Tag: Drake’s Eye

I feel sheepish

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 1 Comment

No literal sheep here, just embarrassment.  

In my most recent sale to Every Day Fiction I changed the character’s name in mid story.  I didn’t catch it, the editor didn’t catch it.  Thank goodness it wasn’t print media.  The offending name change has been corrected but the evidence remains in the comments, as well it probably should.

“The Drake’s Eye” isn’t the shortest story I ever sold, but it is probably the one I spent the least time on…even less than I spent on “In or Out”, a 69-word story that received the best reviews of my career despite never earning me a dime.  I spent maybe three hours on TDE.  That’s a dollar an hour.  I can retire on that, right?  Apparently I should have spent another ten minutes.  

For the record, the names “Lucas” and “Jacob” read very similarly with that hard C in the middle.  I don’t remember if I changed the name from Jacob to Lucas and didn’t finish the search-and-replace or if I just mentally flipped names for no reason.  Regardless, it’s a silly mistake that should have been caught but wasn’t, an embarrassing reminder that the world is not perfect and neither am I.  Like I need that reminder.

The best reason to query overdue responses

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 6 Comments

I was sitting at my computer, procrastinating my bedtime, and decided to query Every Day Fiction about a story I’d had out to them for 77 days.  In my experience, queries usually grease the wheels of rejection and free up stories for other markets.  I originally thought EDF would likely buy this story (especially since I’ve never taken the steps to collect payment from them on the first story they bought), but I’ve given up on overconfidence.  So I queried.

Apparently the story had already been accepted and my response was lost in cyberspace (probably blocked by a spam filter that couldn’t prevent a boatload of canned meat from docking in my inbox).  Moreover, the story hits the web tomorrow!  (That’s probably today by this point!)

Yes, friends, “Drake’s Eye” will be EDF’s story of the day on May 6th.  (If you missed it, it’ll be up for a while.)

That is what I call a well timed query.  I could have missed my own publication.  Whew.

So now I need to share this info with the world before said world wakes tomorrow and misses my mini-glory.  Consider yourself informed.