IWSG - Beta Reads & ShaNo Results

It's time for the December (holy cow!) Insecure Writer's Support Group post.

Created by Alex J. Cavanaugh, the IWSG exists so writers can get and give support about their insecurities. Anyone can join. Simply click on Alex's name and put your blog on the linky list, then hop around to visit your fellow IWSG'ers.

This month's co-hosts are PJ Colando, Diane Burton, Louise – Fundy Blue, Natalie Aguirre, and Jacqui Murray!

The optional question this month is "In your writing, what stresses you the most? What delights you?"

Editing probably stresses me out the most. Not so much line editing, but content editing and trying to tweak it to be better. I love the first draft, because I can just free flow my writing and write whatever comes out. The stress comes in reeling that in.

Speaking of which, my craft novel on the business of short stories is out to beta readers right this second, with today being the day I've asked them to get their comments back to me. As I posted on Facebook, it's nerve-wracking and exciting at the same time. The first ones that have come in have been encouraging, so that's good. 

Keeping it brief today, so I'm going directly to my submission stats for November. Doing this each month keeps me on my toes.

8 submissions

9 rejections

1 story withdrawn with an assumption that it's rejected

1 story published

18 stories on submission, with several needing to be turned around

In terms of my ShaNoShoStoWriEdSubMo goals, I met the word goals for the current craft novel and completed it. However, I was too eager to get to initial edits, so didn't bother with the short story writing goals. With two appearances scheduled in mid-January, I'm trying to figure out how realistic it would be to move up my timeline on the craft novel release. If it isn't reasonable, I'll at least need to have some shwag available to get it out there since I have a signing mixed in there.

Did you meet your NaNo or other monthly goals in November? What are your insecurities? What stresses you out about writing? Did you submit anything this month?

May you find your Muse.

Patricia Josephine's Birthday & Anniversary Scavenger Hunt

Welcome to Patricia Josephine's Scavenger Hunt!

Find the clue and head on over to Patricia's blog to find the other participants. Gather at least five, then comment on her blog, including both a Happy Birthday and a Happy Anniversary. You'll be entered in the giveaway.

Good luck and happy hunting! And Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary to Patricia!

To save the world, Erin needs a zombie.

Every human in the world becomes a zombie when they die. But Erin refuses to accept the world as it is now. She’s heard about a cure locked away in a lab in Upper Michigan, and she plans on retrieving it. To do so, she needs a zombie. Not just any zombie, though.

Zee is Erin’s link to the lab. His connection to the living world is her bargaining chip. But only if she can teach him to control his mindless impulses.

Can a zombie be trained? Or will Erin be Zee’s next meal and become a zombie herself? The fate of humanity rests in her hands.

The Cure is a post apocalypse story about redemption and saving the world.
Steam rating: None.

AVAILABLE AT YOUR FAVORITE RETAILER FOR $1.99!
Add to Goodreads.

Also, I had a new release recently. My short story "Psychosis" appears in Madame Gray's Vault of Gore. Only check it out if you're okay with gore and heavier horror.

Available at Amazon and from Hellbound Books Publishing. Universal Link

May you find your Muse.

Submission Roundup December

Here's the next month's worth of submission calls. Bear in mind I'm not endorsing these companies, merely passing along their calls. Always do your own due diligence before submitting.

United Faedom Publishing is seeking submissions for three romance anthologies: Cozy Romance, LGBTQ+ Romance, and Romantic Fantasy. 8000 to 10,000 words. Pays $20. Deadline December 1.

The Abbey Review is seeking short stories, screenplays, and poetry. Maximum page count is up to 30, depending upon submission type. Pays $30. Deadline December 1.

Samjoko Magazine is seeking short fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and screenplays. 1000 to 4000 words. Pays $20. Deadline December 15.

Chicken Soup for the Soul is seeking stories in the following themes: Humorous stories (November 20), Kindness (November 20), Preteens (December 20), Teenagers (December 20). Up to 1200 words. Pays $200. Deadlines are in parentheses with their themes.

Worlds Enough is seeking stories for Fantastic Detectives. 5000 to 15,000 words. Pays $20 + royalties. Deadline December 30.

Dragon Soul Press is seeking short stories for their anthologies with the following themes/titles: Rogue Tales (November 30), Everlast (November 30), Surge (December 31). 5000 to 20,000 words. Pays royalties for the first year. Deadlines are in parentheses next to the titles.

Sliced Up Press is seeking short stories for the anthology Monstroddities. 1000 to 3000 words. Pays $50. Deadline December 31.

Stormdance Books is seeking short stories for Grumpy Old Gods. 3000 to 4000 words. Pays royalties. Deadline December 31. 

The Quiet Ones is seeking horror stories in the theme True Love Never Dies. Up to 3000 words. Pays $25. Deadline December 31.

Manawaker is seeking short stories for Felis Future: An Anthology of Future Cats. No hard word limit. Pays $.01/word. Deadline December 31.

Workers Write! is seeking stories and poems with a musical theme for Tales From the Key of C. 500 to 5000 words. Pays $5 to $50, depending upon length. Deadline December 31.

Any submission calls to share? Any of these of interest?

