Just to update you on how I did with my first-week attempt at the Write1 Sub1 Challenge:
I completed it! > Small Victory! < (Hence the trophy above that I awarded to myself)
I finished a 2,300-word short story called "Nightmare at Ground Level" and submitted it to a site I found through Duotrope -- Kaleidotrope. This is a semi-annual print magazine that is transitioning to a quarterly e-magazine next year, and it leans towards speculative fiction, and is open to humor. My story is a tongue-in-cheek retelling of the classic Twilight Zone episode, "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet." It will be an admittedly hard-sale for this story. It's a spoof of a TV episode from 50 years ago, so I doubt if there's a huge market for it. But it was an idea that came to me, and I started playing around with it, and because I've accepted this W1S1 challenge, I finished it and I submitted it, rather than just leaving it unfinished and chucking it.
That's what Heinlein's Rules on writing say, and that's what the intent of the W1S1 challenge is: Get writing, finish it, and get it out there!
I also submitted four of the 50-Word stories I've posted here to a 50-word story contest at Geeking Out About ("A Trashy Story," "A Nightmare Realized," "Can't Get a Taxi," & "Discarded Emotions"). The contest was mentioned at the website Fifty-Word Stories, and the host/author of that Website, Tim Sevenhusen, is judging the contest.
By the way -- I finally heard back this week from Tim on the "She Left" 50-word story I'd submitted a while ago, and while he declined it, he was very positive and gave clear reasons why it wouldn't work for him at the present time. He also encouraged me to submit again. I'll definitely classify this as one of those "good rejections" that writers mention, and I will indeed submit more stories at some point.
So that's what's new with me and the Write1,Sub1 challenge. I won't make a dedicated post each week about this, but I have created a new tab above, and I will keep all updates there. I will probably post about special things that happen (acceptances, publications, etc), but if you're ever curious about how I'm doing in the meantime, just click on that tab above.
P.S: Happy Memorial Day to all my USA readers! Remember the veterans who have given so much for this country.
4 comments:
Chris, Congratulations on your "small" victory and trophy, too! You are really going gangbusters, submitting stories, and burning up the writing. And in my book that's much much more than a small victory!
Thanks, Julia!
I'll take whatever victories I can get when it comes to writing, even if I have to award myself my own trophy, LOL!
But I know it's ultimately a numbers game -- if I keep throwing enough darts at the wall, eventually one will stick, and then I can claim to be a "published writer." ;^)
But truthfully -- I'm doing it because its fun!
"Get writing, finish it, and get it out there!" Well done, dude! And you're right about those "good rejections" -- hang onto that one. It means you were just that close.
Thanks, Milo!
The W1S1 challenge is definitely motivating me to write and to submit. It's like having a deadline every week, LOL.
Thanks again for the kind words of support!
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