Competition!

I'm being an enabler, but I thought this would be fun -- so, here's a link to a literary novel competition. I'm thinking nought will come of it for me, but it's always worth a go? If you do enter, I wish you the best of luck! If you don't...please send any spare luck amd goodwill you have my way, it'd be much appreciated. ^_~

Acceptance

I've been meaning to blog about this for a couple of days, but life this New Year so far...well. It's taken some odd turns, that's for sure. My brother, whom I house-sit with, did something rather stupid on New Year's Eve that means I'm likely going to be house-sitting on my own in the near future, which stresses me out incredibly. And then work yesterday...was diabolical, and because of the situation that caused it? It's likely to continue that way for some weeks yet. So, even though I had intended to start the year afresh and relaxed, it ain't happening.

Still, one good thing has happened -- I got a rejection from the Crossed Genres submission, but my work with Mitzi on the Red Velvet and Absinthe submission? Has resulted in an acceptance! In theory, I will therefore publish my first short story this Northern hemisphere autumn. <3 It's...really quite surreal. I haven't quite processed it, I don't think, so...it's all very strange indeed. I also find it hilarious that my first acceptance is in the erotica field, of all things, but that's a long story. I blame it all on fandom, anyway. But...yes. I am laughing away, though, because I had an email from her asking for a professional bio for inclusion with the story. I...have roughly NO IDEA what to write. Being that I have no credits or credentials to speak of. <g> I'm tempted to just write "n00b" and be done with it, though that probably implies I know either 733t or hax0r culture, which is...totally not true. But yes, I find it ironic that the one-fifty word bio daunts me more than the six thousand word story I worked on to earn the opportunity to write the bio in the first place. Ha ha ha.

Still, even though I am not writing a lot at the moment, I am planning out my next submission monkeys. There's a Filament competition I've got a story already outlined for; it's a strange little take on a Scandinavian myth. And even though it's nothing to do with vampires, I at least partly blame Alexander Skarsgård's portrayal of Eric on True Blood for that. Although with that said, I had been thinking of a Nocturne Bite story involving either vardøgr or etiäinen, so...the näckrosor thing possibly isn't so strange. I'm also tempted to rewrite that myth in a darkly erotic way for another competition a friend flagged up, but we'll see. I'm also contemplating another Nocturne Bite submission...not really sure what I'm going for there, but it seems to be the fey and witches. Or something like that. I blame Gargoyles for that. Damn Puck.

So, yes, despite work driving me utterly up the wall I am hoping to work on some short stories for submission this month. It's likely a better idea than novelling, as novels involve a lot more concentration and continuous thought. The short stories...are far easier to pick up and put down as time permits. So, we'll see. Travis also asked if I'd try something for either Future Earth Magazine or the other e-zine, and I want to do something for Crossed Genres for February (mystery; I think I could rework Lies In The Land for that), so...plenty to keep me occupied -- and fulfilling resolutions!

But still. Finally, I got something accepted somewhere. It's a good start to the year for writing, if nothing else. <3

2011: Year Of The Writer

Given that it's the first, I thought I had better do an entry and perhaps make some resolutions and whatnot. This is basically because this year I need to do something with my writing. I tend to say that near the beginning of every year and never accomplish anything of note, but this year...I want it to be different. So, with that in mind, I am going to make this a short little entry and go back to revising the story I got the feedback on. It's almost done, I am just dragging my heels out of my usual terror of feedback and submission. But...it's a learning experience, isn't it? And I managed to pull myself together last night and submit the short story Blank Canvas to Crossed Genres despite all my misgivings, so...yes. Time to do something constructive.

Basically, this year, I hope to do several things:

1. Revise Neverboy and have a manuscript that could be read by an agent and/or publisher.
2. Begin to write Forevergirl.
3. Finish the first draft of Hibernaculum.
4. Finish the first draft of The Juniper Bones.
5. Write a good chunk of either People In Looking-Glass Houses or Newton's Cradle for NaNoWriMo.
6. Join the kid's writers group.
7. Submit at least five other short stories.
8. Enter the Katherine Mansfield short story competition.
9. Talk to an agent.
10. Keep on going to Southern Scribes, Chapter I and chat more on the CompuServe literary forums.

So, that's ten things to do. Let's see me do them. ^__^