IWSG - Book Release News & 2022 Submission Stats

Yep, it's that time again. First Wednesday of 2023 means it's Insecure Writer's Support Group time.

Created by Alex J. Cavanaugh, the IWSG creates an environment where writers can share about their insecurities and lend support to their fellow insecure writers. Anyone can join. Simply click on Alex's name and add your blog to the list.

This month's co-hosts are: Jemima Pett, Debs Carey, Kim Lajevardi, Sarah Foster, Natalie Aguirre, T. Powell Coltrin.

This month's optional question is: Do you have a word of the year? Is there a word that sums up what you need to work on or change in the coming year? What's your word for 2023 and why?

I don't usually do a word, but I might as well! This year's word is Productivity. I started a new job in May and another around July or August, and very little time has gone to writing as I learned the jobs and worked to improve at them. This year is the year of writing and publication.

I'm planning on releasing Happy Ghoulidays II March 17 (St. Patrick's Day), with stories for St. Patrick's, 4th of July, Easter, Halloween, and more. So I'm hard at work on that. I didn't release anything in 2022, and that's unacceptable. I also have at least one other release (preferably with much longer pre-order period than HG II will have) planned in 2023, but have ideas for more, so it will all come down to what I can manage along with the job. I have a novel I've decided to self-pub, but I want to get the second in the series written before I start planning the release. There's another (unrelated) novel I need to be editing.

In other words, this is the year of GETTING SH*T DONE. Because I did not last year. I've been terrible about short story submissions, and that needs to improve, too. If I hadn't taken the class with Storied Imaginarium, I wouldn't have written any stories for several months. I'm so glad I took that class. It got me inspired and ready to move ahead full tilt.

Submission Stats for December:

1 submission

2 rejections

0 acceptances

12 currently on submission

Submission stats for 2022:

103 submissions

6 acceptances

85 rejections

15 other (publications went under)

My acceptance percentage was more than double this before, so I need to work on that, too. I will say, though, that I also branched out into other genres and did a lot of fiddling around with that, and a chunk of those submissions are from me playing with new stuff. There was also experimentation in my horror. So this may have influenced the stats.

These markets are open for submissions. Bear in mind I'm not endorsing these, merely passing them along. Always do your own due diligence before submitting.

Accepting Submissions:

Neon Hemlock is seeking queer gothic horror for The Crawling Moon: Queer Tales of Inescapable Dread. Up to 6000 words. Pays $.08/word. Deadline January 15.

World Publishing Company is seeking stories about the gods for Avitus: Humans, Gods, Demons. 2400 to 4200 words. Pays $10. Deadline January 15.

Fulcrum Publishing is seeking essays on women's productive health. Up to 2000 words. Pays $150. Deadline January 20.

Dark Matter Presents is seeking horror involving monsters and their lairs for Monster Lairs. 2000 to 4000 words. Pays $.08/word. Deadline January 30.

Air and Nothingness Press is seeking "stories of massive engineering megastructures that reshape stellar systems" for Gargantua. Should be EXACTLY 1000 words. Pays $.08/word. Deadline January 31.

The Bureau Dispatch is seeking fiction and creative nonfiction with the theme "Wayfinding." Up to 1000 words. Pays $50. Deadline January 31.

Brink is seeking short fiction, poetry, and art with the theme "Gravity." Up to 1500 words. Pays $25 to $100, depending upon submission type. Deadline January 31.

Brigids Gate Press is seeking stories about seers and sibyls. 1500 to 5000 words. Pays $.08/word. Deadline January 31.

The Last Girls Club is seeking horror stories with the theme "Panic." Up to 2500 words. Pays $.01/word. Deadline February 1.

The First Line is seeking stories with the opening line "I am the second Mrs. Roberts." 300 to 5000 words. Pays $10 to $50, depending upon submission type. Deadline February1.

Medusa Tales Magazine is seeking stories of transformation and immobilization. Up to 5000 words. Pays $.01/word. Deadline February 15.

EvOke is seeking stories stories, poetry, and artwork about paganism in the African diaspora. Pays $5. Deadline February 15.

Ghoulish Books is seeking short, fun horror for Ghoulish Times. Up to 5000 words. Pays $.07.word. Deadline February 15. (Note: the editors used to run Dark Moon Digest.)

Other Worlds Ink is seeking hopeful near future stories for Transform the World. 2500 to 15,000 words. $50 to $100, depending upon length. Deadline February 28.

Gwyllion Magazine is seeking speculative fiction. Up to 10,000 words. Pays 10 pounds. Deadline February 28.

Dragon Soul Press is seeking trickster stories. 3000 to 15,000 words. Pays in royalties. Deadline February 28.

Any of these of interest? What's your word for the year? Do you set goals? What's something you want to change for the year? Do you review your submission stats for the year?

