Wednesday, August 2, 2017

IWSG - Expectations, New Release, Stats, & Links

It's the first Wednesday of August, which means it's time for a gathering of the Insecure Writer's Support Group, created by Alex J. Cavanaugh.


IWSG was created to lend support to writers and allow them a place to share their insecurities among friends. Anyone is welcome to participate. Just go to Alex's website above, go to the IWSG tab, and sign up. Then post on the first Wednesday of the month and visit fellow posters.

Our co-hosts for August are  Christine Rains, Dolarah @ Book Lover, Ellen @ The Cynical Sailor, Yvonne Ventresca, and LG Keltner! Be sure to stop by and visit as thanks for co-hosting.

The optional question for August: What are your pet peeves when reading/writing/editing?

The first thing that popped into my head was using the word "till" instead of "until" or "'til." I have far more pet peeves, I'm sure, but I can't think of them right now. However, anyone who's been a critique partner knows this annoys me. (That, and not using proper manuscript format.)

One of my insecurities this month involves a problem I never thought about. Expectations. And not mine. I've started hearing from people who enjoy my stories, and it actually freaks me out, because now I over-analyze everything due to fear of letting people down who've liked other stories.

Obviously, this is a good problem to have, but it's hard not to let it paralyze me sometimes when going to push "send."

Now for July's stats:

I submitted 16 pieces.
0 acceptances.
12 rejections.
Currently have 14 pieces on submission.
I have three stories pending submission.
My goal is to have 20 pieces out at any given time, so I'm getting there.
1 publication.


My short story "Faceless" is in this month's Dark Moon Digest! Available from Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing and Amazon in e-book and paperback.

Link time. Bear in mind that I'm not endorsing these, merely passing them along. Always do your own due diligence before submitting.

Accepting Submissions:

Litmag is seeking short fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Up to 15,000 words. Pay varies, depending upon type and publication medium, but is between $250 and $1000. Deadline August 15.

Radix Media is seeking fiction, personal essays, and poetry for Aftermath: Explorations of Loss and Grief. 500 to 3000 words. Pays $.06/word. Deadline August 15.

Tyche Books and Rhonda Parrish are seeking fantasy short stories for Fire: Demons, Dragons, and Djinns. Up to 7500 words. Pays $50 CAD. Deadline August 15.

Splickety Publishing Group is seeking flash fiction for Spark with a theme of Picture Perfect. 300 to 1000 words. Pays $.02/word. Deadline August 25.

Fantasia Divinity is seeking fantasy and dark fantasy for Autumn's Harvest. 500 to 10,500 words. Pays half cent per word. Deadline August 25.

Dark Moon Digest is seeking horror short fiction. 1500 to 7000 words. Pays $.01/word.

The Centropic Oracle is seeking science fiction and fantasy. Up to 6500 words. They take flash fiction and short stories. Pays $.01/word CAD.

Misanthrope is seeking fiction and essays. 1000 to 5000 words. They give a nominal payment, but don't state specifics.

What are your insecurities? How are your stats for the month? Any submissions? Acceptances? Any of these publications of interest? Anything to share?

May you find your Muse.

29 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Congratulations on Dark Moon Digest.
I know the feeling of expectations and worry you'll let readers down.

Madeline Mora-Summonte said...

Congrats on the publication! Love the cover of that issue!

I had a recent rejection of a story I really liked by a magazine I was excited about. Sigh. I let myself mope a bit then picked myself back up. It's what we do, right? :)

Chrys Fey said...

I only use shortened words in slang. For narrative, it's "until."

Congrats on your story being published in the digest!

Crystal Collier said...

So for having a hesitation about hitting send, you sure do it a ton. You're an epic example and I applaud your efforts.

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

Congrats on the short story publication. Readers having expectations is a good thing even if it is pressure.

Pat Garcia said...

