2024 Accountability Post

It's time for my annual accountability post where I discuss how many submissions vs. how many works I had published in the preceding year. I've been posting about my productivity of submissions since 2021 (and it can be read here), but really I have been keeping track of my submissions as far back as 1999. I started putting them into an Excel file since 2010, and I have been submitting larger numbers of works pretty consistently since 2017. You can see my 2022 accountability here, and my 2023 accountability here, if interested.

At some point, I realized that the publishing game is at least partially a numbers game. You have to make large numbers of submissions to see any positive results, unless you want to self-publish. And there is nothing wrong with self-publishing. As you will see later in this blog post, I actually self-published my first short story and poetry collection earlier this year and blogged about it last month. It started a few years ago when I read a blog from an author who said they try to reach 100 submissions per year. It inspired me to see how many submissions I could make each year. While I found I could not reach 100, I did find that 50 was an attainable number. Unfortunately, I no longer remember who wrote that original blog.

So this year, I did not quite make my 50 submissions goal. However, this was because I chose to work on longer works this year. I finally completed my second novel-length manuscript, Blood of the Werewolf, and began submitting it to agents. Additionally, I started working on my next novel, a mussy story titled Osiris. Because I spent a good portion of my writing year working on longer works instead of shorter works, I give myself a pass at not quite making the 50 submissions goal.

So, here are the numbers. I had a total of 41 submissions for publications, which is not too shy of my 50 submissions total. This includes seven book submissions to agents and small presses total, including my first completed manuscript, The Sorcerer, the aforementioned Blood of the Werewolf, and my first completed short story and poetry collection, Classic Camp's Classic Horror Emporium, which I submitted to myself for self-publication. Yes, I am counting that one. This exercise is supposed to be motivational after all. It is available on Amazon here, in case anyone is interested.

The rest of the list includes 22 short story submissions, which was the largest number as usual. I had 11 poetry submissions, and one essay or non-fiction submissions. I had only two successes, and it was a tough year for me for fiction and poetry, especially considering one of the successes was my self-published collection. My other success this year was my article on Fay Wray, which was published at Ravenous Monster.

There you have it. Fee free to see how you measure up. I have a relatively low bar this year for anyone to compare, but that is what I have been up to. I am still out there writing and submitting, but like last year, so far I am concentrating most of my time and energy on longer works. Hopefully, it starts bear fruit soon.

How I Self-Published on KDP

I recently collected a bunch of my previously published short stories and poetry and bound them together in a self-published collection titled Classic Camp's Classic Horror Emporium. It is available now on Amazon here. After doing so, several people asked me how I published through Kindle Direct Publishing, and I kind of stammered through the answer. Not trying to be rude, but it was just one of those things that I figured out as I went along. So, I thought a blog post about how I self-published my first short story and poetry collection would be fitting since I have not blogged in a while.

First go to Amazon.com and sign in. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on Kindle Digital Publishing. I actually Googled KDP and found this shortcut later, but it brought me to the same page.  Click the big yellow button that reads + Create at the top. The next page asks what you would like to create, a Kindle e-book, paperback, hardcover, or a series. So far, I have only created a paperback and a Kindle e-book, but it appears the hardcover is pretty much the same as the paperback. I am not sure about how to create a series, yet.

So for the sake of this blog, I clicked paperback. It then asks you type in your book title and subtitle (the subtitle is optional). It is also optional to enter the edition number. You can then add up to nine other contributors, which is important if you ever want to create an anthology instead of a collection (an anthology being a collection of short stories and poetry from different authors and a collection being works from only one author).

Scrolling down the same page a little further, it then asks for a description of the book. For this, I used the forward from my collection. Next, you choose if you own this work or if it is a public domain work. I checked off that I own the work. After that, it asks if there are any sexually explicit images or language, and I checked off no for my work. Then it asks for the minimum and maximum ages for the work, and I chose 12 to 18+ because these works do not contain any real explicit language. They are pretty much PG-13.

Next, it asks for the primary marketplace, and I chose Amazon.com because all of the other choices are international markets. Choose your categories, such as "mystery, thriller, and suspense," or "fiction & literature" from a dropdown menu. This is so Amazon can categorize the work. There are also subcategories and placement to choose from. It asks for some keywords so your book can come up when related words are searched. I chose words like short stories, collection, nature poetry, gothic, etc. You can choose up to seven of them. Then choose if your publication date is the release date or if it was previously published, and finally choose if you want today to be your release date or if you want to schedule it for a future date. I chose the same day, but in the future, I may try to build some anticipation and choose a future date. Click save and continue.