May you find your Muse.

*Blue Swoosh - md - OCAL - clker.com

Checking in with 2021 Goals

This past January I set some SMART goals in my post SMART Goals for Writing, School, and Health, and I actually did really well sticking to them, which is the point in SMART goals (the acronym means Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Constrained). While I'm not setting goals tonight, I did want to revisit my goals for 2021 and see how I did. Plus check in on how writing went this year.

School Goal: 

Complete 28 more credits by March 31, for a total of 48 in the first term.

Actual Achievement: 

I completed 40 by March 31. I then went on to finish, for a total of 84 credits, by the end of second term, which was September 30. I actually finished in mid-September and got my Bachelor's in Business Administration Management. 

Writing Goals: 

Short Stories - 2 3000-word stories by June 1

Novel - Get WIP to 50,000 words by June 1

Nonfiction - Outline craft book by June 1.

Actual Achievement: 

Short Stories - Met and exceeded. I just know I posted May 5 I'd written two short stories that week. Not sure how many more I'd written in the months before that. Probably only one or two because of school taking precedence.

Novel - Didn't touch it.

Nonfiction - Done. And at this point it's written, beta read, and nearing done on the edits. Plus, I've almost got a completed cover! So exciting!

Submission Stats Summary for the Year:

75 rejections

4 acceptances

Health Goals: 

Exercise - Complete at least 10 minutes of exercise each day through March 1

Weight - Lose 2 pounds by April 1

Diet - Get back on a keto diet by March 1

Mental Wellness - Meditate at least 5 minutes each day through June 1.

Actual Achievement:

Exercise - I highly doubt I made this. Withdrawal is hard. I'm still dealing with it (from a fibromyalgia medication--there's more information in my original linked post). I know I did my best to go for walks and do some yoga and tai chi, and I did it at least several days per week, but not daily. I also got out on several hikes. The below photo was of my last hike at Blodgett Peak. 

Weight - Didn't happen then. Turns out it's nearly impossible to lose weight on that fibromyalgia medication until the dose is low enough. I'm now down to about 3mg in the painfully slow taper I'm having to do, and have lost 9 lbs in the last few months.

Diet - Nope. Instead, pressed by school, we started doing Hello Fresh so the rest of the family could contribute and take some of my load off. Trying to add a restrictive diet to that wasn't going to happen and probably isn't going to happen until I'm completely off the fibromyalgia medication.

Mental Wellness - Mostly done, but I know I missed some days. A lot of times it was bedtime meditations with an app to help me sleep. 

I'm feeling great about my accomplishments in 2021. Are they perfect? Nope. But what I accomplished, I did despite major health issues. I FINALLY got my BS degree at 43 years old. I'm about to publish my first craft book on a topic I'm passionate about. I'm making progress in tapering from a horrific drug, despite the obstacles thrown up. I hiked more this year than I have since the health issues started. I fought to get my daughter diagnosed with autism, and she has thrived this new school year. I successfully finished two seasons of my podcast. And so much more.

Next year will be better. But this year I'm happy with what I did.

Did you set any sort of goals for 2021? Have you revisited them yet? How did you do? Did you accomplish anything you're proud of this year? 

May you find your Muse.

SMART Goals for Writing, School, & Health

 Okay, I figured I'd hit some goals for the year. However, I'm just setting them for the next six months, and they'll be a mix of school, writing/publication, and health.

Since I'm elbow deep in business school stuff, why not use something I've had to deal with time and again in my classes, so far? SMART goals.

SMART stands for:

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Relevant

Time-Constrained

So instead of saying, for example, I want to write three short stories, I'm going to dive a little deeper to align my goals with SMART goals.

School

I started out with the school accepting 39 credits from my Associate's (in Psychology, which is why more didn't transfer). That left me 84 credits to get my Bachelor's. Since starting October 1, I've completed 20 credits, leaving me 64 to graduate. 

SMART goal: I will complete 28 more credits, for a total of 48, by the end of this term March 31.

My stretch goal on this one would be to complete all remaining 64 by the end of the term, but the whole "achievable" category makes it a stretch, rather than the actual goal.

Writing

Short Story SMART goal: Write 2 short stories of at least 3000 words each by June 1.

Stretch goal: 4 short stories of at least 3000 words by June 1.

Novel SMART goal: Get current WIP to 50,000 words by June 1.

Submissions SMART goal: Submit/resubmit 10 stories by June 1.

Stretch goal: Submit/resubmit 20 stories by June 1.

