Good news and bad news!
My short story, "Where To, Ma'am?" was declined by Flash Fiction Online, but I did receive a note from editor Suzanne Vincent that it had reached the final round of their selection process before being rejected. I take that as a good sign. Ms. Vincent offered me the chance to receive some feedback on the story, so I have accepted the offer and will use the feedback I receive to, I hope, improve the story and my writing.
In other news, I decided to back the launch of Cloaked Press, a small, independent SF/F press run by author Andrew M. Ferrell, who lives in Wisconsin. You can visit its Kickstarter page and give it some love here.
Final bit of news: I have been invited to submit a short story to a middle-grade children's anthology, so I will be working on that.
Good night!
Showing posts with label Flash Fiction Online. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Flash Fiction Online. Show all posts
Thursday, February 16, 2017
Friday, February 10, 2017
The Monthly Checker - Morgen Bailey Entry for January 2017
The prompt for Morgen Bailey's January 2017 100-word story competition was to write something based on the title, "The Monthly Checker."
I actually wrote two stories for the January competition. The first one, "Where To, Ma'am?" was just awful when whittled down to 100 words, so I let it be as long as it needed to be and found that it turned into a pretty interesting story at about 1300 words. I submitted that version to Flash Fiction Online and am waiting to hear back from them.
I was able to come up with a 100-word story for Morgen with the requisite title and submitted it. It was "highly commended." It is probably also the story Bailey mentions that was, "eek-making, in a good way!" It features a woman with proprioception issues involving her breasts. And then it turns out that there is a non-neurological reason for her lack of proprioception there.
Now that the contest for January has ended, and I am free to give the story my preferred title, I will call it "Xenomelia." I can use the slightly longer draft and send it out to possible markets.
Xenomelia is defined as, “the oppressive feeling that one or more limbs of one’s body do not belong to one’s self." Breasts are not exactly limbs, but it was as close as I could get to an accurate name for the condition. If you are interested in learning more about this condition or mental state, I highly recommend that you read Dr. Oliver Sacks' book, A Leg to Stand On. Sacks was a brilliant writer, and I always find his books about neurology fascinating.
Every time I enter one of these Morgen Bailey competitions I learn something new. The striking thing I observed in the stories that won in January was that not one of them read as if it had been whittled down. The language in each of them flowed naturally, yet all three told a succinct story in 100 words, an impressive accomplishment by their authors and one that I will strive to achieve for February and for my future writing.
I actually wrote two stories for the January competition. The first one, "Where To, Ma'am?" was just awful when whittled down to 100 words, so I let it be as long as it needed to be and found that it turned into a pretty interesting story at about 1300 words. I submitted that version to Flash Fiction Online and am waiting to hear back from them.
I was able to come up with a 100-word story for Morgen with the requisite title and submitted it. It was "highly commended." It is probably also the story Bailey mentions that was, "eek-making, in a good way!" It features a woman with proprioception issues involving her breasts. And then it turns out that there is a non-neurological reason for her lack of proprioception there.
Now that the contest for January has ended, and I am free to give the story my preferred title, I will call it "Xenomelia." I can use the slightly longer draft and send it out to possible markets.
Xenomelia is defined as, “the oppressive feeling that one or more limbs of one’s body do not belong to one’s self." Breasts are not exactly limbs, but it was as close as I could get to an accurate name for the condition. If you are interested in learning more about this condition or mental state, I highly recommend that you read Dr. Oliver Sacks' book, A Leg to Stand On. Sacks was a brilliant writer, and I always find his books about neurology fascinating.
Every time I enter one of these Morgen Bailey competitions I learn something new. The striking thing I observed in the stories that won in January was that not one of them read as if it had been whittled down. The language in each of them flowed naturally, yet all three told a succinct story in 100 words, an impressive accomplishment by their authors and one that I will strive to achieve for February and for my future writing.
Monday, January 16, 2017
First Submission of 2017
My first short story submission for 2017 was to Flash Fiction Online today. The story is called, "Where to, Ma'am?" I originally wrote it for Morgen Bailey's January 100-word competition, but the story was terribly disjointed with so much meat taken out. So I put the meat back in, and now it's in the ether.
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