Here you can let Amazon give you an ISBN number or enter your own if you have one. I just let Amazon give me one. Next, choose if your book is in black and white or color and if you want white or cream paper. Then choose the trim size. This is the size of paper your book will be and determines how you will need to format your file to upload. Choose bleed or no bleed depending on if the book has images. This is all laid out in the KDP instructions. Choose if the book cover should be matte or glossy. I like glossy book covers, personally.

Now you finally get to upload the manuscript, and this is where things grew a little hairy. I write everything in Microsoft Word, and through trial and error, I have learned that single space in Times New Roman works well for books, but you can choose whichever font you like. I do suggest single space, however, because it looks more professional. Then click the previewer to see how it lines up. Likely you will need to adjust the margins of the Word document until they align into the margins of the trim size you chose earlier. If you want page numbers, this can also be accomplished by clicking insert, and then going to page numbers and choosing the placement of those page numbers. To adjust margins in Word, go to view and check the box next to ruler, then click and drag the tiny box on the left to where it you want to margins. Click and drag the tiny triangle on the left because the pages have to be centered. Then click the part of the ruler on the left at the top of the page where the shaded portion meets the dark part of the ruler and drag it where you want the top and bottom margins. However, to get the page numbers into the trim margins on Kindle, double click in the top margin to open up the header and hit enter as many times as needed until the page numbers appear within the trim margin. I wound up readjusting my manuscript several times and reuploading it and previewing it over and over until I got everything to line up correctly. I believe there is a way for KDP to do this automatically, but I kind of liked doing this part manually so I know it was done right.

Next, choose the cover photo. Kindle has an option of uploading cover you have already created, or you can choose among the many covers they have created. I chose one of Kindle's previously made covers because I'm on a slow track of learning about this stuff on my own. You can also choose where the book title appears in various styles and fonts. I chose a different style for the title across the same cover image for my paperback and e-book versions, just to have some differentiation.

Amazon also asks you to indicate whether or not generative AI was used in the creation of the book. I obviously chose no.

Finally, choose the pricing for the book. I chose to have my book available in all territories. Pricing, royalties, and distribution gets a little confusing. My first self-published book, a short story titled, "House of Vergosi," which is also included in this new collection, I did not include in expanded distribution because it keeps the price down. This one I did choose expanded distribution because I believe it is available to more people in more areas around the world. I'm still not fully sure what the difference is, honestly, but I do know the book has to have a higher price if you choose expanded distribution. It will tell you what the whole sale price of the book will be and you can figure out how much you want to charge for it to earn a profit.

Finally, click publish your book. It is pretty much the same for the e-book version. Choose the price at the end again, and the break-even price is far lower for e-books. That's how I did it. Every author should try to self-publish at least once just to see what goes into the process. There are other platforms that will allow people to self-publish, but from what I've heard, Kindle is still the easiest and the best way to make any money. Speaking of which, getting the money earned from book sales is another process, which I may blog about at another time. I hope everyone found this process helpful.

I'm About to Become a Full-Time Writer (For 3 Months [Again])

 I hold three jobs that actually pay the bills. Like most writers, I like to consider my writing a job, a fourth job in my case. Sometimes I consider my membership to the HWA still a fifth job, since I attend meetings, and am the Virginia chapter's events coordinator, but it does not pay me any money. In fact, it costs me a little in membership fees, but I enjoy it nonetheless, and it does provide me connections and opportunities to the publishing world. My main gig that pays the pills is teaching as adjunct faculty at two higher education institutions, which means my summers are (mostly) off. I have a third job that pays a few bills, and I continue working there during the summers, but I still work far fewer hours during the summer months than I do during the school year.

So one of the main things I do during the summer is write, and write a lot more than I do at any other time of the year. It is my most productive season. Most of the short stories, poetry, and non-fiction projects I've published in the past were written during the summer months. That does not mean I do not write at all during other times of the year, but I do have months where I can devote more time to writing and publishing than other moths. My annual writing schedule is something like this:

January: I'm off the the few weeks, but recovering from the holidays. I still find quite a bit of time for writing.

February and March: Early in the semester, I have some time for writing, but once essays start coming in that need grading, my writing time starts to dwindle.

April: Essays pile up to nearly unmanageable levels. Very little writing gets done.

May: First half of the month is finishing up finals and grading, but once final grades are posted I write nearly a full time schedule.

June, July, and August: The nearly full time schedule continues and I can usually be pretty productive during the summer month. Even when classes first start up in late August, not much needs grading yet, so I still find quite a bit of time for writing.

September and October: Since I write primarily horror, these can also be particularly busy months, attending cons as well as classwork starting to pile up. Still, because I primarily write horror, it is also a particularly inspiring time of the year, so I can usually continue to work in at least some writing time.

November: Essays and other classwork piles up again, so not as much writing gets done, with the exception of Thanksgiving break.

