Category: Writing

Sleepless somewhere other than Seattle

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 10 Comments

As my long-time blog followers know, I just just barely missed Clarion West last year — I was an alternate but never called to replace anyone.  I followed the progress of the workshop and friends like Jordan Lapp and Rochita Loenen-Ruiz very closely, wishing I was there with them, writing my heart out.  Wishing, but not writing.  I didn’t produce any new writing last summer.  It hurt too much to even think about it, knowing how very close I came to CW and falling short.

This year, again as people know, I fell shorter, not even making the waiting list.  There are a variety of factors that could have led to this (including my inability to count), but I’m home again.  At least I’m writing this time.  While I didn’t get many bankable words typed during my camping trip, I got my novel back on the rails.  Once again I have a chance to finish a draft before school starts.

I am still bummed about not being at CW.  I do suspect I’d be miserable there by the second or third week, missing my daughter.  Six weeks is so long.  So maybe I’m better off here.  That helps.  It also helps knowing that the story that didn’t get me in to CW got me into the WotF workshop (and the anthology).  It helps a little more knowing the story that got me waitlisted last year may have finally found a home (shortlisted for an anthology).  Nothing helps with rejection like success.

I’m happy for Tracie and Sandra and the others at CW.  I hope they learn a ton.  Same goes for the folks at Clarion – San Diego.  I’m still pretty convinced I will not be applying to either workshop next year.  It’s been a real hardship on my family just speculating how we would handle my absence and it would be too much for next summer.  Besides, I hope to get my career on track by this time next year (with an agent for my first novel, a solid draft for my second, three or four more short story sales, stuff like that).  I’m not expecting to be too good for the Clarion workshops, just have enough momentum that I won’t need them as a launching pad.

I’ve said all this before.  This post is probably more for my own catharsis than anything else.  (Hey, I looked it up and used that word right!)  I know there are kindred spirits out there, wishing they were among peers under the tutelage of pros.  I say to those spirits, don’t waste this time.  Write.  Write crap if you have to (we all do sometimes), but write something.  You don’t have to do the Clarion model’s story a week — who has time for that in the real world? — but get words on paper.  It is my biggest regret from last year, that I had nothing to show for that time.

I may not have time to write today (I have a lot of church obligations) but it is on my mind.  It will happen tomorrow and throughout the week.  And the next.  I haven’t updated my novel status bar in a while because I’m in an add-and-subtract place where any count would be false.  I hope to be past that and get it updated in a few days.  I bet the novel surpasses the 50,000 word mark.  That’s not bad as long as I don’t crest 80,000; that would likely be too much for a YA book.  I am excited about writing (not always the case, as you writers know).  It feels good.  The only way to get from those low points (like I was in last year at this time) to these excited points is to write your way there.  So get writing.  After all, that’s what makes you a writer.

Ahhh, indoors is nice

~ Scott W. Baker ~ Leave a comment

I am back from camping!  Hooray.  I got less writing than usual done, but I spent a lot of time prewriting.  My novel was stalled and I was unhappy with the depth (or lack thereof) of my characters, so I dropped a few bucks on a novel writing ebook.  I’ll discuss the specifics in another post once I finish with it.  It helped me explore my characters and find new life.  I think I added one chapter, rewrote a bunch, and convinced myself I need to do some massive deletions (from chapters that come later than the one I added–it was a squeeze in).  All in all I call it a productive writing escape.

I also picked up two books from a discount shop.  The one on screenwriting seems to focus more on basic story construction and less on the technique of actually writing for the screen, so I’m bummed about that purchase.  The other book is a re-re-reprinting of a second edition of a military strategy book.  Big score there.  I got through the chapter on the Greeks and was gasping for air by the pace it covered, which is exactly the type of overview I really wanted.  It may be a little light on detail, but I can google the details if I need to delve deeper into something specific.  All in all, four bucks well spent (between the two).

I’m very tired and want to go back to cleansing my DVR.  More soon.  Ah, internet.  How I missed thee.

