So digging up the how/why/who/when/where of publishing was probably a wee bit more than I can handle right now. Ha. That’s how my brain is wired. While I still want to get these stories published, I should probably concentrate on banging out various works in progress instead.
I’m still doing some submitting, but not at the rate I’ve done in the past. And I admit I’m getting frustrated that three of my micro fiction pieces haven’t found lit mag homes yet.
It’s annoying that I pay attention to guidelines and only submit to places where I think these pieces would fit, only to be rejected.
Yes, I’ve been doing this shit long enough that I’m used to the rejections. It’s totally a fucking numbers/luck/depends on an editors mood sort of thing. And I generally think it’s their loss. And I shouldn’t invest in the mental/emotional energy but it still sucks.
When a lit mag says give us your weird shit, give us your fluffy shit, give us stories that won’t fit anywhere else….
And you do. Over and over and over.
And you still get rejected.
Stuff I’m working on? One story that’s finished (and has numerous rejects already), I changed the title. Maybe that’s all it needed. We’ll see.
I’m almost done with the story about the modern day princess and her ladies maid and the castle they live in that they start exploring. Like my Harold and Sallie stories, I have an idea of doing a series of stories of the girls and what they find in the castle they live in.
What’s interesting is that I’ve realized these Emmy and Tilly stories are geared towards the preteen/YA crowd. I seriously didn’t intend that, but there you are. So we will see how that goes.
Speaking of Harold and Sallie; I really need to finish that up. Sallie has been stamping her little fairy feet at me because I have yet to write about her life before she met Harold.
Other stories that are technically done but need reworking/tweaking - A story about Cinderlla set about a month after the ball. The fairy dust has worn off and she’s realized her eye candy Prince Charming is as dumb as a brick and she could probably run the kingdom better. This one is almost done, but might be hard to find a lit mag home for. Not many places want fan fiction (which in a way this is) or want fairy tales based on existing material.
Toby’s is a diner in a small midwestern town in the middle of the state. Three of the regulars are at different cross roads of their lives and they have a plan.
Mirror Fog is a young woman who finds a stash of cash in a house by way of the ghost of the original owners wife.
Be a Pepper is about a vending machine that doesn’t always give you soft drinks.
The Family is based on a dream I had last year. This one needs a serious rewrite. I’ve buried it in a few folders. It can wait.
And I’ve got snippets of other stories/ideas written out, waiting for the idea clue stick to wack me over the head to finish.
I haven’t had anything published in 3 years. I haven’t been submitting consistently though; I go through cycles. I’ve received a few personal rejections, and in a way that hurts more.