December: Not much gets done in the beginning of the month, and after classes end, I usually plan a trip to see family for the holidays, but I still usually work in a decent amount writing time after the fall semester ends.

And if you don't think there's that much grading to do when teaching college English, here is a photo of a stack of items needing grading I took in days before everything was turned in digitally:

I read about 1000 pages of student writing per semester. I could be reading War and Peace twice annually.

But then the summer comes and I get to pretend to be a full-time writer for three months out of the year (albeit a very poor one, since I also do not get paid over the summer). Still, I always feel as though I could have and perhaps should have been more productive during those summer months. I do create an annual summer writing to-do list (along with a summer honey-do list I make up with the wife, where I work around the house and complete some household chores that need attention). So that end, (um, the writing one, not the honey-do list), I thought perhaps if I published my summer writing to-do list here, I will hold myself accountable and be more productive this summer than in years past, so to that end here it is:

1. Make a Word file of all my class notes, (One school I teach at is changing over from Blackboard regular to Blackboard Ultra, so my files may not be good any longer. Besides, I have been meaning to do this for a while now. I even applied for a stipend to have my notes published as an Open Educational Resource)
2. Finish putting together the short story and poetry collection for self-publication. This is a project I started during the spring semester, and it is pretty close to being finished already. It will feature most (but not all) of my previously published short stories and poems, and a few new short stories I have been shopping around for a while, and have decided to add to the collection.
3. Finish editing Blood of the Werewolf. It is so close to being ready to send to an agent or publisher. It only needs about 50 more pages of editing, and maybe one last quick passthrough for continuity. This is a top priority this summer.
4. Work on a rough draft of Osiris, the next in my series of historical horror tragedies. I'm thinking about joining Camp Nano to punch out a good portion of a rough draft in July.
5. Edit the short story "The Vampire's Coffin" which I did for a writing group recently. It's pretty short, so this should not take very long.
6. Finish that next section of Franksploitation non-fiction book and write the proposal on Frankenstein in film. I'm embarrassed at how many years this appears on the list and does not get done. Especially, since the sample chapters are actually pretty close to finished.
7. Edit and resubmit a non-fiction article on Ed Wood to a literary magazine. I have done this a few times, but still have not found the right market for it.

Aside from all that, I will continue to do my usual submitting more poetry and short stories to various publications. Chances are I will still not get all of this done even this summer, but it never hurts to shoot high. My hope is that publishing it here will help make me more accountable and hopefully more productive this summer.

How Long Have I been Editing My Current Novel? (It's Complicated)

 

Not long ago, I was in a monthly meeting with the HWA - Virginia Chapter when I was asked how long I had been editing my current work in progress (WIP), and I was not ready with an answer. I am sure whatever I said sounded evasive, but honestly, I had to think about that question for a while, and was not quite sure what the answer was. The more I thought about it, the more I felt it may make for an interesting blog post about my process and since this is apparently going to be my second completed manuscript ready for submission to agents and / or publishers very soon, it may also make for great promotion for this labor of love.

The current project is titled Blood of the Werewolf, and as the title suggests, it is a werewolf tale. The setting is the early 1800s Great Britain (with a few key scenes in Tibet), which places it in the same universe as my first completed manuscript, The Sorcerer, which is still under consideration at a small press publisher at the time of this writing. I will one day blog about why I have chosen that location and timeframe, but the short version of that answer is, it is the era of literature I studied in college.

Anyway, I began my college career in the mid-1990s and it was around this same timeframe that I started thinking about becoming a author. It turns out to be a very long, hard, and slow process. One thing I did for fun and practice was to write novelizations of some of my favorite horror movies, such as those from Universal Studios. I had no intention of getting these published, but it was a way to try my chops at writing something of some length.

It made me start to think about writing my own stories about vampires, werewolves, and mummies, so I started writing a few longer pieces, more so for my own amusement once again than with any intension of trying to get it published. Once I had a few of these under my belt, I started thinking more seriously about writing a full length novel and hopefully one day getting it published. I decided that with some major revisions, these projects could be made into full length novels.

Those who say writing for yourself is very different from writing for publication are certainly correct. These stories needed a lot of work. In their original form they were only the length of novellas and novelettes as they ranged from 12,000 to 17,00 words. Most publishers like novels to be around 80,000 words. They needed extra scenes, backstories, more thoughts and emotions from characters and other elements to flush them out into full-length novels and make them much better stories in the process. At their heart, they were already novels, really, they just needed to be flushed out to reach their true potential. The first of these stories I did this with was what is now titled The Sorcerer, and in its final form it reached the industry standard for a finished novel at 80,000 words. The second is the one I am working on now, Blood of the Werewolf.

