Wednesday, October 5, 2016

IWSG - It's Beta Time, Signing, & Links

Before we jump into the Insecure Writer's Support Group, a little news. I'll be participating in a local author meet and greet this coming Saturday, October 8, 11-2, at Cottonwood Center for the Arts.


It's free to attend! Wine, treats, trivia, and lots of books for sale for Christmas gifts. I hope to see some local familiar faces there. I'll be selling/signing copies of Once Upon a Scream, The Deep Dark Woods, Through Clouded Eyes, and Bloodbond Magazine.

I'll also be a panelist at MileHiCon in Denver the last weekend of October. More on that soon. I got my schedule last night, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to share it yet.

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Now onto IWSG. This is the brainchild of Alex J. Cavanaugh, created to give writers a place to air their insecurities. Join up and share! All are welcome.



This month's co-hosts are Beverly Stowe McClure, Megan Morgan, Viola Fury, Madeline Mora-Summonte, Angela Wooldridge, and Susan Gourley!
Stop by and say hey and thanks for all their hard work.

The optional question of the month is "When do you know your story is ready?" Not sure I have a good answer for that one. I tend to think you just know. On the flipside of that, it's probably never 100% ready. Once you have done your big edits and are just nitpicking at it, it's ready. You will never find every issue, and you could easily spend forever on one story.

Speaking of which, my insecurity this month is that I've just sent my novel out to several beta readers. Waiting to see what they think. I should know by November, and launch into another round of edits then. Nerve wracking!

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My short story submission stats for the month of September are:

17 submissions
14 rejections
1 anthology invite
1 short listing
12 currently on submission

Busy month! The longest a story in this batch has been out is 130 days. The longest I've ever had a story out is 293 days.

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Now for some links. Bear in mind I'm not endorsing any of these, merely passing them along. Always do your own due diligence before submitting to a publication.

Accepting Submissions:

Splickety Havok is taking submissions for the Literary Mutations issue, due out in January. 300-1000 words. Pays $.02/word. Take a literary classic and twist it. Deadline October 28.

Chicken Soup for the Soul is looking for pieces for the theme Inspiration for Teachers. 1200 words or less. Pays $200. Deadline October 30.

HorrorAddicts.net is seeking stories for Clockwork Wonderland, a clockpunk Alice in Wonderland themed horror anthology. 2000-5000 words. Pays $10. Deadline October 31. Personal note: I do endorse this publisher. I've worked with them, and they were wonderful to deal with. 

Level Best Books and Dames of Detection are seeking stories by and about law enforcement for the anthology Busted: Arresting Stories From the Beat. Up to 5000 words. Pay is not listed. Deadline October 31.

Tacitus Publishing is open for horror set in space for the anthology Shattered Space. 1500-5000 words. Pays $.01/word. Deadline October 31.

A Murder of Storytellers wants your speculative fiction story about people's gods for The Book of Blasphemous Words. Up to 10,000 words. Pays $15. Deadline October 31.

Whortleberry Press is asking for flash fiction of 500 words or less for Forty Flashes. Fantasy and science fiction. Pays $6. Deadline October 31.

The Literary Hatchet seeks dark fiction, poetry, essays, art, photography, and more. 1000-6000 words. Pays $1-$10. Deadline for the next issue November 1.

The First Line's next first line (and final for this go around) is: "In the six years I spent tracking David Addley, it never occured to me that he didn't exist." Write a short piece with this first line. 300-5000 words. Pays $5-$50. Deadline November 1.

Blog Hops:

Juneta Key is hosting the October Storytime Blog Hop. Post a speculative fiction story on October 27.

What are your insecurities? How do you know when your story is finished? Any of these links of interest? Anything to share?

May you find your Muse.

50 comments:

Bish Denham said...

I'm with you, I don't think a writer will ever be completely satisfied that a story is finished. There just has to come a point where we let go and move on to the next one.

Looks like lots of great submission opportunities!

Chrys Fey said...

That meet and greet sounds like a lot of fun. Too bad I'm not in the area. "it's probably never 100% ready." I have to agree with you. Sometimes I catch a mistake even when it's supposed to be ready for release. lol

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Hope your beta readers like it.
Have a good time at the meet and greet!

Madeline Mora-Summonte said...

I hope you have lots of fun at the meet and greet. Sell lots of books. :)

Good luck with the panel discussion later on this month!

Julie Flanders said...

I hope you get great feedback from your beta readers. And best of luck with the meet & greet and the panel!

Tony Laplume said...

I'm so horrible. I really should pay attention to your handy submission links more often.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Shannon - love the idea of the Cottonwood Arts centre ... just enjoy those meet ups ... we all get to the point where 'enough is enough' and that's the writing finished ... cheers Hilary

Christine Rains said...