Oh Shannon, you give me so much inspiration. Twenty pieces, WOW! That's a lot. Right now, my goal is getting at three pieces out a month. I'm sagging behind because of writing classes I'm taking but I am going to keep at it.
Congratulations also on the short story publication. That's where I want to be. I'll shout when my first short story is sold.
All the best.
Shalom aleichem,
Patricia at Everything Must Change

Annalisa Crawford said...

Congrats on the short story. The more you submit, the more will be accepted - that's my mantra at the moment. Having gone through a couple of years letting submissions slide, I'm getting back out there. Now I need to write more stories!

diedre Knight said...

20 stories out at one time? Leapin' lizards, good woman! You amaze me. Until yesterday (no kidding), I hadn't used the word 'till' in ages. Sure enough, one of my apps attacked it ;-)

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Shannon - that's great news ... but brilliant to have achieved so much - good luck for the rest of the entries ... and then writing more - cheers Hilary

Jennifer Lee Rossman said...

Congratulations! I've submitted at least one thing a week all year, and I've had 3 or 4 acceptances! (can't remember if one of them was subbed this year or last)

Andrew Leon said...

I used to share your perspective on "until" until I looked it up and both "til" and "till" are legit.

Michelle Athy said...

Congrats on the publication! And thank as always for the links! I only use "til" in dialogue--never in narrative.

The Cynical Sailor said...

Congrats on your publication! I'm always so impressed with your stats, especially the fact that you always have so many submissions out.

H. R. Sinclair said...

Congrats! (Awesome cover too!) My peeve is "alot" for "a lot".

Karen Baldwin said...

You're an inspiration, and a powerhouse. And as always, thanks for the links. Congrats on Dark Moon Digest

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Congrats on the short story.

Just yesterday I saw a story that used "till" instead of "til." Bugs me, too.

Unknown said...

Congratulations on Dark Moon Digest! And for posting your stats. I admire your productivity!

Unknown said...

Congratulations on Dark Moon Digest! And for posting your stats. I admire your productivity!

Yolanda Renée said...

One of my old mistakes, at least I hope it's an old one. :)
Congrats on the story!

Christine Rains said...

Congratulations! I managed to get one short story written and submitted last month. Good for the summer when the kid isn't in school.

Unknown said...

I'm beginning to sub again after a long break. My goal is to have all the finished pieces on sub--but so far my writing far outpaces my submissions. Thanks for the callforsubs: will look them up!

Diane Burton said...

Shannon, congrats on the publication. That is so great. You set a goal and shoot for it. Mega hurrays!

John Wiswell said...

Sixteen submissions in a month is great! And congratulations on the publication. That's a really eerie cover.

Olga Godim said...

Sometimes, I use 'till'. I must get rid of the bugger.
Congrats on your publication and thanks for the links, as always.

Donna B. McNicol said...

"I've started hearing from people who enjoy my stories, and it actually freaks me out, because now I over-analyze everything due to fear of letting people down who've liked other stories."

Boy, do I ever understand this!!!!

Rebecca M. Douglass said...

Yeah, nothing like creating expectations :p But really, it's a great problem to have, since it means someone is reading your stuff. Which means that you are selling a few stories, and that is super!

My own stats don't look too good. My intentions to submit a number of stories this summer totally fell through. In fact, I've only written a couple of flash pieces for my blog, and about 1000 words of a short story. And spent about 1 hour editing my novel. So...not a good summer, writing-wise.

dolorah said...

Congrats on the publication. I think I'll purchase the volumn, it looks intriguing.

Thanks for the links.

Julie Flanders said...

Congrats on the Dark Moon story!! That's awesome. Good luck getting to the 20 submissions, I'm sure you'll be there before you know it. I'm always impressed with your stats and how consistent you are with submitting!

Michelle Wallace said...

Congratulations on your story finding a home in the Dark Moon Digest!
When it comes to short pieces, you are super-productive (after all, rejections are a part of productivity)!