So to finally return to the question above (You do remember the question above, don't you, "How long have I been editing my current novel?") The original 17,000 word version was completed sometime in the late 1990s. Then it was placed in a drawer for a very looooong time. I completed The Sorcerer, and edited it I don't even know how many times, until I decided I could no longer edit it. I finally put what at the time were the finishing touches on The Sorcerer around 2017. And I finally started a major revision of Blood of the Werewolf. But the question now is, does revision count as editing? I would say that since this revision was so massive, it is probably does not count as true editing. It became practically a new story.

But then in 2019 I received a mentorship from Tim Waggoner through the Horror Writers Association. He gave me some good feedback on that novel and insight as to why it was not attracting agents or publishers yet. In order to make Blood of the Werewolf come out right, I had to put it down once again and edit The Sorcerer one last time. This took about another year, which brings us to 2020, the year of Covid. I did work on it some during the pandemic, but like many other authors and publishers, no one was as productive as we wanted to be during those odd two years.

The editing process for Blood of the Werewolf I believe started around 2020 or 2021 (not counting the major revision years). I am now very close to getting this one finished and should have it done very soon. I'm editing page 306 out of 363 and it now totals almost 79,000 words. I will make sure it reaches at least 80,000 words by the time I am finished. It may need one more pass through before I am comfortable sending it out to publishers and agents, but that should only be a light edit to clean up a few things and ensure continuity throughout the novel.

I feel as though I am getting faster and better at this, and I've never missed a deadline when I've been given one. I am also getting excited to write more follow-ups to these stories, as I have one more, Osiris, that is in a very rough draft at about 13,000 words, and I have notes on numerous others in the series. The fact that I have been able to publish more short stories, poems, and non-fiction articles in recent years also shows I am improving. And keep in mind that I also wrote many of those short stories, poems, and non-fiction articles in between revising and editing these novels. Wish me luck with these and other projects in the future, so that I can post this self-made meme once again:

2023 Recap

 It's time for another annual recap of my writing successes. I did a little a better this year over previous years, which I am very proud of, and would like to share here, not necessarily to brag, but to show where my work can be found and to maintain some sort of accountability. This is my third year running doing a blog of this sort at the beginning of a new year (the previous ones can be found here and here, so here goes.

Looking at the numbers, I made slightly fewer submissions this year, but had more successes. I submitted a total of 42 items this year compared with 48 the previous year. I usually shoot for 50, but will settle for as few as 35, so I was well over my minimum. Of those 42 submissions, 1 was a novel (a submission in answer to a request for a full manuscript in 2022, so I am counting it here). The largest bulk of those submission were, as usual, short stories, 24 of them in 2023. That is slightly lower than 2022 when I had 29 submissions. I also submitted 10 poems, down one from the previous year.

One area that helped grow my numbers and acceptances this year was a return to non-fiction submissions. I had 7 of them this year. I had zero  the previous two years. 

Now onto the successes, where I broke a new record this year with six total items being published in one way or another, seven if you count my self-published short story, which I still need to blog about. My previous highest number of published works was in 2018 when I had five works published, so that new record is something. Two of those published works from this year were those non-fiction articles. I also did very well with poetry this year with three poems getting published in two different publications this year. Of those short stories, only one was published, but it was at higher rate than many of my previously published short stories, at a semi-pro rate.

Speaking of money, while it may seem shameful to discuss how much money I made at writing, this is also a sign of prestige. More money means more success or more prestigious publications, so I will bring up the subject without giving away exact numbers. Let's just say I made more money with my writing this year than other previous years (excluding full time jobs I've had in the past and regular correspondence work I've done with major newspapers). For the first time, the majority of this money was made selling copies of anthologies at cons, although it was only a slight majority.

Now for the disclaimers. Some of the publications I made this year were not exactly very competitive. But there's a conundrum there. There are a few publications that love when I submit to them, and I enjoy doing it, but they don't pay, so they often do go to the backburner. I write to them when I am inspired by something that could lead to an article that fits that publication. I see no reason to snub them, especially when I consider the people running them my friends. While I grow as a writer, I will continue to strive toward publishing in larger and more prestigious publications, but I do want to remember everyone who helped me get there.

My Latest Short Story Sale

I am particularly excited about my latest short story sale for several reasons. For one thing, it is always exciting to make a short story sale, obviously, but this sale is particularly exciting. My latest short story sale is "Beheaded" (I love that title, by the way, but again, that's not why I am particularly excited about this sale). It will appear in the anthology Madame Gray's Poe-Pourri (cover pictured above) with the publisher, HellBound Books.

I have submitted to other anthologies with HellBound Book, but this was the first one they have actually accepted so far. All these are great reasons to be proud of this short story sale, and they are all reasons that I am proud of this short story sale. But there is one reason that makes me particularly proud of this specific short story sale.

