Ray Daley's Blog, page 24

What’s currently in submission #2

What’s currently in submission?


 


Write Now (subbed to Anthology of Quitters)


The Lanyards (subbed to Asimovs)


Tuesday Is Chicken-Flavoured Meat Day (subbed to Three-Lobed Burning Eye)


Welcome To Your New Home (subbed to Stories for Homes 2)


Practical Magic For Intermediate Students (subbed to Apex Magazine)


Departure Date (subbed to Strange Horizons)


The Thinker (subbed to Mad Scientist Journal anthology)


CSI; Nazareth (subbed to Daily Science Fiction)


The Catch (subbed to the were-traveller [PhotoFlash])


Pay Off (subbed to Queer SciFi)


 


That’s 11 pieces out in the ether right now.

How to cut 146 words

So I just submitted a story where the maximum word count was 300.

The story in question started out at 446 words, meaning I had to cut 146 of those words.

But here’s the problem – that story (in my opinion at the time) was as short as I could make it.

So I started the easy way. Cutting single words that wouldn’t be missed whilst allowed lines to still make sense.

That only cut 80 words. Not enough.

So I took a second through, same routine. Got me to about 100 words.

So that left the fine tweaking. Could I cut 2-5 words and replace them with just 1?

Indeed I could. Got me down to sniffing distance, 135 words but still too long.

So I read the whole thing. Was there anything flowery that could be removed? Anything still surplus to requirement?

I just about made that 146 words. But the story still made sense.

Not an easy job.

Outside the comfort zone

So! I did something a bit different today.

Yesterday, I spotted a place that was asking for idea pitches based on image prompts. Basically they had 20-something images and if one of them inspired you to write a story, they asked you to pitch your idea in a few lines or a paragraph.

I saw one I liked, I pitched my idea by email the same day.

And they liked it. So I had a day to craft the bones of the beast in my brain, and wrote it this afternoon. With a 1000 word maximum limit and a 751 word lower limit.

It’s rare that I write restrained by ANY kind of word count, be it upper OR lower. Normally I’ll just write whatever until I either run out of steam or my brain say “Oi fuckface, this is finished!”

Yes. My internal monologue calls me fuckface. Amongst other such cursory terms. Bastard-face is also quite common.

Anyway, I’m digressing.

So I banged out my story. Audio proofed it to within an inch of its life. Then added about another 100 words because it was a bit too short.

And emailed it off a few hours ago. It’s a potentially paying gig, not a huge amount but money is money.

It’s nice to step away from familiar things every now and then, to try and stretch yourself as a writer once in a while.

So, about that MAJOR announcement?

Okay. Remember that MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT about a week or so ago?

I guess I can let it slip now, I have made a 2nd sale of a story!

I am pleased to announce that I have sold “Tuck & Roll” to Omicronworld for their forthcoming Automobilia Anthology.

No details on release yet. I don’t want to say exactly what they paid me but it was 6 cents a word which I believe is semi-pro rates.

My thanks go to the Open Call; Science Fiction, Fantasy & Pulp Markets Facebook group where I found the original sub link. This is the 2nd paying success I have had, all thanks to them.

More details as I know them.

Update on submissions

Got a no back from Save SciFi today.

I would like to wish them the best of luck with the anthology though!

Subbed a short to Riddled with Arrows.

Also made a sub to to Mad Scientist Journal for an anthology too.

What’s currently in submission?

Write Now (subbed to Anthology of Quitters)


The Lanyards (subbed to Asimovs)


Tuesday Is Chicken-Flavoured Meat Day (subbed to Three-Lobed Burning Eye)


Welcome To Your New Home (subbed to Stories for Homes 2)


The Welcome Wagon (subbed to Save Sci-Fi)


Practical Magic For Intermediate Students (subbed to Apex Magazine)


Departure Date (subbed to Strange Horizons)


 


So that’s 7 different pieces out to markets right now.

A day in the archives

So a couple of days ago I was trying to kill some time as the PC has been misbehaving (my fault, I put a RAM chip in the wrong way round and made it run slower. I know, I’m an idiot!) as of late.

