Working On It

Life is great at throwing stuff at you, trying to distract you from the task at hand. And some of those life things need to get handled. Sometimes, it’s going to slow you down. The trick is not to let it derail your intentions entirely. Keep plodding forward as best you can.

Last Friday, I submitted Uncle Jake’s Follies for Raconteur Press’ Hold-My-Beer Heroes anthology as planned.

Monday, I submitted Backcountry Adventures for Dancing Griffin Press’ upcoming anthology and Leftovers to the Indie Lit Journal.

Tuesday I did my final edits and read-throughs of The Nuclear Option, which is now ready for submission to Raconteur Press’ Giant Killer Kaiju anthology, which opens on July 23^rd (yes, I’m a couple of weeks ahead of schedule). The Nuclear Option is my second attempt at a story on the Kaiju theme; I scrapped the first. Personally, I think it may be my favourite piece so far. Mind you, I also liked The Best Kind of Pet which the editor of the upcoming anthology rejected, so it is possible he and I have differing tastes in stories.

Wednesday I did the painstaking work of going through Soiled Undies and reformatting it for submission to presses. My goal is one per week.

Thursday I submitted Leftovers (again) to Strange Pilgrims, and Misfit Pieces to Fusion Fragments. Received a rejection for Happy Bris-Day, and submitted Soiled Undies & Other Gorgon Encounters to Arcadia Books. I also began writing something for Raconteur’s upcoming August anthology, the Wyrd, Wyrd World of Sports. 

Friday, of course, is the day I publish a story on Substack. This week is Locked Away, a failed attempt for an anthology. I began writing this for a horror anthology with the theme of a haunted vault, but my story went sideways. Don’t get me wrong, I really like where it went. I love when the characters in my story surprise me by the direction they take it, only this one turned out not to be a horror at all. So, while I love the heartfelt U-turn this story took, I did not submit it for consideration. This is one of the hazards Pansters face. When we sit down to write a story, we never know where it will take us. It is also what I enjoy most about writing: the surprise. I always loved drawing, and I never liked colouring books. Don’t give me lines to follow; let me create my own. That’s how I feel about plotting. A story needs to run free in order to find itself.
https://brainsoupfic.substack.com/p/locked-away

Meanwhile, I have Misfit Pieces ready to submit to Diabolical Plots on Monday. And a few other stories waiting in the wings for submission to various places. One Sword and Sorcery, two erotic fiction shorts. Might be able to get some work done on them today.