The thing that makes me particularly proud of this short story sale is the fact that I consider this story, "Beheaded," to be part of the same universe as my first completed novel-length manuscript, The Sorcerer and my current work in progress, Blood of the Werewolf. That proves to me, and hopefully one day to a publisher, that stories in this universe can and will sell.

That universe is Romantic England (note the capital R in Romantic). It is similar enough to Victorian England that fans will be able to identify with both eras. It is the era just before the Victorian Era, usually noted as 1800 to 1835 in England. It is also my favorite literary era, with its love of nature and "spontaneous overflow of emotions." And it is the literary era I studied in college.

For more information on these works, you can see my previous blog-post on Shameless Self-Promotion. And for more information on this anthology, here is the link to HellBound Books. 

Shameless Self-Promotion

 

I was sending out my old manuscript for The Sorcerer to another small press recently, and their submission guidelines said their authors should be prepared to promote their work nearly every day. Most small presses, and even many large presses, want their authors to do quite a bit of their own promotion. Perhaps it has always been this way, but I think most people in the writing and publishing industry would say authors are expected to do more of their own promotion that at any time in the past. And most of that promotion at this stage should be about my current projects.

Then just today, I was in my Horror Writers Association-Virginia chapter meeting when we got to the end of the meeting, the point where we all discuss our current projects, and I spouted off a few items I have out for consideration. When they moved on to another member, it occurred to me that I had an intriguing story about my current manuscript project, Blood of the Werewolf but forgot to mention it.

With that in mind, here is that (hopefully) intriguing story:

I am currently in the editing process of Blood of the Werewolf, when I reached a scene that needed a total revision. Why? Because one of the characters was supposed to leave town by train, but the story takes place in 1815 England. When I researched the history of train travel, I discovered this was about 15 years too early for regular train travel. While many of my horror writing cohorts are researching far more interesting things like types of poisons and how much bloodloss a human can endure, I spent my writing session researching the history of train travel and the history of slippers. Anyway, it is a pivotal scene that cannot be totally deleted, so I must revise it in a way that the character uses a different mode of transportation. The most obvious mode of transportation would be ship.

This opened up an interesting possibility for the story. I want both The Sorcerer and Blood of the Werewolf to take place within the same universe, and it would be even better if they had another direct connection. But up until now they did not have any connections other than parts of both stories take place in England in the 1810s. The Sorcerer actually concerns a man who owns a shipping company. So this character in Blood of the Werewolf will now travel via the Nichols Shipping Company because it is the name of the shipping company the character in The Sorcerer owns, giving the two novels the type of direct connection I was hoping to create for them.

Oh yes, the photo above is me promoting a public presentation at Monster Fest.

Lately

 

I confess that lately I have not had as much time as I would like to write fiction, or my Frankenstein project. However, that does not mean I have not been writing. As everywhere else in the world, schools have gone online, and I teach college writing for the majority of my income. I therefore had to convert my classes to an online format. Even though I worked on that throughout the summer, and even took a few training classes to accomplish this, I still had a LOT to do.

This past semester, I taught a total of seven classes as three higher education institutions, and I taught a total of three different classes, a developmental writing class, a beginning composition class, and a research writing class. What it really came down to was essentially the equivalent of writing a college composition textbook that could accommodate all three of those levels of writing. Luckily, I have been teaching for a little over ten years now, off and on, and I had a lot of materials to pick from. I wound up choosing a portion of this old textbook, and a different portion from that one, along with my "all star hall of fame" collection of sample essays to use for the students to pattern their writings after.

This did give me some experience with research writing, and may be some experiences I can use when returning to the Frankenstein project. It also granted me some experience with what works and what does not when teaching online.

The semester has now ended, and after doing some housecleaning, and celebrating the holidays, I am trying to return to fiction writing. A lot of markets seem to be slowing down at accepting and deciding on submissions, however, and the entire publishing world is slowing, partially due to the pandemic, and partially due to the economic impact from the pandemic. It looks like the end of this pandemic is finally on the horizon, but it seems it will also leave us with a world that is far different from what it was before the catastrophe began, just like a good horror story.

Writing in the Apocalypse

With everything going on now, the coronavirus pandemic continuing and now all of the civil unrest due to the murder of George Floyd, it can be hard to concentrate. It might even seem to be the end of the world. While I even named this blog post after an apocalypse, I am a bit more optimistic about the future of the country and the world as a whole. In the long term, I think we'll likely be okay. In the short term, things seem to be a bit rocky.

I, like many of you I assume, find myself on Facebook for longer periods of time than I used to. And I keep watching and reading the news to find out the latest. I've been watching some of the protests and riots on Facebook Live and other sources. We are living in a historic time, one in which, hopefully brings about some sort of needed change. It is hard not to get caught up in it. If you feel moved enough to get involved, by all means do so. Don't let me or anyone else talk you out of it.