Nonfiction SMART goal: Complete outline of NF WIP

Health

I don't think I've gone into it on here, but I am slow tapering off a medication I was put on for fibromyalgia that, unfortunately, caused significant debilitating side effects, including massive dips into a deep depression, increased physical pain (primarily spine and knees), hypertension, irregular heartbeat, and severe brain fog. As a result of the myriad of side effects (far more than I've mentioned), I've gone backwards in terms of health, including my weight increasing by a couple pounds. The medication can cause severe, prolonged withdrawal, which is why I'm having to do a slow taper that will take close to a year (I started it about two months ago).

With that in mind, I make the following SMART goals:

Exercise SMART goal: Complete at least 10 minutes of physical exercise each day for the next month (ending March 1), with a focus on Tai Chi, yoga, and walking.

Weight SMART goal: Lose 2 pounds from current weight (not posting it, haha) by April 1.

Diet SMART goal: Get back on a keto diet by March 1, in the first step of going on the anti-inflammatory diet to see if it helps with fibromyalgia and medication-caused pain.

Mental Wellness SMART goal: Meditate using apps for at least 5 minutes per day (in addition to any yoga meditation done for workout) until June 1.

Stretch Goal: Go on one hike in my usual location on the short loop by May 1.

Those seem reasonable.

The thing about goals is that you can't just pick them and leave them be, expecting them to magically happen. I've got my overall goals, so now I need to break them up and figure out how to reach them, including putting measures in place to track my progress. 

Okay, so it's more complicated than that, technically, but it would be a lot of blah, blah, blah. I want to approach my goals differently this year. Usually, I post what I'd like to complete for the next year, then I don't look at it until the end of the year. This time I intend to print them up and put them somewhere I'll see them every day. I've also set some with a closer end date, and none of them are for the year right now, because things change too rapidly currently for that to be reasonable. I will have my measures in a spreadsheet (which I will put together after I complete my current school project), so I can physically track them.

If I need to, I will adjust them. The medication side effects and withdrawal symptoms have made things harder than they need to be, and if I don't improve as quickly as I hope, I need to remain open to modifying the goals. The nature of the side effects makes them impactful as uncontrollable circumstances across all the categories. But I'm optimistic that I'll see increasing improvement in the next couple months.

I'm feeling pretty good about those goals! Did you set yourself goals this year? Do you usually break them down into more doable segments and track them or is it free-for-all where you check in at the end of the year? Maybe something in between? 

May you find your Muse.

*School (Country) - OCAL - clker.com

*Laptop - OCAL - clker.com

*Woman Practicing Yoga - OCAL - clker.com

*Swoosh - Blue - MD - OCAL - clker.com

*Checklist Panda - OCAL - clker.com

*Happy Panda - OCAL - clker.com

2017 Goal Setting & 2016 Review

We made it through 2016, even if it came with some new scars. It was a year of craziness, as I imagine all election years are, but we survived. 

It's always fun to recap the year then look ahead to what I'd like to achieve. Setting goals helps me think through what I want to do and how I want to end the year.

I submitted short stories and flash fiction 77 times in 2016. This is not 77 stories, just submissions, since I turn the rejected ones back around. In 2015, this number was 60.

I had 4 acceptances in 2016. This is down from 9 the previous year. I know why, and I'll address that in a minute.

I had 9 stories published in 2016 (the 4 accepted, plus end of year acceptances from 2015.)

6 stories submitted in 2016 are still pending.

Which means I had 67 rejections in 2016. Not up to my 100 goal yet, but creeping that way.

And here's another stat to add: I had 4 speaking engagements in 2016. A standalone for Pikes Peak Pen Women, 2 workshops at Pikes Peak Writers Conference, 3 panels at Denver Comic Con, and 4 panels at MileHiCon. In addition, I participated in 5 signings. So cool!

Last year, my goals were:

• Finish first revision of novel #2 (UF above). Done!
• Do a second pass through on novel #1 (YA above). Done!
• Start novel #3. Done!
• Continue writing short stories, revising them, and submitting them. One per month would be fantastic, and give me time to focus on my novels, but we'll see. Nope (did not achieve one per month)
• Finish all short story revisions pending. Done!
• Submit those short stories once revised. Done!
• Have one of the novels (#1 or #2) ready by April, so I can query an agent at PPWC. Nope
• Continue experimenting with my writing and finding the joy in it. Done!
• Get back to my photography (what? I just slipped in a non-writing goal...) Sorta
• Continue with the horror reading/review challenge Done!

Not bad! I mentioned above that I know why I didn't have better numbers. It's the same reason I didn't have my novel ready by April, and the same reason I didn't get more short stories written. I got insanely busy between two volunteer jobs, and it did not let up until the end of May. My writing suffered severely, which actually led to a mega bout of depression about having fallen behind in my writing, as well as destroying the progress I'd made the previous year. It wasn't until school got started again that I caught up on my writing, so we'll see what happens with these new stories I've got out. I've also pulled a couple to do some re-writes on.

