October Submission Blitz – Perverse Puppet

When it rains it pours, and I could have used a rejection umbrella. Four rejections arrived in two days – one from a novel submission back in April. I’ve gotten used to rejection but they were all form rejection letters which is unpleasant. A little bit of feedback goes a long way.

Not that I would ever let that dissuade me. “Zuka’s Misfortune” went out along with a new podcast submission and a story that had been accepted as a result of the last blitz but came back to me when the anthology was cancelled.

Besides, this has been a year of firsts, despite having a surplus of grief. A few more steps towards that goal of good exposure, proper distribution and name recognition. A writer has to make the best of the positive and to shake off the negative. It’s easy to get discouraged in this industry.

My horror trope for today is the perverse puppet. Chucky might come to mind, but he’s more of a doll than a puppet. There are plenty of stories and movies involving ventriloquist dummies, haunted or possessed much like Chucky, who torment the protagonist or who go on a serial killer spree. I think there’s a simple transition here, because most of us find the dummies creepy to begin with.

Four submissions left to go and I have three things available to submit, so I need to work on one last short before NaNo begins. I’ll share this last story idea with you once I’ve figured it out,

Back to writing.