Wherein I'm a terrible blogger.

The title pretty much says it all.  I haven't posted anything since Halloween.  Honestly, things have been kind of quiet on the Mosley front.  I found out that "Fire in the Blood" is getting published.  That's super neato.  I finished "Revelations" on November 6, according to the tweet/Facebook update about it.  Since then, though, I haven't done much of anything.  For a solid two weeks I didn't write anything, and I haven't written a whole lot since.

(Well, that might not be entirely true.  I've started on about three things.  I just haven't gotten far with them.)

I'm not a good blogger.  I don't think I should give advice because I really don't know what I'm doing.  My life isn't particularly interesting.  I fail at being funny on purpose.  If, by some weird miracle, I ever become a professional writer, I'm not sure if I could successfully blog.  But, practice makes perfect, right?

Oh, a bit of good news!  Evolutionary Blueprint, which contains my short story "Night Things," is now available from Static Movement Press.  Should you be so inclined, you may purchase it here or here.

Waiting.

Firstly, Happy Halloween, y'all!  Don't eat too much candy/possessed by a demon or something.


A couple of stories I had subbed came back to me because of unfortunate circumstances, so I had to submit them to other places.  After I did that, of course, came the waiting.  Waiting is horrible.  You want to know if your story has a home right away.


The best thing to do while you wait is to stay busy.  I do that by writing.  I haven't been able to do that much writing in the past week because I've been "busy."  (And by "busy," I mean finding other things to do other than finish a story that's almost done.)  Writing helps get your mind off things, and it gives you more to submit later.


I have six things out right now.  (I totally didn't realize that before I counted, though.)  In the back of my head, Super-Neurotic Kristina is going a little bonkers, but Slightly-More-Rational Kristina is writing to try to get her to shut up.  It's mostly working.


So, if submission anxiety gets you down, write!


(This is unrelated, but if you like books, and I assume you do, go check out the Twisted Library Press.  They do good stuff, and they've published me twice, so they're not dumb.)

Changing My Miiiiiind (sung to the tune of "Wasting My Time" by Default)

Remember last time when I posted my project list for the next eight months or so?  Well, there have been some changes to that list.  First, the market I was to send "The Persistence of Memory" to pushed up its deadline to October 14.  I knew that I couldn't get the story done in time, so I pushed it aside and finished "Inheritance."  It is with my critique partner now.  "Revelations" is still good to go if I can finish it in time, so that leaves me with "Love and War," "The Hunger," and "Blood is Thicker."


My...goals, I guess, changed when I saw that the market to which I was going to send "Blood is Thicker" changed from paying to exposure only.  I then became doubtful about the market for "The Hunger" because, if I could finish the story, I'd only get, like, six bucks tops.  Thursday night, I revisited the website for "Love and War" 's market.  The covers for their other publications were terribly unprofessional.  I understand that costs can be high, especially for a press that is just starting, but no one will take them seriously with covers like that.  (Plus, I wouldn't be paid very much for my story, either.)


I don't mean to sound entirely superficial or mercenary, but I do hope to become a professional writer.  When I started submitting things after college, I aimed high, sending stories to professionally-paying markets.  My writing wasn't up to snuff.  I developed the attitude that I just wanted to be published, so I sent my stories to markets that would have me.  That lucked out for me a few times, but ended poorly in others.  (Two of the markets are now currently dead.)  My writing is better now, and I'm going to be more discerning.


So, I'm going to submit to markets that are semi-pro and up now.  That's not to say that I won't send some flash fiction to a token or non-paying market or send a story to a charity anthology if I'm feeling altruistic.  I'm just going to have the attitude of someone who wants to make her living from writing, not a hobbyist.


Wish me luck.

I'm a masochist, apparently.

When I submitted "Fire in the Blood" last week, I thought that I didn't have anymore deadlines for the rest of the year.

I was a filthy liar.

About an hour or so after I submitted the story, I found a new sub call for an anthology dealing with body enhancements gone wrong.  I decided to write up the brain transplant idea I've had since I was around fourteen.  The deadline's November 30, which was bad until I saw "or until filled."  The editor is only accepting twenty stories for the anthology, and it already has sixteen. D:

Then, a few days after that, I saw a sub call for a Valentine's Day-themed anthology.  I started a story years ago, like, before junior year of college, that would fit.  I just had to finish it.  The deadline's December 1, which isn't horrible.  My main problem is that the story has to be rated PG, which isn't an easy task for Lil Miss Violence and Swears.  (I should have a t-shirt made.)

Before I could go to bed...last night?  Thursday morning?  Anyway, I had to make a project list for the next several months.  I figured if I wrote something up and tape it to my wall, I'd be less likely to shirk my responsibilities.  (By the way, "Inheritance" is the story I describe as, "necromancer doesn't know she's a necromancer, featuring Paco the Skeleton".)

I decided to add the picture because it accurately represents my feelings.  The next few months should be fun.  (Of course, if I get a real job, this will all pretty much go out the window...)

Wherein I'm attached to things

I had a thought today.  As much as I want to get "Lessons," the vampire hunter story, published, I think I'll wait a bit.  I'm having some issues finding a good market for it.  One, it's a vampire story that's not exactly horror.  That's an issue because a lot of markets are all vampired out.  Two, it's 5,745 words long.  The cutoff for many markets is 5,000 words.  I'd cut 745 words out of it, but there's no way I can.

