The New W1S1 High Tea Bar and Lounge (with extra-comfy sofas)

[AnnieColleen]

Today I worked on the connective tissue, filled out some of the overly sparse sections, and moved the story just a tiny bit closer to the end. Net increase of about 500 words, with word count sitting at almost 3200. There’s one more scene I need to finish (the final one) before I have a full draft. Then I can do a complete beginning-to-end run through before I submit it. I already know where I’m sending it first.

Nice! Go story go!

Right now I’m not sure how to count the stories I originally started last year for W1S1 purposes. I guess it depends on how far along the story was when I left off last year. I might just keep track of those ones separately.

I will be counting stories started last year (or, uh, five years ago),

Same — anything at whatever stage of not-done counts until it is done. For me it’s largely because if I want to work on something and don’t count it, I’ll be inclined to decide it’s the goal that doesn’t count instead. Which doesn’t particularly help matters.

That said, finished my Sisyphus draft. So am officially on:

Drafted stories: 1/12.
Edited stories: 0/12.

Also got off my arse and resubbed a story that had been sitting forlornly since its last rejection. Didn't have much success finding markets for other sitters.

Two points to Tamlyn!

I had a day of what-are-words, but just now a surprise 100 words on the baby-niece story. Sneaky stakes and conflict, so that’s fun. Sisyphus story is still sitting, and I haven’t attempted anything yet as far as subbing. Too many spoon-drains lately, but hopefully soon.

 

[ap123]

I've been stuck these past few days. Started the month ok with a couple hundred words each day, but these past few, nada. In the middle of a story that's supposed to be fun, but now I'm not sure how to get where I'm going with it and caught in wtf was I thinking?

I took a break from subbing in early November, still have a few out. Made one exception for a mag that's no SS in late November, and at the time I subbed Duotrope showed responses < 20 days, but since then it's crept up to over 30, then over 40, then 50, now > 60 day responses. It's one thing to be a thread killer, but am I a sub killer? Let's not even discuss the full I have out with a small press since June that had a brief open sub period where friends heard back 2 months ago, but I've heard crickets, and now I'm wondering if they actually will reply ever.

 

[Izz]

67 words on baby-niece-inspired story tonight. Decided by dice roll, so Sisyphus story and Unwish are still waiting around. And I got called mean for Ouroboros ("because it made me sad"), so authorly smugness is in full effect after that.

Ha! Nice!

(Which I suppose means I need to kick that story out the door, plus the other two currently waiting around... Why does subbing take more brain cells than writing??)

Get it on out! Get it on out!

Now that the story-with-a-deadline is out there in the slushpile now, today I went back to one of the stories I started last year. I left off at around 2600 words. I had most of the pieces together with bare bones descriptions and dialogue, but I didn’t know how to end the story or how to weave the different scenes together smoothly. Today I worked on the connective tissue, filled out some of the overly sparse sections, and moved the story just a tiny bit closer to the end. Net increase of about 500 words, with word count sitting at almost 3200. There’s one more scene I need to finish (the final one) before I have a full draft. Then I can do a complete beginning-to-end run through before I submit it. I already know where I’m sending it first.

Yes, very nice! Ain't it grand when a plot comes together (and by plot I mean plan, and by plan I mean... something, I guess)

Right now I’m not sure how to count the stories I originally started last year for W1S1 purposes. I guess it depends on how far along the story was when I left off last year. I might just keep track of those ones separately.

For me, it doesn't matter when I start a story, only when I finish it. So if I started a story back in August, but only finish the draft this month, I'm counting it as a W1 for Jan. Then when it's polished enough to sub I'll count it as an S1 for whichever month that is.

I will be counting stories started last year (or, uh, five years ago), but part of that is because I want to cut down on my 'unfinished stories' folder. If I don't count them, then I will probably just not do them. My edit for this month will be one I actually started editing last year then put aside too.

Noice plan!

