IWSG - Changes & New Release

 Hi all, it's time for the October (holy cow...October!) Insecure Writer's Support Group!

Created by Alex J. Cavanaugh, the IWSG serves as a virtual place to give and get support for your writing insecurities.

This month's co-hosts are Jemima Pett, Beth Camp, Beverly Stowe McClure, and Gwen Gardner!

This month's optional question can be found on Alex's blog, on the IWSG page.

September has been a month of many insecurities. I took a couple hits to the ego that made me question why I put myself through all this. However, these two things wouldn't have been enough to sink me so low if I hadn't already been stressed out and depressed to begin with. I think a lot of our writing insecurities play off things happening in our non-writing lives, as well, sometimes causing them to expand out of proportion. 

Of course, without a few ego blows, how else would we stay modest and down to earth? Oh, wait, I was never going to think I was the most awesome writer in the world, so please no more slights. Thanks, world!

In other, probably related, news, I'm back in college to get my business degree! I started back last week. As it's a college that allows me to accelerate, I'm hoping to be done by summer. This also means I will likely only be blogging on IWSG days.

Given, since I started writing this I've been ruminating over the big lows I had in the last couple weeks. If I find that my meaty school schedule is making it so I can't write, I will be backing down and planning on completing it in two terms (so one year). Part of what upset me is that I got so busy with day job stuff and volunteer job stuff that I made writing my last priority. Because of that, I fell. Publishing seems like exercise: it only takes one brief slip to make you have to start over, yet it's always a struggle to try to keep up momentum. I lost a lot of momentum over the last couple years. I was thinking about where I might be with things had I not put everything else first. And it made me sink like a rock, emotionally.

Now that I've worked through these thoughts and figured out the source of the lows, I can move forward and start trying to gain that momentum again.

If you've read my book "Bruised Souls & Other Torments," would you consider putting a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads? Frankly, my book release flopped. The timing was horrible. I couldn't heavily advertise or do anything fun online to promote it, because it came out just as the pandemic took off, and I didn't foresee we'd all still be isolated this late in the game. I only have a few reviews, and because my sales on both books have fallen, partially courtesy of so many canceled events, I can no longer find my books in an Amazon search. I have to find one of the anthologies I'm in and track from there. How are we supposed to have sales if Amazon buries our books? I've seen other people post about this issue, too.

Any help on the review front would be appreciated!

I had a new release last week! And guess what? It's not horror, just dark fantasy. My story is Of Earth and Fae, and mixes together Ute and Irish lore.

 Ride through the sky with the Wild Hunt!

A fierce host rides across the winter sky at night
In wild pursuit of whoever crosses their path

Peals of thunder follow the horses as they gallop through the clouds
Fire flashing from their hooves

The baying of the hounds echoes across the sky
Their sharp teeth glinting in the light of the moon

The Huntsman blows his horn, and the Fae ride behind him
Their faces both beautiful and terrible to behold

When the nights are long and the winter winds howl, stay inside
Lest you cross the path of the Hunt...and become their prey

The Wild Hunt contains thirteen stories based on the wide and varied folklore of the Wild Hunt. In some tales, the leader of the hunt is Odin; in others it’s King Arthur, Herodias, or Herne the Hunter. Sometimes the riders are Fae; sometimes they are specters, or skeletons, or strange beasts never before seen by mortal eyes.

But no matter who the hunters are, you definitely don’t want to be the one they’re after...

Let the Wild Hunt begin!

Amazon: https://amazon.com/dp/B08K8H12CQ/

Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1533616185

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/2940162963103

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/the-wild-hunt-24

Time for my September submission stats:

9 submissions

4 acceptances

3 rejections

1 implied rejection (learned I wasn't in it when they announced it was for sale, which was one of the ego blows mentioned above)

3 novel queries sent out

15 stories currently on submission

What are your insecurities? Have you ever really screwed up and lost your momentum? How did you recover? Have you been submitting?

