Month: May 2011

A Drizzle in a Drought

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 3 Comments

My zombie fairy tale story “Not Rats” just sol to the Untied Shoelaces of the Mind anthology.  Yay.

This was a 750-word flash that the editor asked to have rewritten, which lead to a growth spurt to 1300 words.  Very short story, semi-pro pay…my tax bracket isn’t changing, but it’s nice to have a sale.  I’m looking forward to the contributor’s copy more than the check.  (Not that I would never turn my nose up at a check.)

My story production has slowed waaaaayy down of late.  Summer should allow me to bring things back up, but a big chunk of that will be novel work.  I need to redouble my efforts to get my current stable of stories out into circulation.  Stories don’t sell from the hard drive.

Some days you’re the shoe…

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 1 Comment

…some days you’re what gets scraped off.  Today has been absolutely craptastic.  Really the last 24 hours or so.  Little stuff, to be sure, but none of it uplifting.  I got a visit from the micromanagement fairy at work and got to spend twenty minutes changing grades…to the same thing they started out as.  (Let’s just say that putting restrictions on how math teachers average grades is like me telling the New England Patriots to only throw slant routs.)  Then came the twin form rejections from Digital Science Fiction and Asimov’s.  Then there’s personal stuff that’s none of your business, but it’s unhappy, too.

I’m ready for silver linings.  Better yet, acceptances!

Until then, I await June with the end of school and the coming of ConCarolinas.

Pro Zines and Amateur Mistakes

~ Scott W. Baker ~ Leave a comment

Nothing like sending a submission email without the submission attached to make you feel like a rank amateur.  And nothing like doing something stupid to inspire a blog post.  I was sending the story to Redstone Science Fiction, a young but respected pro-paying zine, and in my eagerness I hit send before attaching the story.  Doh!  Not sure if the second try went through.  I didn’t change the subject line and did not receive a (second) autoreply.  I’ll give it a little time and follow up.

For those living under a rock, you should know that Redstone is open to submissions only for the next couple weeks.  So get your (4000-word or less) stories off to them in a hurry.

For that matter, why didn’t you know this already?  (Play along for a second and pretend you didn’t already know.)  Anyone writing short fiction should be receiving the Duotrope newsletter.  That’s how I know.  A weekly market update sent direct o your email.  A quick perusal lets you find updates on your favorite markets and quick links to new favorites.  Sign up.