That said, finished my Sisyphus draft. So am officially on:

Drafted stories: 1/12.
Edited stories: 0/12.

Also got off my arse and resubbed a story that had been sitting forlornly since its last rejection. Didn't have much success finding markets for other sitters.

Yes on all counts!

Same — anything at whatever stage of not-done counts until it is done. For me it’s largely because if I want to work on something and don’t count it, I’ll be inclined to decide it’s the goal that doesn’t count instead. Which doesn’t particularly help matters.

Good point!

I had a day of what-are-words, but just now a surprise 100 words on the baby-niece story. Sneaky stakes and conflict, so that’s fun. Sisyphus story is still sitting, and I haven’t attempted anything yet as far as subbing. Too many spoon-drains lately, but hopefully soon.

Gotta love surprise words! And I'm sure the spoon-drains will, erm, drain(?) soon...

I've been stuck these past few days. Started the month ok with a couple hundred words each day, but these past few, nada. In the middle of a story that's supposed to be fun, but now I'm not sure how to get where I'm going with it and caught in wtf was I thinking?

Ah, that sucks. But I'm sure you'll get back into it when your brain is ready

I took a break from subbing in early November, still have a few out. Made one exception for a mag that's no SS in late November, and at the time I subbed Duotrope showed responses < 20 days, but since then it's crept up to over 30, then over 40, then 50, now > 60 day responses. It's one thing to be a thread killer, but am I a sub killer? Let's not even discuss the full I have out with a small press since June that had a brief open sub period where friends heard back 2 months ago, but I've heard crickets, and now I'm wondering if they actually will reply ever.

Oh dear. And you'll probably get responses for everything within a day or two...


Finished second round of edits on Byte Tanzil. The plan was to get it down below 7k (started at 7750ish). Did that, just, then decided I didn't like the ending, so now it's at 7080. I'll have another go-over next week, see what else I can shave. I changed both the beginning and ending in this edit but I'm still overall happy with the story, so that's good, I guess

 

[Alan Yee]

Given the consensus, I’ll count any story I finish this year for this year’s W1S1. I’ll just make a note in my files about which ones were started last year because I also want to track my writing output for 2022.

 

[AnnieColleen]

Get it on out! Get it on out!

Fiiiiine, two stories subbed. One waiting on markets to open. Cue overthinking on that and on how/do I add the microfiction win to cover letters and and and......

No words today, but I'll take it anyhow.

Finished second round of edits on Byte Tanzil. The plan was to get it down below 7k (started at 7750ish). Did that, just, then decided I didn't like the ending, so now it's at 7080. I'll have another go-over next week, see what else I can shave. I changed both the beginning and ending in this edit but I'm still overall happy with the story, so that's good, I guess

Yes! Happy with the story is the goal. (Ok, there are a few goals beyond that, but that is kinda the first milestone. )

 

[Alan Yee]

I wrote an additional 300 words on the same story for two days in a row. Still on track to submit it to The Deadlands when they reopen on the 19th.

 

[Izz]

Fiiiiine, two stories subbed. One waiting on markets to open. Cue overthinking on that and on how/do I add the microfiction win to cover letters and and and......

woop woop!

Yes! Happy with the story is the goal. (Ok, there are a few goals beyond that, but that is kinda the first milestone. )

Story is now below 7K but still more editing to do. I reworked the opening again lol. Well, rearranged is more accurate. I feel like I have all the necessary components but I keep deciding I'm not quite presenting them in the right order.

I wrote an additional 300 words on the same story for two days in a row. Still on track to submit it to The Deadlands when they reopen on the 19th.

Noice!

 

[Izz]

So had to get a new phone. Which is mostly gravy, except that the app I used to keep track of my progress on various writing projects - Writeometer - apparently doesn't exist anymore.

Anybody have any app recommendations for that kind of thing?

 

[AnnieColleen]

That sounds far more organized than I’ve ever been with writing, so unfortunately no.