May you find your Muse.

PHOTO: Swoosh Blue MD, clker.com, OCAL

IWSG - No Bites

It's time for the February Insecure Writer's Support Group, created by Alex J. Cavanaugh!

Anyone is welcome to join. Simply click on Alex's name above and sign up, post, and visit your fellow insecure writers.

Our co-hosts this month are Raimey Gallant, Natalie Aguirre, CV Grehan, and Michelle Wallace!

The optional question is: Besides writing, what other creative outlets do you have?

I love photography, so that's my other main creative outlet. Unfortunately, I haven't played with it much in the last year or two, but I want to get back to it. My husband gifted me some new lenses to play with for Christmas, and I haven't done so yet. I'm looking forward to it!

I didn't place any short stories in January, so have zero sales for the new year. Boo! However, I have quite a few releases coming out over the next couple months. The publishing world is funny that way. I either have a rash of acceptances coming in or a rash of publications.

Speaking of which, the anthology Twice-Told: A Collection of Doubles came out this past weekend, and includes my Story "Stuck With Me." It's an odd little story about Siamese twins.

Now for a summary of my stats for the month of January. It's pretty dismal.

13 submissions
10 rejections
0 acceptances
10 stories currently on submission

What do your stats for the month look like? What are your insecurities? What other creative outlets do you have?

May you find your Muse.

New Magazine Release & Magazine Submission Tips

Hello out there in Blog Land!

Last week I had a bit of excitement with a short story coming out in Issue 35 of Sanitarium Magazine.

Yeah, looky there. That's my name on the cover (among others, but JUST  LOOK AT MINE!) <--Just kidding. Mostly.

It's available all over the place:

Sanitarium Magazine
Apple Newsstand
Google Play Store
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Pocketmags

Print Edition via Create Space

I already got my PDF e-version, but I get my hard copy around August 12! I can't wait to finally have a print copy of something I'm published in.

Fun fact: One of the authors in this magazine was also in the issue of Under the Bed Magazine I was in. I feel like we should be Facebook friends or something (no, I'm not actually going to stalk that person--it was just an interesting coincidence. The only thing I stalk is my Duotrope page.)

Hello, my name is Shannon, and I'm a Duotrope stalker.

Really, how many times can a person look at the submissions page without going nutso?

I thought since I'm posting about a magazine publication, maybe it would be good to go over the submission process for magazines/anthologies for those who haven't tried it yet.

Then I thought, "Crap, I don't know what people want to know." So if I don't address queries or fears you might have, please leave me a question in the comments, and I'll answer you there.

The Basics:

I'm going to assume here that you've written your story, brought it to a conclusion, and that you've given it a few reads and edited it to where you think it's shiny and polished. (Note: If you keep editing and editing and editing, stop! Don't overdo it. Sometimes the magic is lost that way.)

Format your piece to Standard Manuscript Format.

Your next step is to figure out the genre of your story (if you don't know it already). Here's a post by literary agent Rachelle Gardner on figuring out genre (it's for books, but the principle is the same).

Market Research:

Now that you've written a story and know its genre, it's time to do some market research. First, consider magazines and publications you enjoy. Does your story fit any of these places? If so, go on to the next step: Submission Guidelines.

If not, check out a place like Duotrope or The (Submission) Grinder. These sites allow you to enter the specifications of your search, however detailed you want to get, then create a list of possible publications that are currently accepting submissions. (Note: Duotrope is a paid service, The Grinder is free, but is still in Beta. If you will be submitting quite a bit, it's worth it to join Duotrope. If not, maybe stick with The Grinder.) Start looking through the publication descriptions until you find one that appears to fit your story. If they offer a free example of the publication, read it!

If you can't find something that works for you, search around the internet using related keywords until you find something. Or go to the bookstore and comb through the magazines. Another possibility is to check out where someone else is published, if they publish in the same genre as you.

