It can be found here.  (There is voting involved as part of the contest, and anyone so inclined may participate, but of course there's no obligation to vote or to vote for my story.  The other finalists are all worthy.)

So hooray or huzzah or something similar.  :)

Now to just keep it up...

Submissions Central

Since I'm trying to "get back into the groove," I've been looking for new markets for my fiction, and I've found a number of exciting ones.

One that's very interesting to me personally is Sci Phi Journal.  (That's Phi as in "philosophy," though I expect they pronounce it Fi, notwithstanding.)  I have an abiding interest in all-things-philosophical, and I tend to write like it (sometimes to the detriment of my stories...), so I'm eager to start sending them the best fits.  Perhaps there can be an evolving relationship there!  Or maybe they'll reject me!  So much to learn, so much to see.  :)

All right.  Time spent blogging is time not spent submitting, or writing, or editing.  (Or doing dishes, or making lunch, or raising my child -- and yeah, there's some of all of that ahead of me today, too.)  So back to the grindstone... or, as I've taken to calling it recently, the dreamstone.

Consider that silliness trademarked! ;)

Getting Back into the Groove

Over the last few weeks, it finally has felt like I've somewhat been returning to form.  I've attended workshops and produced crits and received rejections and -- yes -- even found time for a little bit of writing.

It's not exactly what I want, yet.  (What is?)  I'm waking up too early to get it all in, and ignoring many chores/duties which ought not be ignored, which makes me... a less than ideal husband and father.  And I haven't made time for reading yet, which is huge for me, both personally and professionally.  Still, and even if I cannot keep this pace up forever, I feel good for what I've done in this time.  It's progress.

Speaking of happy things, a story of mine has received the Penn Cove Literary Arts Award.  Yay!  :)

All right, back to work.

Years!?

Years.

As it turns out, having a child is a bit of work...

Of course it is happy work, but nonetheless I have been greatly distracted from reading, writing, submitting, and all of those things that a writer ought do.  Updating this blog has received the very shortest end of the stick.

With my kid on the cusp of three, I cannot promise any great change immediately.  But slowly, slowly, I am trying to find some hidden time to put myself back on track.  Blogging will always be below reading, writing, and submitting, I'm afraid, and all of those will remain below parenting forever.

That said, I plan on stopping by from time to time, if you'd care to meet me here.

Till then.

Busy with Baby

Of course!

Despite this, I've been published a time or two since last we've spoken.  First in Whisperings Magazine.  An actual print publication -- I actually have a copy! :)

And then in Every Day Fiction, who were gracious enough to take on my (apparently) controversial flash piece, "In Line."  While I don't want to try to use the occasion to set out anything like a position paper, I must say that it's interesting to note how different people can respond so differently to the same story.  Not surprising -- I didn't say "surprising."  But interesting.  And it occurs to me that a person cannot make everybody happy simultaneously... so that's probably not a goal worth having, anyways.

jerseyworks!

Received word last night that one of my poems had been published on jerseyworks!  I'm very pleased -- I'd been submitting to them for quite some time, so this is a good success for me.

The poem can be found here.