May you find your Muse.

IWSG - In the Throes of NaNo

 It's time for the November Insecure Writer's Support Group!

The IWSG was created by Alex J. Cavanaugh, and exists to help writers support each other through their insecurities. Anyone can join. Simply, click on Alex's name above and sign up on the linky list.

The co-hosts this month are:

Kim Lajevardi, Victoria Marie Lees, Joylene Nowell Butler, Erika Beebe, and Lee Lowery!

The optional question for this month is: 

What's harder to do, coming up with your book title or writing the blurb?

Honestly, both are harder than writing the actual content for me, but I'd say the blurb is harder than the title. I'm not great at either.

My insecurity this month has to do with the business plan I'd made for the next year. I had intended to take the year to completely get off a medication I'm slow tapering off from (it will take me until July of 2022) in order to avoid the more brutal aspects of withdrawal, but also to put the business degree to full use and fulfill a hefty one year business plan I'd put together. But life happens, and with medical bills racking up, plus unexpected expenses of home and vehicle ownership, I'm having to search for a job and rethink everything I'd planned for the year. It sucks, but it's life. And most of the medical bills are mine, and completely uncovered by insurance. It also means the time I was hoping to also recover from my last fibromyalgia flareup is null and void. And round and round we go. 

I haven't sat down to redo my business plan yet, because I need to have the job first and to know what type of hours I'll be working. And the fibro's still not great, which means I'll have some heavy fatigue after I start the new job. So I'm giving myself about a month after I get the job to sit down and redo the business plan.

I'm a little down in the dumps, but I was already lucky my husband could support us while I returned to school over the last year. I'll suck it up, and I'll still make things happen. Just probably not all the things.

Speaking of which, I passed 30,000 words on my craft book, and I'm feeling good about where it's going. Of course, at around 27,000 words, I suddenly had the "this book sucks and nobody will be interested" calamity. Still working through that.

Okay, time to go over my submission stats for the last month. In October, my stats were:

12 submissions

9 rejections

1 acceptance

1 story assumed rejected or lost (no response, and no response to query)

23 stories currently on submission

Also, I was interviewed on a podcast, Living the Dream with Curveball. His show's about people who inspire, and there are all kinds of great episodes to check out. They're pretty short.

Are you NaNoing? Have you been submitting? Any news to share? What are your insecurities? How are you dealing with them?

May you find your Muse.

ShaNoShoStoWriEdSubMo 2021

I wasn't able to post last week, because our internet was down. To get the podcast up, I drove around until I found free wi-fi at a Carl's, Jr., then stayed in the parking lot long enough to get the podcast up. It was 2:30 in the morning, and I learned that McDonald's is surprisingly busy at 2:30 in the morning, at least when it's right off the freeway. I also learned that Starbucks shuts off their wi-fi at night, and when you try to sign in, they tell you to come back during business hours. The below picture is a tired me waiting through the drearily slow upload.

So this week you get what would have been last week's updates before I get to my ShaNo plans. (And for those who aren't familiar with my annual twist on NaNoWriMo, an explanation.)

First, I had a short story come out in a mystery anthology with a sense of humor. 

Available from Amazon in both paperback and Kindle

I also did a reading for Stories Live! which can be found on YouTube. This was the Halloween episode, so most of the stories are dark and twisty. It's always fun to do this!

Okay, ShaNo time. For those who don't know, because my main focus has long been short stories, I've always set my own relevant goals for the month of November, which has allowed me to hijack the energy for the month while getting things done that will matter to me in the long wrong.

ShaNoShoStoWriEdSubMo stands for Shannon's Novel and Short Story Writing, Editing, and Submitting Month. 

Funnily enough, this year my primary project happens to be a book, though it's non-fiction. I'm over halfway done with it, so that will be reflected in my goals.

25,000 words on current non-fiction WIP

Write 2 new short stories (we'll approximate 10,000 words for this, though the actual word count will vary)

Finish 2 in-progress short stories (approximately 5,000 words)

Turn around any short stories that get rejected

Edit 2 stories waiting for edits

Submit at least 2 additional short stories

Do you participate in NaNo? Do you do your own version? What are your writing goals for November?

May you find your Muse.

Submission Roundup Oct/Nov

Time for the roundup of places accepting submissions with deadlines between now and mid-November! Bear in mind that I'm not endorsing any of these, merely passing them along. Always do your own due diligence before submitting.

Hellbound Books is seeking short stories for the anthology The Toilet Zone: The Royal Flush. These are NOT meant to be stories about the bathroom. Instead, they're short enough to be read while on the toilet. 2500 to 4000 words. Pays $5. Deadline October 31.

Untreed Reads is seeking short stories for the anthology I Just Died in Your Arms Tonight. This is a mystery/crime anthology where each story must be based on a one-hit wonder. 3000 to 5000 words. Royalty split. Deadline October 31.

Lostboys Press is seeking submissions for their anthology Heroes. These should be retellings of known characters in a different setting. 3000 to 9000 words. Pays $50. Deadline October 31.

Ghost Orchid Press is seeking stories for Beyond the Veil: Queer Tales of Supernatural Love. Must have dark and/or supernatural elements. 1000 to 6000 words. Pays $.01/word. Deadline October 31.