Submission Guidelines:

It is VITAL that you follow the submission guidelines of each magazine. They will often differ, even if just in one small way. Carefully review them before submitting. Check the requested font, document type, submission windows, cover letter requirements, email or mail (or submission form), bio letter or headshot requests, other requested information, other formatting information, and anything else they might specify. I've seen one specify that the quotation marks had to be a specific type. I've also seen several that do not want you to have pushed "tab" to indent your story (you can look up how to change both of the above online.)

Read these five billion times before you attach and submit your piece.

Cover Letter:

I don't feel terribly qualified to tell you how to write this. I have no idea if my format is actually a good one. I always review the submission guidelines for what they want in the subject line and cover letter. I write the cover letter directly in the body of the email, unless otherwise directed.

One thing I do know for sure is that you must research the editor's name. If there are multiple editors, I typically address it to the managing editor, or whoever is listed at the top of the line. Some magazines/publications make this step incredibly hard, and I don't understand why. I've had to search out interviews or other publications by them to find an editor name. It's frustrating. But you need to do it.

Dear Mr./Mrs. [Editor Last Name],

Cow Tales is a Romantic short story of about 5200 words. Love in the time of the milk harvest can be painful, but Harvey and Delilah find ways to make it work.

I've been published in X and Y, and I won first place in Z contest. I'm a member of P writer's group, and have Q job with this writing related thing or R expertise in such and such job that lends itself to the story I'm submitting. I blog at www.mywebsite.com. (Or my author website can be found at www.mywebsite.com.)

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
[My Name]
[Email Address, especially if different than where you're sending it from]
[Address]
[Website]
[Phone Number, though a lot of places don't need this anymore]

Send It!:

Now, you've written, edited, and formatted your story. You've established your genre, narrowed down the market, researched the submission guidelines and editor name, and you've written your cover letter.

Check your story over one more time. Any typos? Any changes they've requested to format? Is it in standard manuscript format (minus any changes they've requested that differ from SMF)? Great, save and close. Attach that sucker to the email.

Now, check that you have the submission email address correct. Check that you have made the subject line whatever they've requested. If they have no request for the subject line, make it simple: Fiction Submission-Last Name-Cow Tales.

Check your cover letter. Did you include story name, story genre, word count, and some brief information about yourself? Did you include any information that might tip you over the top when they're considering your story? Do you bring a specific type of expertise or belong to a writer's group that has requirements to get in (such as 3 pro-market story sales)?

Check for typos. Good?

Hold your breath and hit send.

Keep Track:

Then record somewhere that you submitted X story to Y publication (you can do this on Duotrope and The Grinder. I also keep a spreadsheet on my computer). If it allows for simultaneous submissions, look for another market to send it to. (Note: I used to do simultaneous submissions until I sold a story, only to have the magazine tank before publication. I had withdrawn the story from the place I'd submitted to at the same time, so I could not send it to them again, whereas I could have sent it to them once the other place tanked. Even worse, they'd held it long past when they usually held stories, which possibly meant they were considering it. So I may have made a sale to them if this situation hadn't occurred.)

Rejections:

When you get a rejection, which is inevitable unless you're the most amazing writer ever, do not reply. Though I've been told it's sometimes acceptable to write a quick thank you if they've taken the time to give you solid feedback on your story. Just file or delete the email (depending upon your preference--I keep them so I can print them up and place them behind the acceptance I ultimately get), find a new market to submit to, and submit that puppy, making sure to comb through their submission guidelines and make any necessary changes to your submission.

Acceptances:

First, jump up and down and scream a little. Oh, is that just me?

Carefully read everything they have sent you. Read what they're offering you. Read the contract. Research any terms you're not familiar with. Research the type of rights they're purchasing. Make sure you're comfortable with what they're offering and expecting. Don't be hasty.

If you're good with it, follow whatever next steps they have laid out. If it isn't clear what they expect now, send them an email asking for that information. Sign. Provide any additional information. Send that puppy.