Amusing myself with this line today:

Just in case, he tried thinking very loudly at where the voice in his head should have been.

 

[Izz]

That sounds far more organized than I’ve ever been with writing, so unfortunately no.

I downloaded what looked like a promising app but while it does what I want it to do it doesn't do it in quite the way I want it done. So for now I'm back to using a spreadsheet like in the good old days

It's funny/weird but I need to track the stattage to be productive. A long time back I used to blog my stats every day thinking that I needed the public accountability. But I don't, I just need to keep track of stuff.

Amusing myself with this line today:

That's a keeper!

 

[Tamlyn]

I just use spreadsheets and that sort of thing, so no help on the app front, sorry.

I hoped to finish the current editing pass on my story today, but I slept poorly and feel very unbrained. I'll see how I go. I'm in the flow of my WiP at least so I can just work on that. First drafts don't require brains, right?

 

[AnnieColleen]

I downloaded what looked like a promising app but while it does what I want it to do it doesn't do it in quite the way I want it done. So for now I'm back to using a spreadsheet like in the good old days

It's funny/weird but I need to track the stattage to be productive. A long time back I used to blog my stats every day thinking that I needed the public accountability. But I don't, I just need to keep track of stuff.

Eh, spreadsheets work! Probably the direction I would go if contrary-brain didn’t kick back against any kind of goals-tracking.

That's a keeper!

There was another one I liked tonight, but, the Sekret part of SSSFFSS is still in effect. So I’ll just have to enjoy it.

I hoped to finish the current editing pass on my story today, but I slept poorly and feel very unbrained. I'll see how I go. I'm in the flow of my WiP at least so I can just work on that. First drafts don't require brains, right?

Nope!

(Unslept and unbrained seems to be going around—I think I managed about 3 scattered sentences and a few notes today.)

 

[Alan Yee]

450 new words yesterday, 500 words today. I now have a completed draft of this story, which is currently sitting at 4800 words. I’ll let this sit for a couple days before I do a final polish. The intended market will open for a guest-edited issue on February 1, so I might wait until then to submit it.

 

[Izz]

I just use spreadsheets and that sort of thing, so no help on the app front, sorry.

Yeah, I think I'm back on the spreadsheet train for a while, too. And of course now I'm thinking of how I can track everything I'm working on in one spreadsheet rather than across multiple ones...

I hoped to finish the current editing pass on my story today, but I slept poorly and feel very unbrained. I'll see how I go. I'm in the flow of my WiP at least so I can just work on that. First drafts don't require brains, right?

Nah, first drafts are first drafts. Just let the words out and see what happens!

(Unslept and unbrained seems to be going around—I think I managed about 3 scattered sentences and a few notes today.)

One of those days, huh? They happen (sometimes in a row).

450 new words yesterday, 500 words today. I now have a completed draft of this story, which is currently sitting at 4800 words. I’ll let this sit for a couple days before I do a final polish. The intended market will open for a guest-edited issue on February 1, so I might wait until then to submit it.

Very noice! Polish it to gleaming!


I finished the first draft of The Votack Rebellion today. 105K. Now to shove it in the metaphorical drawer for a while. Tomorrow Imma do a final readthrough of the Byte Tanzil story and get it on out. And that'll be my S1 for January. I think I'll finish the Jazz shortie draft this month, too, so I'll kind of be on target. For one month, at least

 

[Tamlyn]

I did actually manage some editing. Figure I can pick up the mistakes on the next pass

I did, otherwise, do a lot of D&D related stuff today, which I count, because creative, but I try not to let it dominate a month. I've got lots I need to do to catch up and prepare for the next session though, so it's fine. It's a good relaxed writing thing.

My Daily Science Fiction story came out (unexpectedly!) and someone immediately spotted a typo, so, uh. Dangit.

But, almost halfway through the month, I'm pretty happy with my current progress.