Con Report: ConCarolinas: Days 1 & 2

~ Scott W. Baker ~ Leave a comment

I arrived in time for the first panels and managed to meet J.F. Lewis, a fellow Codexian, right off the bat.  Nice guy; not quite my genre.  We’ve chatted a few times since.  I also met Edmund Schubert, editor of IGMS.  Super nice guy; talked to him for about twenty minutes today.

My first Con experience has been a little less intense than anticipated since I’m splitting time between it and hanging with old friends.  In fact, the hanging with old friends last night led to my missing all the morning panels today.  Head still doesn’t feel quite right…

Anyway, I have seen Klingons and zombies and Storm Troopers and Ghostbusters and furries and pirates and more zombies.  I’ve been to some good, writer-relevant panels.  I went to one panel on surviving the apocalypse (whatever form that might take) that was pretty insane, or rather the panelists were.  Enjoyed panels including Jerry Pournelle and John Ringo.  I’ll update more on the details of the panels later.

I need a good dinner and a good night’s sleep so I’ll be ready for Allen Wold’s two-hour writing workshop tomorrow morning.  And no extra-curriculars tonight.

I’m skipping out on the rest of tonight’s festivities.  I wanted to see the movie premier of Exhibit A7, but it’s been compared to Cloverfield in its execution and my constitution can’t take that right now.  More fun tomorrow.

Top Se7en for ConCarolinas

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 1 Comment

Top ten lists are so cliche.  I like seven; it’s prime.  So here are the top seven things I am looking forward to at ConCarolinas/Deep South Con next weekend.

#7- Meeting other Codex members.  There are only a few I know will be there, and they seem a little above my status, being guests and all, but it will be cool to feel like a real person among real people.  I need to make sure I’m relaxed when I meet them, though.  I can be a bit of a spaz in social situations.  (A sci-fi writer?  Who knew?)

#6- NERF WARS!  Okay, this will probably be lame once it happens, but it sounds cool.  Plus I have a Marine buddy coming with me, so maybe we’ll have a tactical advantage.  If not, my other buddy is a small target and I’m a human shield.  If nothing else, it gave me an excuse to buy a toy I wanted.  (Accuracy sucks, range is insignificant, but it looks cool and it’s fun.)

#5- Panels.  I’m not on any, but I believe the experience should be interactive.  Sharing insights and drivel with fellow supergeeks…this will be new for me.  I can’t wait.

#4- Costuming.  I’m not dressing up (all Hawaiian shirts for me, I’ve decided…dressing like a character from my own unsold story), but it will be a trip to really experience the phenomenon firsthand.  There is an NC-17 costuming event, but I may steer clear of it for matrimonial purposes (read: no photos).

#3- Networking.  I’ve never been anyplace with real writers and editors and possibly agents rubbing elbows.  Virtual elbows, maybe, but not real elbows.  I may make some valuable contacts or even become someone’s valuable contact (value to be added in the future).  This includes, of course, the pro writers like Jerry Pournelle, John Ringo, and others.  I consider it a test drive for WotF in August.

#2- Friends.  My two pals from high school (yes, only two) are going to the Con with me.  Neither is a writer, so we may split up a bit, but we haven’t hung out in ages.  One of them lives in Charlotte and I’m crashing at his place (quite close to the hotel).  The other is coming in from Knoxville.

And finally…

#1- It’s a Con for crying out loud!  I have never been to a Con.  Nor have either of my nerdy friends.  This will be a first for me, without question.  Whatever happens, it will be an experience to remember.  I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time.

I leave on Thursday for my parents’ house with my daughter, then on to Charlotte on Friday.  Back to my parents to pick up said daughter on Sunday evening (or Monday morning, depending on circumstances), then home Monday (Tuesday morning at the latest).  I am trying to keep my schedule a little flexible.  🙂

If you’ll be there, drop me a note.  Always curious to meet those who have crossed my virtual path.

Random Update

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 1 Comment

As I sit at my in-laws’ house, watching the rain fall from the sky in buckets, I feel the urge to update.  Not that so much has happened, just a need to start my week with a blog post.