But the bigger purpose of this post to remind myself, and if you see fit, to remind you, the reader, to keep taking care of yourself. It is best mentally to carry on as normally as possible. For the purposes of this blog that means to keep writing. Remember to tune out of the Facebook live feeds once in a while. Put time limits on how much time you spend watching and reading the news. It is good to be informed, but it is best to not let it take over your life. And again, I'm talking to myself as much as I am anyone else, as I do with most of my posts.

For myself, I've still been reading items I need for my non-fiction book on Frankenstein in film. I am also very close to finishing a rough draft of a novel about a werewolf. I've also seen a little success lately. If anyone is interested, my most recent publishing credit is a horror short story titled "The Lecturer" and was posted on Page and Spine's new Outta This World page here. And my latest poem, "A Perfect Rainbow" can be found in the latest issue of Teach. Write. here.

So what is everyone else doing to cope with the pandemic and all the other turmoil in the world today? Here is a picture from a cruise ship I was on a few years ago. I like it for its bright horizon.

My First Horror Writers Association Virginia Chapter Event

There are perks to membership. I have lately been blogging about some of those perks here. And recently, I have another story about just great this type of membership is.

Recently, I was able to participate in my first event with the Horror Writers Association Virginia Chapter, which was Unhappy Hour at the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond. It was a lot of fun. I was able to finally meet some fellow HWA members face-to-face who live in the area (or at least in the same state).

I also participated in my first public reading. It was a fellow member's piece, but it was lesson worth learning; from now on I will bring at least one piece to read just in case the opportunity arises. But at least I was able to provide a little publicity for a fellow member.

I was able to slip away for a quick tour of the museum, which I hadn't seen in about 15 years or more.

Oh yes, did I mention there were free drinks for HWA members?

We had a booth to sign up new potential members. Members with books to sell were able to do so.

I handed out a few business cards to maintain publicity for my current non-fiction project, Frankspoitation.

Oh yes, and drinks, I did mention the free drinks didn't I?

Anyway, here are some photos from the event.

What I Learned by Having a Mentor

This is author Tim Waggoner. He has been my mentor for the past few months. The mentoring program is over now, but I thought I'd share some of what I learned through the experience.

First let me go over how I got a mentor. I signed up for the Horror Writers Association mentoring program about six months before I was accepted. In fact, I had forgotten I signed up for the mentoring program by the time I was accepted. But it came at an important time. My writing had hit a plateau. I'm finally able to publish one or two short stories or poems a year at some small publications for nominal fees, but I just can't seem to break through to the next level. I'm really hoping the advice he provided will help me be able to publish with more regularity at larger publications. This made me very excited to have acquired a mentor in the first place.

When they told me who my mentor was, I felt like I had some homework to do (and some cyber-stalking). I had heard of him, but needed more information. Turns out, he's published over 40 books, some of which have received some critical acclaim, including the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Long Fiction and he was a finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award. He's also published several short story collections. He's even published some novels with movie, television, and video game tie-ins, such as "Supernatural," Nightmare on Elm Street, and Resident Evil. I had to confess I felt a little overwhelmed and out of my league (and I probably was).

Tim's website can be found here.

Anyway, the first thing I sent him was my completed novel manuscript, The Sorcerer, and then I sent him a sample short story I had recently written. He provided a lot of criticism and advice to improve. One thing of note, If you are planning to become a writer you have to be prepared for all sorts of criticism. Even if you plan on self-publishing you need to be prepared for bad reviews from readers, and arguing with negative reviews only makes you look even more foolish.

His criticism basically broke down to two main ideas. One was that my characters needed to have stronger reactions to supernatural events. I write mainly horror and other genre fiction, so there should be some pretty strong reactions from my characters. There was some, but not enough, not nearly enough. For whatever reason, I could not see how little there was until he mentioned it. I guess that's the power a mentor can have.

The other was that I needed to start using a technique called "scene and sequel." He provided a link to the technique, but I found another that seemed to suit my needs a little better. This is supposed to be the technique that draws readers in and keeps them reading to the very end of a story. I went ahead and made some notes in one of my notebooks about the technique as well, and try to keep it handy whenever I write fiction.

The last thing I sent him was a PowerPoint of several chapters of Frankspoitation, the the non-fiction book I've been working on about Frankenstein films. He was far less critical of this, and felt it helped him see some of these films in a new light. I'm pretty close to sending a few sample chapters to a former professor of mine who's agreed to help me out on it. I'll blog about this again soon.

But the lessons Tim provided me concerning my fiction writing will not be forgotten. He's even agreed to keep in touch so I can ask him further questions when needed. I've since rewritten the short story I sent him and have written a few new ones, hopefully using many of the techniques he suggested. Remember that your story is always yours, ultimately, but feedback is still excruciatingly important. In fact it's crucial. I'm still looking for a critique group either online or in person. I'll keep at it, and hopefully keep improving, and hopefully I've provided some information here that others can use as well.