 

[Alan Yee]

Congratulations, Tamlyn! I really want to break into Daily Science Fiction and some of the other good markets geared toward flash fiction, but everything I’ve been starting lately seems to end up being too long. I definitely want to get into writing flash so I can learn how to have tighter writing and hopefully finish more pieces. Plus shorter = greater number of potential markets.

 

[AnnieColleen]

(Side note for flash fiction, Uncanny will be opening for flash specifically in March!)

 

[Izz]

I did actually manage some editing. Figure I can pick up the mistakes on the next pass

woop woop!

I did, otherwise, do a lot of D&D related stuff today, which I count, because creative, but I try not to let it dominate a month. I've got lots I need to do to catch up and prepare for the next session though, so it's fine. It's a good relaxed writing thing.

My Daily Science Fiction story came out (unexpectedly!)

Awesome! And a neat story, too!

Congratulations, Tamlyn! I really want to break into Daily Science Fiction and some of the other good markets geared toward flash fiction, but everything I’ve been starting lately seems to end up being too long.

Yeah, same. I can't seem to write anything under 3K right now...

(Side note for flash fiction, Uncanny will be opening for flash specifically in March!)

Neat! And a 1500 word upper limit, too!

 

[Izz]

That tingly feeling when I enter a new story into my Sonar3 story database...

 

[AnnieColleen]

One of those days, huh? They happen (sometimes in a row).

Yup. Although — I wasn’t going to write today, because just ornery mood, so I read a chapter of A Memory Called Empire instead. Then I was going to just jot some notes for Sisyphus and ended up brain-dumping >900 words, on my phone, that’s a very rough sketch of the rest of the story. Mostly run-together barely-punctuated dialogue with scraps of stage direction and emotion in between. (Favorite line, until I flesh it all out: “Blink, stare, codfish.”)

I finished the first draft of The Votack Rebellion today. 105K. Now to shove it in the metaphorical drawer for a while. Tomorrow Imma do a final readthrough of the Byte Tanzil story and get it on out. And that'll be my S1 for January. I think I'll finish the Jazz shortie draft this month, too, so I'll kind of be on target. For one month, at least

Nice!!! Yay for on target!

I did actually manage some editing. Figure I can pick up the mistakes on the next pass

I did, otherwise, do a lot of D&D related stuff today, which I count, because creative, but I try not to let it dominate a month. I've got lots I need to do to catch up and prepare for the next session though, so it's fine. It's a good relaxed writing thing.

My Daily Science Fiction story came out (unexpectedly!) and someone immediately spotted a typo, so, uh. Dangit.

But, almost halfway through the month, I'm pretty happy with my current progress.

D&D definitely counts… Actual Play podcasts are where I’ve gotten a lot of my writing mojo in recent months. Congrats on the story! Typo notwithstanding…what’s that story about weavers who would deliberately introduce flaws because only God can make a perfect thing…?
(Actually now that sounds like it could be a story seed…)

Congratulations, Tamlyn! I really want to break into Daily Science Fiction and some of the other good markets geared toward flash fiction, but everything I’ve been starting lately seems to end up being too long. I definitely want to get into writing flash so I can learn how to have tighter writing and hopefully finish more pieces. Plus shorter = greater number of potential markets.

Flash is definitely its own thing, honing in on just that key moment of the story. Good luck with it!

That tingly feeling when I enter a new story into my Sonar3 story database...

 

[Tamlyn]

This was my 38th submission to DSF, and the first one to even make it to second round. I write a lot of flash. I don't know how much of it is good flash

 

[Izz]

Yup. Although — I wasn’t going to write today, because just ornery mood, so I read a chapter of A Memory Called Empire instead. Then I was going to just jot some notes for Sisyphus and ended up brain-dumping >900 words, on my phone, that’s a very rough sketch of the rest of the story. Mostly run-together barely-punctuated dialogue with scraps of stage direction and emotion in between. (Favorite line, until I flesh it all out: “Blink, stare, codfish.”)

