I’ve mentioned here before that when I was in high school and college I wrote pretty prolifically. Not great fiction, but plenty of short stories and most of a novel. I submitted one story in high school, got a half-page rejection (Asimov’s, I think? I can’t find it) and more or less kept my stories […]
As someone who is still trying to get published, I see a lot of outfits trying very hard to milk people like me for money. They play to our egos and our vanity. I’ll be honest, I sometimes get rejections back and think bad thoughts to myself about editorial taste — but I shake it […]
I’m very glad I allowed myself to be talked into attending Boskone — I had a real blast. I got to see a number of people I knew (though I’m sorry that I had so little time to talk to most of them) got to meet a number of people I knew only from conversations […]
… and my 3,000 word short fantasy story is out the door! I’m a big fan of the market I submitted it to, so I’d be thrilled if they take it. Pride is useful, since at 5 cents a word I’m looking at like $150 for the story. Considering that I’ve sworn not to buy […]
Just got back a rejection for A Stab in the Dark. I wonder at what point F&SF’s form rejections started using the word “story” instead of “tale”. Ah well, into the filing cabinet it goes. Haven’t decided yet about its next stop. Its 7,000 word length is a little bit of a handicap for some […]
Two rejections in one day. That’s a bad thing, but also a good thing.
I finished up the most recent short story yesterday afternoon. I trimmed a few scenes, but made up for it by adding a whole other one (I’ll be curious if anyone coming back to this post can figure out which scene was added). It’s a good piece, one of the better mysteries-per-se that I’ve written. […]
Having now finished a third draft of the fantasy piece I wrote the other day, based on feedback from friends and from the Absolute Write forums, it’s time to find a home for this little beast.
John P. Murphy 