You've had a really busy month! Have fun at your con and good luck with the panel. :) I've fallen behind on submitting stories. I need to get more out there!

L. Diane Wolfe said...

The events sound like fun. I have several this month, too. (If the hurricane doesn't derail one of them.)

shelly said...

I'VE ALWAYS WAITED FOR MY CP'S TO TELL ME WHEN MY STORIES ARE READY.

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

We can nitpick our writing forever but we have to let it do sometime. Have fun at your writing events. Wish I lived closer.

Liza said...

I'm with Susan. We can never be done, or after all the right work, we just have to take a leap of faith.

Misha Gerrick said...

I basically edit until proofreading is done. After that, there's not really all that much I can do.

The local author meet-and-greet sounds like a wonderful opportunity. I hope you enjoy it!

farawayeyes said...

Seventeen submissions in the month of September, YIKES! Apparently you have a pretty good idea when your story is ready.

Jenni said...

I agree that you just know, although I'm always wracked with self doubt. Thanks for the links! I'll be checking the Chicken Soup and maybe one of the others out.

Michelle Athy said...

Best of luck with your beta readers and the revising and editing to follow!

dolorah said...

I have two deadlines I'm trying to meet for Nov 1 submissions. My insecurities: the deadline is too short, lol.

Ghads, you have a lot of awesome stats.

Have a great month to come Shannon.

Angela Wooldridge said...

Thanks for mentioning the storytime hop and good luck with the beta readers. I love that you put your monthly stats on your blog, it's a good way to keep track of things.

Anonymous said...

Your assessment of when a story is done sums it up well. That seems to be the consensus of opinion on a lot of blogs I've read. Have fun at the writer events! I hope you sell tons of books!

Crystal Collier said...

I wish my teleportation device was working. I'd LOVE to come rub shoulders. =)

There is definitely a point with a draft where you know all the heavy lifting is done and all you have left is house cleaning. I love that point.

Here's hoping beta readers come back with smiles and affirmation!

Diane Burton said...

Congrats on sending your work out. That's a big step. Wish I lived closer so I could attend the Meet & Greet. Have fun.

John Wiswell said...

Ooo, good luck with your beta readers! It's a nervous time, but also such a relief to get onto that stage.

Olga Godim said...

Good luck with your beta readers. Your meet and greet sounds like fun.

Mark said...

So cool - If I lived closer I'd totally be at that meet and greet:)

D.G. Hudson said...

Yes I do see some interesting links, thanks Shannon. Congrats on all the visibility opportunities and good luck with your subs! I have got to get more of my work circulating about. I always feel inspired when I see your links. There is another WEP challenge this month that some bloggers will do, its about constellations or Halloween or a combo of the two. Should be interesting reading around the third week this month.

The Cynical Sailor said...

Wow - those are impressive short story stats. I've just started to write my own short stories so found the detail of your submissions to be really interesting. Cheers - Ellen

Shannon Lawrence said...

Definitely. No story will ever be perfect.

Shannon Lawrence said...

Ugh, catching the mistakes when it's too late is frustrating. And even if there aren't typos or that sort of mistake, I'll look at something and think it would have been better if I'd worded it this way instead.

Shannon Lawrence said...

Still waiting to see. Argh!

Shannon Lawrence said...

I did! Yay! It doesn't hurt to be one of two horror authors at an October book event. ;)

Shannon Lawrence said...

I hope so, too!

Shannon Lawrence said...

Hey, you do what you can. :)

Shannon Lawrence said...

I try to absorb every last bit of creativity and energy from these author gatherings!

Shannon Lawrence said...

Because you're such a slacker! ;)

Shannon Lawrence said...

Did you still get to do your event?

Shannon Lawrence said...

Hm, there's an idea.

Shannon Lawrence said...

True, and that letting go part can sometimes be the hardest.

Shannon Lawrence said...

Yes, that leap of faith is the big part.

Shannon Lawrence said...

Sounds good to me!

Shannon Lawrence said...

To be honest, some of those are resubs after rejection from faster markets (there are a few horror markets that get back in just a couple days).

Shannon Lawrence said...

Good luck if you submit to them!

Shannon Lawrence said...

I hope you made your submissions on time!

Shannon Lawrence said...

It helps keep me going. I'm dismayed if my stats don't show I've been working the job.

Shannon Lawrence said...

Good, I'm glad there's no deeper magic bullet for it. Or maybe I'm not. ;)

Shannon Lawrence said...

That would have been awesome!

Shannon Lawrence said...

Thank you, I did!

Shannon Lawrence said...

Yes, it feels good to be at this point. I'd like to be querying this book by April, if not sooner.

Shannon Lawrence said...

That would be great! And I would have been at one of your readings.

Shannon Lawrence said...

Oh yes, I meant to go read the entries. The end of the month steamrolled me.

Shannon Lawrence said...

Good luck with your short stories!