Finding Time

They say time ⏰ is a human construct. It doesn't really exist, except that humans have devised a way to measure it. If this is true, it is good news to the writer, because we are at a constant battle with it. Things have been pretty busy for me lately, which is why I haven't had much time to blog, and is why I've decided to talk about what to do when real life is leaving you with little time to write. I had the end of another semester recently, which is always a busy time of the year. Then I had a honey-do list of activities that was ignored for longer than it should have been. Along with all of this, I've had some personal issues that required a lot of my attention. Obviously, this has left me with little time to write or blog. So I thought I would take some time to talk about what I have accomplished in these last (good lord, has it been almost two months already) since my last blog, and how to steal as much time as possible to write during life's little moments like these.

I did manage to finish the introductory chapter to my book on Frankenstein in film, Franksploitation, and I'm writing the first chapter. My goal is to get a few chapters of this completed before the end of the summer. I also managed to outline the rest of the book, and make lists of films I would like to cover in each of those chapters. Just this week I also managed to write a mystery short story. It's the first mystery I've managed to complete, but not the first I've attempted.

I've read some writers who claim a writer has to write every day, regardless of outside influences. I suppose this may be true if you've already reached the level of writing full time as the main source of your income, but for many of us this is just not realistic. However, I will say the shorter the breaks the better, and it is important to steal a few moments whenever possible. I am much better at night, sometimes just before bed. Sometimes I have to quit because I'm just so sleepy I cannot concentrate any more, but if I can get in even a few hundred words, I call it a victory. If you are more of a morning person, you may want to plan on waking up early.

The main thing is to keep going, keep writing, and keep trying. Even if this means taking breaks that last, days or even weeks. Just don't beat yourself up over it. Write as much as you can whenever you can. I've had a few personal setbacks lately, and it can be hard to remain positive. But when this happens, it is equally important to remain focused on the goals and keep striving to improve.⏰⏰

Eat me! Thanksgiving Horror

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I got to thinking (dangerous, I know), what horror stories go well with this holiday? And eventually, it came to me: Cannibalism stories!

So let's hear it, what are some of your favorite stories involving cannibalism, either in books, short stories, or film? I want to hear about all sorts of stories that involve people eating people in all of its various forms.

By the way, the photo is from my Facebook group. You can join us here.

Getting Paid to Write Fiction (and Poetry)

I sold a poem a few weeks ago. I sold it to Teach. Write. which is the publication I sold a short story earlier this year. It is a small literary publication that pays token payments to its contributors. It is a very small payment, but the amount isn't the point. The point is that I found someone willing to pay me to write: fiction and poetry.

Perhaps then today's blog is a good time to talk about getting paid for writing fiction and poetry.

literary magazines, whether they cater to any particular genre or not, fall into four different categories: non-paying markets, token paying markets, semi-pro rates, and professional paying markets. I'll look at each going from lowest to highest paying markets.

The lowest is of course, zero. the non-paying markets will agree to publish your work, but will not pay you. There is some debate about whether markets that pay in copies of the publication should be lumped here or if they should be added to token paying markets, but I believe there is a majority who believe they belong in the non-paying category. This is becoming a moot point because the majority of these markets are now websites or some other online form these days. I do not submit my work to non-paying markets. It's not that the money is the issue, but the prestige. I just need someone to say this piece that I wrote is worth something, even if it is some small amount. For me, there has to be some acknowledgment that what I wrote was "good." (A subjective statement at any level).

Then we get to the token paying markets. These generally pay some small, flat rate for contributors. While many would debate where the defining line is, most would say the lowest rates are around $5 and go as high as $25. However, I think most would say they really end when you get paid by the word, a penny per word or so. This is where I am as a writer currently, although I have submitted to higher paying markets in the past and received rejection slips from them. I do have a few stories out in consideration at higher paying markets at the present time, and I feel they have a better chance this time around, I have not made any of these sales yet.

Then we get to semi-pro rates. According to Duotrope's Glossary of Terms, semi-pro rates go from 1 penny per word to 5 cents per word. If you don't know, Duotrope is an online listing of publications for, mainly, short stories and poetry. They used to be free, but now charge for their service. If curious, Write Good Books uses the same payment scale, so I would say it is likely very accurate.

Finally, there are the professional payment rates, which is essentially anything over 5 cents per word. Some may even pay royalties, but I believe those are anthology books only, and even then it is pretty rare, unless you are a big name in your genre.