Madhouse Books is seeking stories for the anthology Dark Secrets. These should be short stories about "sinister secrets and hidden evil." 3500 to 7000 words. Pays $10. Deadline October 31.

Eerie River Publishing is seeking horror stories for It Calls From the Veil. Supernatural elements. 2000 to 6000 words. Pays $.01/word. Deadline October 31.

Other Worlds Ink is seeking stories for Save the World. Must be cli-fi (climate science fiction) about hopeful futures involving solutions to help climate change. 2500 to 15,000 words. Pays a flat fee between $50 and $100, depending upon word count. Deadline October 31.

Table/FEAST Lit Mag is seeking stories between 1000 to 4000 words. Pays $30. Deadline October 31.

Death in the Mouth is an anthology seeking horror stories by people of color. 1000 to 6000 words. Pays $.08/word. Deadline November 1.

The Future Fire is seeking speculative stories with a noir flavor. Up to 17,500 words. Pays up to $50. Deadline November 1.

Queer Toronto Literary Magazine is seeking stories by queer individuals. Up to 2000 words. Pays $15. Deadline November 1.

JANK is seeking submissions for Solarpunk Sunscapes: Optimistic Visions of the Future. 500 to 7500 words. Pays $.02/word. Deadline November 1.

Chicken Soup for the Soul is seeking stories with the themes Kindness, Humorous Stories. Up to 1200 words. Pays $200. Deadlines are for between October 31 and November 20.

Dragon Soul Press is seeking stories for Rogue Tales (dark, sexy fairy tales) and Everlast (couples who meet due to time travel). 7000 to 15,000 words. Pays royalties for the first year. Deadline November 30.

The Gravity of the Thing is seeking stories for Stranged Writing: A Literary Taxonomy. Written pieces must showcase defamiliarization. 6 to 3000 words. Pays $5 to $25. Deadline November 30. 

Anything to add? Any of these sound interesting? Are you submitting?

May you find your Muse.

IWSG-October Thrills

 It's the first Wednesday in October, so it's time again for the Insecure Writer's Support Group.

Created by Alex J. Cavanaugh, this group serves to seek and provide reassurance for our insecurities. Anyone can join. Simply click on Alex's name and put your blog on the sign-up list.

This month's co-hosts are: Jemima Pett, J Lenni Dorner, Cathrina Constantine, Ronel Janse van Vuuren, and Mary Aalgaard!

This week's optional question is: In your writing, where do you draw the line, with either topics or language?

I don't have many hard and fast lines. In writing horror, there are lines I'll cross that others might not, but there are also places I don't want to tread, such as pedophilia. In terms of language, I won't say words I wouldn't say in real life, such as racist terms, and I don't aim to put in a bunch of profanity, but I do cuss in real life, so it will show up in my writing some. I tend to keep it mostly clean except for the lesser cuss words, though. Short version: I try not to set too many hard limits in advance. If I write something that makes me too uncomfortable or that won't sell, I'll remove it.

As far as insecurities, October tends to be my busy month for appearances (horror and all...), and this year is no different. But I've found that being home for a year without really going anywhere or seeing anyone undid all the progress I'd made with being around other people. It doesn't come naturally for me to be outgoing and be able to talk to people. I'm very introverted, though I enjoy presenting, which makes no sense. So my insecurities are about whether or not I can still pull off the appearances and make them look natural, rather than being stressed. I think I did well at my first appearance of the month this past weekend at MileHiCon, so that's good.

Speaking of which, I had three panels and one reading. The reading was in a genre I don't write (utopian), so I wrote a flash piece that was utopian, but still had a touch of horror (utopia gone wrong). I was nervous all weekend until I read it, but got positive feedback, so shew. The panels all went well. I was moderator on two of them, and we had some good conversations about overused tropes, short stories, and revisiting childhood favorites.

I've got two more online appearances this month, so if you're interested you can attend from anywhere. I'll be doing a reading (story TBD) online via Stories Live Wednesday, October 20, at 7:00 PM, along with several other people. This is FREE on YouTube! You can access the page on my appearances tab, and I'll post about it on my Facebook that day. It does stay online, so I'll add the video to my appearances tab once it airs, too. Also, I'm doing a horror panel Saturday, October 16, from 12:30 to 3:30 PM with some awesome horror writers, but this one is $20 and will be via Zoom. The link for this is also on my appearances tab, if you're interested. It's put on by Pikes Peak Writers.

Time for stats! I post my submission stats each month to keep on top of things. In September, my stats were:

10 submissions

10 rejections

Sent 2 queries on stories that had been out for a long time

Pulled 1 story after not hearing back on the query (the other one was a rejection)

Currently have 24 submissions out

Not a ton to report, but it feels good to be back in the groove. Work is progressing on my NF WIP and I finished one short story and one piece of flash fiction. I'd like to get a short story done each week on top of the non-fiction book work, but there's been a lot going on, so I'm not going to beat myself up.

How about you? Are you getting work done? Any submissions? How about acceptances? What are your insecurities?

May you find your Muse.