First and foremost, in the words of Alice Cooper, School’s Out for Summer!  Yay.  Time to write, write WRITE!  My goal is to finish my novel before the WotF workshop.  Honestly, I need to finish it before August.  My hope is to finish my first draft by the end of June.  Much wok to be done, as you can see from the status bar, but not an unrealistic hope.  I’m working out a work schedule with my wife so I can consistently progress.

I got a rejection from Asimov’s today, a very nice personal-ish form letter.  Nice story, bad fit, look forward to your next.  I’ll send them E.E. once it’s rejected from Analog.

I assisted my wife yesterday (incidentally, my birthday) as she photographed a wedding.  It was stressful work.  I’m still wiped out from it.  On the upside, I “earned” enough to buy the new Prince of Persia video game, just in time to distract me from my novel endeavors.  No playing during scheduled writing time.

The rain is finally letting up, so I’ll be heading home soon.  Home to write.  Or play?  We’ll see.  Something will get done tonight.  🙂

Long Lists and Short Progress

~ Scott W. Baker ~ Leave a comment

Found out this morning that my story T.O.L. has been added to ASIM’s shortlist.  That’s two stories in their holding pattern.  However the email says that only one in twenty stories has been making the transition from short list to print.  If that’s the case, they need to rename their short list or start being pickier, even with my stories.  A timely rejection with some positive comments (theirs always have comments) is a lot more useful to me than a three month hold followed by a rejection.  I could have the story in and out of one to four markets in three months.  I think I will stop sending them stories for a while, at least until the two stories are printed or released.  Their response times have slowed significantly and with this one-in-twenty thing, their backlog must be overwhelming.

In less encouraging news, I missed my two chapter goal for the weekend.  It turned into a half-chapter weekend.  Boo to me.  Lots of excuses, little production.  I need those chapters done by the end of the week.

There is a new possible distraction on the horizon, an opportunity that I was very excited about four years ago when it fell through and now I am on the fence about.  Like I need another distraction.  But it’s part of the goals I set for myself long ago.  I may still back out before it becomes an issue and it might not happen, but right now it’s a distinct possibility, better than 1 in 4 chance.  No more details than that for now, lest I jinx anything.

Like I needed another lesson in humility

~ Scott W. Baker ~ Leave a comment

I do my best thinking at night.  Even when I’m tired, the brain works better with the sun below the horizon.  It’s like the opposite of Superman, the yellow sun disrupts my superpowers.  Thus it was tonight that I realized I did something particularly stupid.  On par with sending-five-pages-too-many-to-Clarion-West stupid.

I had a copy of E.E. all printed and ready to mail, addressed envelopes and everything, on Monday when my mother asked why I hadn’t consulted my father more on this story.  Backing up, the scientific theory in E.E. was my father’s and I just provided the characters, plot, setting, and style.  I had asked if he wanted to co-author the story with me and he declined.  We discussed his scientific speculation in depth and I created the character that created the machine that exploited my dad’s theory.  I played with things a bit and created what I thought was a workable fictionalization of his idea.  I sent him a copy of a late draft of this novelette.

So I consulted dear old Dad before mailing and apparently my version of the invention was too 60’s sci-fi pulp in form for his taste.  I listened to his argument, accepted his take, and set about upping the scientific plausibility of the model.  I was pretty happy with my result but sat on it a few days before mailing it today.

No, that wasn’t right.  I mailed the old version today.  To Analog no less.  For those who don’t know, Analog is reputed for its harder SF (though by no means tied to it exclusively).

I need to hire an assistant to do things for me, things that normal human beings should be able to handle themselves, like realizing that typing new words does not change the pre-printed copy.

On the upside, I should be inventing Flubber any day now.