Then go write another story and submit that, too.

Did I miss anything? Do you have tips that differ from mine (share them!)? Do you have any questions about the submission process? Was anything unclear? Is there something you'd like me to expand on? What is the oddest request you have seen in submission guidelines?

May you find your Muse.

Acceptance

Today's going to be a short post since I just burned all of my writing time getting some non-writing work finished. Ah well, it needed to be done. And I'll have plenty of writing time next weekend since I get to go up to Estes Park and have a writing retreat weekend. Woot!

I figured for today I could share some good news. Last week I got two acceptances. I placed a memoir flash fiction piece with Ember: A Journal of Luminous Things, and I placed a short horror story with Sanitarium Magazine. The emails came two days in a row.

PSA: One of my acceptances showed up in the spam folder. Be sure to check your spam folders regularly! If it weren't for the fact that I check daily, I might have missed the opportunity.

Sanitarium will be released at the end of this month in both paper and e-magazine format. I don't have a release date for Ember yet, but it will be a fully illustrated hardcover book. I'll share each when they're available (and will update my publications tab with purchase links.)

Sanitarium has an interesting model. They're just now switching things to it. Each week, their subscribers get a mini-issue that they can access online. At the end of the month, each mini-issue is combined into the monthly full magazine, which they then get via their preferred means. So I already got to see my short story in the subscriber mini-issue, and now I'll get to hold a hard copy in my grubby little hands (remember the discussion last Monday?) I'm excited that I'll be getting a hard copy of each of these publications!

Do you have any good news to share? How is your summer writing time going? Are you actively submitting? Are you waiting to hear on any submissions?

May you find your Muse.

Cheerleader image by Vickey, clker.com

New Release: Under the Bed Magazine

This past Saturday was the release date for the issue of Under the Bed Magazine featuring my story, Know Thy Neighbor! This is officially the first magazine I've had a short story published in (though not my first acceptance into a magazine), so I'm incredibly excited! 

A simple jog ends in a night of terror for suburban mom, Rebecca. Her tormenter is the last person she'd expect, or so she thinks. Another surprise awaits her, this one more horrifying than the first. Do you know thy neighbor? 

I thought up this story while out on a late night walk. As I peered around at the darkened houses, avoiding the deeper shadows, I wondered who lived behind each of those doorways. Who might be staring at me from the night-blackened windows? We all now have the capability to look up registered sex offenders in the area, but what of those who haven't been caught? Times have changed, and we no longer know our neighbors the way we once did. Then again, did we ever really know them?

Needless, to say, the rest of my walk was spoiled by these thoughts, putting me on edge. When I got home, I sat down and immediately wrote this story while the trepidation was fresh in my mind. John Wayne Gacy was well liked, and I'm sure he wasn't the only one.

I'll never look at my neighbors the same way again.

Under the Bed Magazine

Published by Fiction Magazines

Volume 3, Number 7

Genre: Horror

Warning: Mature, graphic content

My Story: Know Thy Neighbor

Available in e-magazine at:

Fiction Magazines 

(in multiple formats)

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Various and sundry retailers of e-periodicals

Price: $3.99

A cool thing about this magazine is that it's peer chosen. The stories with the most votes from the team of curators are accepted by the magazine. It kind of makes me feel warm and fuzzy to know how this was chosen. Or would that be cold and scaly?

What do you think of the cover? Creepy enough? Do you sleep with your feet securely snuggled under the blankets, or do you hang them off the side? 

May you find your Muse.

Is it Flash, Short, or a Vignette?

By OCAL, clker.com

Once upon a time, people wrote stuff and published it on their own or sent it to places and hoped they would publish it. When did they start defining type of story by length? Was it in the beginning, or did it develop over time?

These days, you have to figure out your word count to define what you just wrote before you can submit it. Is it flash fiction, a vignette, a short story, a novelette, a novella, a novel? Is it one of a billion things I probably didn't think of when I wrote that list?