Very, very noice!

Flash is definitely its own thing, honing in on just that key moment of the story.

This was my 38th submission to DSF, and the first one to even make it to second round. I write a lot of flash. I don't know how much of it is good flash

Persistence pays off!

Speaking of flash, while out attacking the garden with a weed-whacker yesterday an idea for some flash flashed through my mind. Which I promptly forgot about but your posts have now reminded me. It's funny, I'm terrible at that length of fiction (and possibly at every length ) but the only pro sale I've ever made (and my first ever sale, IIRC) was a piece of flash.

In other writing news, Byte Tanzil and the Case of the Neural Mods is out in the world. I'm expecting its first rejection very soon.

Too, yesterday I created my Mega Spreadsheet of Writing Trackage, and today I get to enter stuff in it for the first time. I'm perhaps even more excited about that than the fact I'm also starting on the big edit of Spider's Hub today. I love spreadsheets way too much.

 

[Alan Yee]

While waiting for the other story to rest before doing final revisions, I wrote 300 words of a brand new horror story based on a concept I had in my “ideas” document. I’ve also spent much of this waiting time catching on reading current issues of short story publications.

 

[Alan Yee]

I wish I was a much faster writer. There's been several great opportunities announced this month with narrow deadlines and some pro markets that aren't open to slush more than a few weeks a year (if that) announcing that they'll be re-opening in the next couple months. I'm having to make priorities on what to finish, revise, or come up with from scratch.

Flame Tree's anthologies are always narrow deadlines with minimal notice (even the "early notification" via their newsletter is only an extra 1-2 weeks notice), so I doubt I'll ever get into one of those.

There is one anthology (https://jennirl.com/fit-for-the-gods-anthology-open-call/) paying $1,500.00 per story of 5,000-10,000 words. Practically unheard-of, I know. With the 5K minimum and the February 1st deadline, I don't think I'll realistically be able to finish and polish a story from scratch in time. But if any of you think you can do it, it's an amazing opportunity!

 

[AnnieColleen]

This was my 38th submission to DSF, and the first one to even make it to second round. I write a lot of flash. I don't know how much of it is good flash

That one was

Speaking of flash, while out attacking the garden with a weed-whacker yesterday an idea for some flash flashed through my mind. Which I promptly forgot about but your posts have now reminded me. It's funny, I'm terrible at that length of fiction (and possibly at every length ) but the only pro sale I've ever made (and my first ever sale, IIRC) was a piece of flash.

Write it! Or at least waitlist it. And, umm, I'd say that's proof of not being universally terrible.

In other writing news, Byte Tanzil and the Case of the Neural Mods is out in the world. I'm expecting its first rejection very soon.

Byte Tanzil and the Quest for Rejections (Or Not)

Too, yesterday I created my Mega Spreadsheet of Writing Trackage, and today I get to enter stuff in it for the first time. I'm perhaps even more excited about that than the fact I'm also starting on the big edit of Spider's Hub today. I love spreadsheets way too much.

Normally that would be me too...in my case the approach to writing goals outweighs the spreadsheet love.

I wish I was a much faster writer. There's been several great opportunities announced this month with narrow deadlines and some pro markets that aren't open to slush more than a few weeks a year (if that) announcing that they'll be re-opening in the next couple months. I'm having to make priorities on what to finish, revise, or come up with from scratch.

Same...I figure I'll have to build up a backlog to deploy for opportunities like that. (Which was the only way I had something for the microfiction contest.) 5k+ words in two weeks is definitely not happening, at least for now.

For Sisyphus -- almost 500 words of story prose converted today from yesterday's brain dump. I'll have to read back a bit for the next part. I've moved things around enough already that I'll definitely have to do a continuity pass later. Also did some tinkering and fine-tuning with first lines, which 'technically' I shouldn't be doing yet, but it really does seem to help with keeping focus on the heart of the story. (Plus I just like those lines!)