My goals for 2017, understanding that I set goals knowing life is fluid, and that my goals and circumstances may change at any time, are as follows:

• Final revision on Novel #2
• Query Novel #2 in April at PPWC
• Finish Novel #3
• Write at least one new short story per month
• Finish current pending revisions
• Continue to book speaking/signing opportunities (so far, I have 1 definite and 2 possibles)
• Evaluate Novel #1 to see if I want to continue pursuing it or trunk it for now
• Continue submitting short stories - aim for 100 rejections and 12 acceptances this year
• Write for at least two themed issues or anthologies that are outside my normal comfort level

I think that's more than enough goals for now. Part of me wants to achieve one short story per week, but I don't believe that's realistic for me right now. 

Onto links! Bear in mind that I'm passing these along, not endorsing them. Always do your own due diligence before submitting.

Accepting Submissions:

Broken Eye Books is open for submissions to their anthology Ride the Star Wind: Cthulhu, Space Opera, and the Cosmic Weird. They want space opera combined with cosmic weird horror. Short stories of 3000 to 6000 words or flash fiction of up to 1000 words. Pays $.08/word. Deadline January 31.

The First Line puts out a quarterly first line, which acts as the prompt for a story. This quarter's first line is: "Eddie tended to drift into whatever jobs were available that would pay the rent." Story should start with the first line, which cannot be altered. 300 to 5000 words. Pays $25 to $50. Deadline February 1.

Skirt! Magazine is open for submissions to their January theme: The All In Issue - stories about going all in, taking risks, etc. Personal essays relating to women and women's issues. 800 to 1100 words. Pays $200. Deadline February 1.

Mofo Pubs is open for submissions to two literary erotica anthologies: Hotel and Sacrilege. The title is also the theme. 1000 to 5000 words. Pays $.01/word. Deadline February 3.

Splickety Havok is open for submissions in the theme Tyrannosaurus Reads. Think Jurassic Park. 300 to 1000 words. Pays $.02/word. Deadline February 10.

Bundoran Press is open for submissions to a science fiction anthology entitled 49th Parallels: Alternative Canadian Histories and Futures. 1500 to 7000 words. Pays $.05CAD/word. Deadline February 14.

Contests:

Creative Writing Ink holds a monthly writing contest. Free to enter. Short stories up to 3000 words or poems up to 40 lines. Any genre/theme. Prize is web publication and £10 Amazon GC. Deadline January 31.

The Chicago Tribune is sponsoring the 2017 Nelson Algren Literary Awards. Fiction short stories up to 8000 words. Prizes of $500, $1000, and $3500. No entry fee. Deadline January 31.

Did you create goals for the year? How about last year? How did you do on those? Do you do resolutions or goals? How strict are you about your goals? Do you go beyond goals and make a plan to complete each item? Are any of these links of interest to you?

May you find your Muse.

ShaNo Update, Week 3

Hey, hey, hey, it's the end of the third week of ShaNoShoStoWriEdSubMo! One more week to go. This is where I stand on my goals:

Writing

Write 1 new flash fiction piece

Write 1 new vignette (still trying to fully figure out the form)

Write 2 new short stories

Write at least 5000 new words on WIP #2

Write at least 2700 additional words to the above goals

Editing

Edit 2 flash fiction pieces awaiting editing

Edit 3 2 short stories awaiting editing 

Edit at least 5 chapters of WIP #1

Submitting

Re-submit pieces currently awaiting submission

Submit newly edited pieces from above (Submitted the one short story and the flash fiction pieces I edited)

Re-submit rejected pieces

I added two goals: Write at least 2700 additional words to the above goals and Re-submit rejected pieces. I've completed the re-submission, but that goal will open back up if I get any rejections this week. And yes, the one I was so sad about on Wednesday was among those re-submitted. The 2700 words additional are because of a meme I posted on Facebook this week. 100 words per like, 27 likes.

As you can see, I have a lot of goals remaining for completion this week, but the kids are out of school, so my time available could go either way. I don't have to play chauffeur all week and I have no events other than some write-ins. Then again, I have a few things I want to do with them over the break, so we'll see. 

My writing goals were on top of a bunch of to-dos not related to writing, so I've had to balance them. Anything remaining at the end of the month carries over into December. I do this each year to get back into better habits, not to add stress onto the holidays, and I'm happy with what I've accomplished, so far, and hyped for the rest of it. 

Next week I intend to let you know how I did in closing out ShaNo, then review what I need to do to complete the goals I set for 2014 last December, so I can hopefully close out as much of that as possible before the end of the month. 

How are you doing with NaNo, your other goals, or with your overall writing for the month? Kicking butt and taking names or taking it easy over the holidays? Have you reviewed your annual goals to see how you've done? Do you plan on doing that? Do you set annual goals?

May you find your Muse.