I've seen some confusion between flash fiction, short stories and vignettes. In fact, I've been confused on what makes a vignette versus a short story or flash fiction piece. So I decided to look into it and write a couple to try it out.

In general terms (with the understanding that different publications define them their own way):

Flash Fiction - There's a vast array of length definitions for flash fiction, but it is generally 1000 words or less. I don't think I've seen anything above 1000 words defined as flash fiction. Flash is also called a short-short, postcard fiction, and micro-fiction. Micro-flash is sometimes used as a term to define a super short piece of flash fiction (say, 100 words). Again, this is a general definition, that varies wildly between publications.

Short Story - Just as with flash, the length varies between publications. In general, we can say a short story is less than 10,000 words. Just to give you an idea. I've seen 2000-8000 words as a common basis in publications.

In both short stories and flash fiction, you are intended to write a full story, just with brevity. It's intended to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. There is meant to be some sort of character and/or story arc.

Vignette - Vignettes tend to be shorter, more like flash fiction lengths. However, the primary difference between a vignette and a flash piece is that a flash piece is still expected to have a beginning, middle, and end, just like a short story or longer work. But a vignette is more a snapshot in time, an idea, an impression or a moment in time versus a complete story that wishes to convey a story and/or character arc. It's a scene instead of an entire story. It can often be more elegant and descriptive, more intent to show an emotional sense than a story.

By Hanna Ghermay, clker.com

Vignettes are far less common than flash and short fiction. In fact, there is no classification for it at Duotrope, as they are more dependent on length for your submission type, and with vignettes it isn't all that simple. (Also, Duotrope defines short fiction as 1000-7500 words, with a novelette being 7500-15,000). A lot of places don't consider the vignette to be a real story, due to that lack of accepted structure, and a search will reveal a bunch of places with their own very specific definitions.

If you're curious about trying out the form, I highly recommend Vine Leaves Literary Journal to get a better understanding. You can read it free online, which is always a great way to get an understanding of a form of writing (read it, read it, read it!). While I don't pretend to be an expert on it, or even to have a full understanding of it, I'm working on it, and I find it interesting to write. It feels less restricted, and you can write what you feel instead of thinking it through too hard. Not a bad way to get into some writing mojo.

Have you ever written a vignette? Heard of one? Any publications interested in vignettes you'd like to pass along?

May you find your Muse.

WEP Blogfest Entry - Haunting

This is my entry for this month's WEP Blogfest (Write...Edit...Publish), run by Denise Covey. I wanted to aim a little more for Halloween, so I'm posting it late this evening instead of as part of my usual [Mostly] Wordless Wednesday. After all, it's more fun to read this kind of story at night, and the theme is Haunting.

No critique necessary. I just threw this together to have a little Halloween fun. :) 1040 words.

***
The Tourist

The sound of his own breaths puffed into his ears. He needed to calm down, but he always got so excited when he was out sightseeing.

Leaves rattled above him, their yellowed flesh dry and withering in the autumn night. Those that had fallen to the ground already skittered across the pavement like nails raking down the inside of a coffin. The smell of wood smoke reached his nose, a hearty fall scent.

He knelt at the base of the tree, hidden amongst the evergreen bushes that managed to always smell like cat urine. His trench coat kept them from scraping at his skin, along with the leather gloves and knit mask he wore.  He was toasty, all bundled up, only his eyes watering at the brisk air around him.

Before him stood a quaint little house on the outskirts of downtown, its Victorian-style roots apparent. A rounded tower ran up the east side of the building, the light on in the uppermost window. Though the curtains were pulled, The Curator seemed not to know they were see-through, at least to a point. He watched as her shadow moved about in the room. She wasn't doing anything dirty, no. This was her office. His many sightseeing trips this month had shown him that.