Sure, there are some markets that'd publish it, but, to be honest, they don't pay much.  I know in the past I've been just trying to get stuff published, but I put too much time, too much effort, too many emotions into it to sell it for five dollars.  I deserve way more than that.

So, it's just going to sit on my hard drive for a bit, waiting for the right man publication to come along.  Until then, I'll work on something else.

Staying Busy

My dragon flu story, "Fire in the Blood" is with my critique partner for the third time.  I probably won't have to do much to it now when she gets it back to me, hopefully, so my mind is on the next thing.  I have a list of dozens of story ideas I should work on, and I have a few partially-written stories on my hard drive waiting for me to finish them.  I don't know what to pick next, though.

I have a problem.  I have issues with just writing a story and finishing it just because I want to write it.  I have to have a home for it in mind beforehand.  "Fire in the Blood" is one example, as is my vampire hunter story "Lessons," as is everything else I write, it seems.  Even if I've had the idea for years, I can't get it out until there's a sub call.  Take the novelette I wrote, Strange Days.  I had the idea since I was fourteen or fifteen.  It sat in the back of my head for ten years until a press was doing an angel anthology.  I started writing the story for that, but quickly blew past the maximum word count.

Now that I think about it, I can't think of anything I've had published that wasn't for something.  Even if it didn't get in the anthology or whatever that I intended, I wrote or rewrote the story for that thing.  Huh.

On that note, I already have three deadlines for myself next year.  They're in January, March, and June, so no pressure.  Probably.  For two of the anthologies, there are stories already started.  For the one in March, however, it's just a vague idea I have that I have to flesh out.  We'll see if that deadline whooshes by.

Well, staying busy is better than nothing, right?

Update!

I got an acceptance today for my chupacabra story.  I'm very happy because it was the first thing I finished that wasn't for a class.  It will be in Static Movement Press's Evolutionary Blueprint cryptozoology anthology.


In other writing-related news, my dragon flu story is with my critique partner.  She said today that she'll try to have it back to me by Thursday.  I'm also in the process of rewriting a previously-published story to submit it to a podcast that accepts reprints.  Fingers crossed there.

Stuff I'm In (Master Post)

So far, here are the publications that have been dumb awesome enough to publish me.

Periodicals

• “Phosphorescence.” Nebo Spring 2007, Vol. 25, No. 2
• “Immortal.” Nebo Fall 2007, Vol. 26, No. 1
• “Being Death.” Nebo Spring 2010, Vol. 28, No. 2
• “Carrier.” This Mutant Life July 2010, Issue 3.
• “Operators Standing By.” Flashes in the Dark.  www.flashesinthedark.com.  May 2, 2011.
• “Giving up the Ghost.”  Hogglepot.  www.hogglepot.com.  July 3, 2011.
• “Gray.” Luna Station Quarterly.  Issue 007.  www.lunastationquarterly.com.  September 2011.
• "Scifaiku."  Scifaikuest.  Issue 35, February 2012. 
• "Alternate Delivery." The Natural Tale, Spring 2012. www.thenaturaltale.com.
• "Seed." Eschatology. www.eschatologyjournal.org. May 2, 2012.
•  "The Call." Micro Horror. www.microhorror.com. July 25, 2012.

Anthologies

• “Dear Troy.”  Letters From The Dead.  The Library of the Living Dead Press, 2010.  (Amazon)
• “The Damned.”  The Zombist: Undead Western Tales.  The Library of the Living Dead Press, 2010.  (Amazon)
• “An Afternoon with the Dead.”  Deadication.  Panic Press, 2011.  (Available through Panic Press’s website at panicpress.org)
• "Night Things."  Evolutionary Blueprint: Strange Tales of Cryptozoology.  Static Movement Press, 2011.  (Amazon)
• "My Life with the Dead."  Tales from the Grave: An Anthology of True Ghost Stories.  Rainstorm Press, 2012.  (Amazon.)

An actual writing post.

So, just some things.

I finished the dragon flu story that I've been working on.  I'll do one more round of edits before I send it to my critique partner.

Also, I wrote 1,217 words on one novel and 784 words on another.  That's fair.  My word counts are never high.  Like, I can never write 3,000 words in a day like some people I know.  Both of these novels are urban fantasy.  One is just a fairly-serious story with some romance (because I'm a mushy girl), while I refer to the other as my urbfanromcom.  (urban fantasy romantic comedy)  There where points, while I was working on the novels tonight, that I felt emotions.  I write urban fantasy with heart, okay.


The rest of the words belong to a story that came to me in a dream.  I call it the body-hopping, gender-swapping demon story.  It's kind of risqué, so I don't know if I'll ever finish it.  It's sad, really, because the story has a lot of potential.  I blame the whole thing on my sheltered upbringing.  I can kill characters off in all sorts of horrible and violent ways, but sex makes me uncomfortable.  Blarg.


I also added some flesh to the bones of a vague idea I had for a while.  I don't know if I'll ever write that one, either, but it's because I don't know if the idea will become fully actualized.  Only time will tell.


Heh.  At least I'm getting some things done.
 

...

Okay, I think I know what I'm doing now.  I just wanted to get my Twitter on here.  I must pimp myself out, you know?

I'll post something writing-related later.

First post?

This is my first post.  I have no idea what the hell I'm doing.  Help.