Anyway, I thought I’d try to find my missing “Hitchhiker” notes.

That turned out to be an epic fail, they are currently nowhere to be found. My guess is , despite checking all the stuff I threw away, I think I chucked them out by accident.

But that time looking wasn’t entirely wasted as it have me the chance to have a complete look through all my “on paper” archived, as yet unwritten ideas.

And boy are there a lot of them!

I’ve pulled a few, the ones that immediately piqued my interest as I was reading through the HUGE pile. I’m not sure which of them will get turned into finished stories and when, but it gives me ideas to play with when I get a dry spell.

To keep everything in one place, I store them all inside a hardback copy of “Eye & Talon” (A Bladerunner book) by KW Jeter. They’ve lived in the there for well over 2 yrs now, and the pile just keeps getting ever larger.

I guess what I’ll have to try and do is pick all the stuff that could easily be turned around into finished stories within a few hrs and sit down and write them.

I guess that’ll happen when pigs fly.

COMING SOON, MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT!

So. As you can tell from the title of this I am very excited.

I was about to start writing this afternoon when I decided to casually check my emails before I kicked off.

Got 2 from the same place.

News about something I’ll tell you about when they tell me I am allowed to say something concrete.

I’ve emailed them back, just waiting for more details.

You’ll know more once they update me.

Watch this space!

Facist

With heartfelt apologies to David Bowie I present this. To be sung to the tune of “Fashion“.

Fascist

There’s a brand new guy

but I don’t know his name

That people from bad homes

Liked again and again

He’s big and bland

full of tension and fear

He’ll do it over there but we don’t do it here

[CHORUS]

Fascist! Turn to the left

Fascist! Turn to the right

Oooh, Fascist!

We are the goon squad

and we’re coming to town

Beep-beep

Beep-beep

Listen to me – don’t listen to me

Talk to me – don’t talk to me

Dance with me – don’t dance with me, no

Beep-beep

There’s a brand new guy,

but he’s not very clear

That people from good homes

are voting for this year

He’s loud and tasteless

and I’ve heard it before

You shout it down while you’re marching

on the Senate floor

Oh bop, Fascist

[CHORUS]

Listen to me – don’t listen to me

Talk to me – don’t talk to me

Vote for me – don’t vote for me, no

Beep-beep

Beep-beep

Oh, bop, do do do do do do do do

Fa-fa-fa-fa-Fascist

Oh, bop, do do do do do do do do

Fa-fa-fa-fa-Fascist

La-la la la la la la-la

An Update!

First things first, an apology. Sorry for neglecting the blog. Normally I’d check in more often than this but various things have kept me distracted.

Righty, on with the actual update.

There’s no New Years Resolution this year. I am going to be doing a few things, but they aren’t solid, date based or goal based things so I’m not classing them as actual resolutions.

Submitting More Stories.

I’ve set a new routine around submissions now, if you follow me on twitter@RayDaleyWriter then you’ll already know that whenever I receive a rejection I have decided that I will submit a story to a new market within 24 hours of receiving that rejection.

I also want to try and submit at least 1 or 2 stories per month, to get more stuff out there in the world. I know it’s sort of the scatter gun approach to submissions but something’s got to be taken eventually. I’m hoping more subs equals more chances of making a sale. And not more chances of getting rejected.

Write On A Regular Basis.

One of my twitter friends said her resolution was to write 1 story a month, each month. Admittedly, I’ve already gone way beyond this in the past with a story each week for a year. But as I’m not always in the right mindset to write, 1 a month sounds more than possible for me. I’ve already completed 9 stories. So that’s me up to September already.

Read More.

To be a good writer, Stephen King (amongst others) says you should read a lot. That’s not a massive problem for me.

Summing up.

Currrently there are 7 stories out in submission. One is in the process of being withdrawn as it has been with that market for 2yrs with no progress so they are officially getting shitlisted once I’ve had it confirmed they’ve withdrawn it.

And now you’re all caught up again.