Three voluptuous pumpkins stood on her front porch, battery-powered candles flickering within. They were carved into cutesy shapes, no gruesome maws for this gal. One was a cat, its little triangle nose flocked by thin strips of missing orange. One was a cartoon character, obviously carved with some sort of blueprint. The third was just a happy cliched little pumpkin face with elementary shapes forming the triangular eyes, circular mouth and slim rectangular nose.

He set his gaze back on that uppermost window, though, waiting until that light would go out and the next one burn into the night. Lucky for him, it was only a matter of minutes. Right on schedule. Keeping steady hours was an important aspect of a tourist destination.

As the first light died, he pulled his leather briefcase closer to his leg. As he often found happening, almost without his will, his right hand slid inside, pressing deeper into its depths to feel the materials the bag hid. The leather of his gloves slid smoothly over the metal of the blades, the polished surface of the hilts. Next to these larger blades, he inventoried, by sensation, the small cloth pouch that held his surgical instruments, then the firm roll of tape, scissors, a tie, a cord from an old phone, rough rope, a hammer, a screwdriver, and more. He knew the items in this bag better than the back of his own hand, more than the sight of his eyes in a mirror, more than his own hair-covered toes.

He liked to have options.

A deep exhalation left his body, and he felt his entire being relax. The lights had progressed in her usual bedtime routine, finally ending up in another top floor window. The bedroom. The room he'd been waiting for all evening. This was the last stop on the tour.

He stood, brushed off the leaves and grass that had gathered on his coat, and stepped from beneath the tree. To anyone who might see him, he would simply look like any professional walking home from work a bit later than usual. This proximity to downtown meant plenty of businesses and restaurants were within walking distance. A nicely dressed man with a briefcase wouldn't raise an alarm.

As he waited, watching for that final light to disappear, he grew increasingly excited. Already he could hear the sounds she would make. It was always fun to try to predict whether they'd be a screamer or a whimperer. Some simply passed out, ruining all his fun. Most combined screams with whimpers, shrieks with sobs. 

His hand tightened on the bag's handle, his muscle memory filling in the sensation of a scalpel cutting through human skin, scissors cutting with that wonderful crisp snip so reminiscent of the sound his mother's scissors had made as she helped them to glide across fabric of various thicknesses. He delighted in the smells, even the tastes, all sensations rich and warm.

The light snicked out. He stepped into the street, started to cross it, his gaze fixed upon the now darkened window.

He was fairly certain she'd be a screamer.

Just as he neared the center of the street, lights washed over him. He turned his head, saw a car coming his way, picked up his pace. Hopping up onto the sidewalk, he started to walk in the direction the car was coming from, not wanting to be seen in front of this house. Remembered. The car would pass quickly and he'd be able to double back easily.

But the car didn't pass. It slowed then pulled to the curb, rolling past him to come to a stop in front of the very house he was visiting.

Shit.

He continued to walk until he reached a corner, where he turned left, moving quickly out of sight. He pressed himself against the house on the corner, peeked around, and watched as a man got out of the car, shut the door, and proceeded up the steps, past the still flickering jack-o-lanterns.

Unaware that someone watched in horror, the stranger knocked on the door. A moment later, it opened, so quickly that she must have been waiting.

The house swallowed this interloper up as The Tourist watched. Disappointment colored his emotions. He sank to the ground, bag at his side, the slight sound of metal tinkling against metal inside it.

But disappointment couldn't last. No, he always had a backup in case a sightseeing destination was closed. A good tourist is always prepared.

The Tourist picked up the pace as he crossed yet another street, heading for a destination just two short blocks up the way. There'd still be a light on there for another half an hour. That Curator stayed open a bit later. He'd always liked that one motel's slogan. His sightseeing destinations always kept a light on for him so he'd know they were waiting.

He could already hear it. This one was surely a whimperer.

© Shannon Lawrence, The Warrior Muse

***

Happy Halloween! And thanks for the fun theme, Denise.

May you find your Muse.