One thing to keep in mind is that money should always flow to the writer. Many people have gone broke in the pursuit of becoming an author, and many others have gotten rich by taking their money for very little service in return. Be careful, but that doesn't mean isn't always to your best advantage to spend money to make money. This is another reason I don't submit to non-paying markets, but if you are desperate to get published, and have been turned down numerous times, sure go ahead and submit to them. Also remember that non-paying does not mean they are scammers. A scam will ask you for money for the "privilege" of publishing your work. Good luck and stay safe out there. And remember:

My Writing Life Lately

Every once in a while, I should do a post about what I've been working on, and that will be today's post. First off, my house is finally calming down after my dad's passing. We emptied out some of the house and toted it back to Virginia. I finally got the last of those boxes put away today. I've done a little writing and submitting, so this is what I've been working on.

I finally finished my latest short story, "The Gargoyle Chair", and submitted it to a horror magazine and anthology last night. It's a weird fiction story. This publication pays pro rates, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I also submitted a poem to a publication that published me before. I received an email confirmation today, and apparently the lady running the publication remembered me. That's a good feeling, but certainly not any sort of guarantee. More fingers crossed.

I also pitched an article idea to a newsletter. I heard back, but have not received a green light yet. I'm hoping it pans out because it will involve some horror research. I don't want to name any of these publications in a public forum like this unless they green light my stories for obvious reasons. running out of fingers, so toes crossed on this one.

I submitted my current novel, The Sorcerer, to another agent. We'll see how that goes.

I contacted the Horror Writers Association about getting me into their mentoring program for some research I did a while back. I'm trying to do more research, so I can get into a PhD program next year.

Finally, I managed to find a slew of literary journals that cater to horror fiction and films, thanks to the Horror Writers Association. I've been researching each one of them, and going through papers I wrote back in college to see what can be shaped up to send to some of these, but I haven't pulled the trigger yet.

I guess that's about it for now. Here's a shot of the desk I used to use. I'll get a shot of my current writing space once I get my room straightened out.

Good News and Bad News

It's been a few weeks, and I have good news a bad news. I also have a LOT of personal strife going on which I will not get into here.

Anyway, the good news is that one of my stories was published recently. This was "An Unlucky Day" and I'll post the link in a minute. I first wrote the story in a Creative Writing class as an undergraduate in the 1990s. I always liked the story, and it was one of the first items I ever sent to a literary journal. Although it was rejected, even in its first submission, I was given encouragement to the send the publication more of my work. I sent it out about another half dozen times to various publications, and never heard a peep until it sold in February.

I also changed the ending about five hundred times. Ok, it was probably more like 5, but it felt like a lot more. The trouble was part of the assignment was NOT to write an ending, something I was unsure of at first, but the professor explained that it was because students often concentrate too much on the endings of their stories. It did help me concentrate more on developing the characters and the story itself, which is why I believe he wanted us to do it that way. But then I graduated, and if that story was ever going to be published, it needed an ending. I was trying to come up with a more literary ending, but it was a bit of a dark comedy. Finally, I decided to just give it the ending people would expect out of it, and finally it sold.

So without further ado, here's "An Unlucky Day" at Page and Spine.

Then there's the bad news: I did not get into the graduate school PhD in English program I wanted. :-(

Such is life I suppose. I'm not exactly sure why I was not accepted because I only received a form letter. I have two theories though. One is because I don't have any research credits (although I do have a few fiction credits). But then the question becomes, how do you get research credits outside of a PhD program, and how do you get into a PhD program without research credits. My other theory is that academia is beginning to think I'm too old. I hope it was the former and not the latter. Tata for now.

So I joined the Horror Writer's Association

I teach at several higher education facilities, that's at one university and one community college to be exact. I do it part time at both schools with the hopes that one day I can do it full time, which is just part of the reason I've been preparing to enter an English PhD program next year. Another piece to that puzzle is that I'm finding that higher education facilities want you to belong to organizations in your field of study. For me that would be literature, or writing, mostly writing. It's best to join the organization that holds the most interest for me, as it is the  area I will do the majority of my research. That's why I decided to join the Horror Writer's Association.

I've been in contact with this organization for last few weeks, and just paid my dues to join earlier today. I'm supposed to receive some correspondence through the mail in the next few weeks or so. According to the organization some of the benefits of membership (besides being able to put it on my CV when applying for jobs) are that I have access to mentoring programs where other writers can help critique my work and help single supporting members (like myself) get published. They also provide exclusive access to some publishers, agents, and publications looking for more horror short stories.

Here's the link to the HWA's website in case anyone is interested in looking them up.

So, we'll see how this goes. I will again keep readers up to date on this endeavor. Hopefully it works out and turns into an investment.

Today's picture is of this year's jack-o-lantern I made at the request of my 11-year-old daughter. Yes, it's supposed to be a bat, in case you couldn't tell.