I am not profoundly successful (yet).  I am just a guy trying to achieve a dream and is somewhere in the middle of the yellow brick road that he’s been traveling for a decade.  But if it gives you any comfort at all, I still d really stupid things that jeopardize my success.  Little things, but significant things.  I have lost copies of stories, lost track of which version is the most recent, replaced decent prose with drek that sounded good with a few beers and no sleep, mailed wrong manuscripts, forgotten stamps on SASEs, sent IA1a outlines instead of summary outlines to agents (early career flub), trunked good stories while sending out bad melodrama, dismissed good advice, taken bad advice, and more other poor career moves than you can shake a lightsaber at.  Maybe that’s why it’s taken me ten ears to get here.  But I am a Writers of the Future winner with 11 published stories and a novel in the works.  Even I was able to do this.  Stubbornness and drive are as important as talent and organization.  You can do this if you don’t get in your own way.

This public service announcement comes from a guy trying to make something good come from his chaotic stupidity, the letters D, U, and H, and the number 8.

1 in 160

~ Scott W. Baker ~ Leave a comment

I was looking at response times at Duotrope and decided to refresh myself on WotF’s response time.  I was looking there and realized that their average response time for accepted stories was very close to my winning story’s response time.  I looked further down the page and realized that the “Users accepted here also had work accepted by…” section listed only three magazines: Every Day Fiction, Beyond Centauri, and The Rejected Quarterly.  Yes, all those were markets that accepted stories from me.  A little quick division and I verified that I am the only WotF acceptance reported to Duotrope in the last 12 months.  That’s 160 reported submissions.

I wish other winners would report their response times to Duotrope, but I don’t want the acceptance ratio to be skewed.  Right now it’s at 0.63%.  I think it’s really closer to 0.3% or even 0.1%. So maybe it’s good that my report is the only yes this year.

Cover Letters

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 1 Comment

It’s been a while since I freaked out over a cover letter.  It’s just a quick, “Hi, read my story, I’ve sold stuff before, thanks,” and that’s all it’s really supposed to be.  But yesterday I found myself slightly frantic on the subject the way I was when I started out ten years ago.

What caused the stress spike?  I guess the recent addition of legitimate credentials, that being my WotF win/sale.  I feel like those words have jumped off the page at some semi-pro editors (never had gotten the time of day from ASIM before).  Not that the cover letter sells the story, but it can predispose an editor or slusher to expect to like the story instead of expecting to reject it.  In other words, the story still has to sell itself, but a good cover letter might move the story from the bottom shelf to the endcap display.  (Too much retail metaphor?)

I’m thinking about it too much.  I know the big magazines seldom buy out of slush, but it does happen.  And it only has to happen once to lend more credibility to my future cover letters.  I’m pretty sure I’ve already written my second pro-sale story.  Is it the emotionally drenched E.E. which is on its way to Analog tomorrow?  Or the satirical T.W.H.D.o.t.G.M.P. I recently sent to Strange Horizons?  T.R.M. is in the Bull Spec editor’s inbox, but that seems a long shot (the story, not the market).

My cover letter for Analog seems a little wordy.  I may change it (he obsessed further).  I seldom include my master’s degree anymore, but a math degree lends a little credibility to my calculus allusions in E.E., so it’s in there.  The WotF win is mentioned, too, (first).  I’ll likely cut the sampled list of semi-pro zines since none are of particularly high notoriety that I am aware (though several are very fine markets).  An ASIM publication (not just a hold) would be noteworthy, or GUD (a very well-spoken-of market I am yet to explore).  If the market name doesn’t make the editor nod knowingly, it isn’t worth mentioning.  The one exception might be the Triangulation anthology since Asimov’s has reviewed it favorably the last few years, but maybe that reference should be saved for submissions to Asimov’s.  Like I said, I’m overthinking.  I need to just take the envelope to the post office and send it.

It’ll be in the mail tomorrow.

Short List

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 4 Comments

At long last, some good news for L.R.  I sent the story to the Zero Gravity anthology.  I heard today that it made the short list for publication.  It will be July before publication can be confirmed, but if it went to press tomorrow, I’d be in it.  Works for me.

That puts two of my stories on short lists: L.R. and S.R. (on hold at ASIM).  I don’t expect both will necessarily come through, but either one would be nice.  It puts me in a happy place going into the weekend.