Two for the price of...two

I'm sending out two submissions today. First, after reading some of Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show, I decided to send them "Where Do We Go From Here." I hope they enjoy it.

After I did that, I decided to crack open my copy of 2010 The Short Story and Novel Writer's Market and see if there was anything in there that caught my attention. I also decided that this time I would work from Z-A, in case I came upon any magazines which I had never looked at before. I found in there a website called Zahir, which I'm sure I've never looked at before. They had their latest stories on the site, and after reading them, I decided that I should send them a copy of "The Last Day." It's shorter than the stories I saw on the site, but I think it's a good fit nonetheless.

The Intergalactic Medicine Show story I sent via email, so they'll probably see it in the morning. The Zahir story I decided to send through snail mail, as it'll probably be cheaper than the $2.50 fee they want for electronic submissions. I don't expect to hear from either of them for a few months, regardless of the method of delivery.

So, I'll be making a run to the post office in the morning. Once I do that, it means I'll have three stories I'm waiting for a response on. If I can keep the momentum going, it'd be nice to have all my stories out for consideration at once. I'll have to do some more research and find some more places to send my stories to.

-E. Maxfield Moen

Another rejection

Well, I heard from Barbaric Yawp today. It was a brief note written in the corner of the letter I'd sent with my story. The editor must have liked it at least somewhat, because he says my story made it to the "final cut." That's good to know, at least it wasn't rejected out of hand. He also asked me to send another. I'm thinking I'll send him the one I'm working on once I'm satisfied with it.

I've been thinking about submitting a story to Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show, which is an e-zine. the main thing holding me back is probably a little silly. I wanted to check out an issue before submitting, to get an idea of what they're looking for, but the site only offers yearly subscriptions. It's only $15.00, and I should be able to read the magazine on my eReader. I don't have a compatible reader, but I do have a program which the site says will be able to convert the format to a version I can use.

I think I'll give it a shot. If it turns out that the magazine doesn't seem like it'd be a good fit for me, I'm only out $15. And the fiction should be entertaining.

I haven't heard back from one magazine I sent a Query Letter to last year, Outer Darkness. It's been so long I can't even remember what story I had in mind to send them. Maybe I didn't have any, and I was waiting for a response to my Query Letter to get an idea.

Well, that's all the news I have for now. Hopefully in the next week or so I'll be sending out a couple more stories. Till then, good night and good luck.

-E. Maxfield Moen

(Lack of) Progress Report

Wow, I can't believe how long it's been since my last post. I wish I had more to say. I'm still working on my latest story idea, still on the first draft. It's proving to be trickier than I had anticipated. My difficulty is in getting the tone right. I'm trying to make a lighthearted story with a rather ludicrous premise, but within the setting it's totally serious, and that's proving to be harder to convey on paper than I'd thought.

I'm not sure if what I wrote above makes any sense or not. I hope it does, or maybe I'm in the wrong field. ;-)

In the meantime, I should get back to researching publications to send my stories to. According to a spreadsheet I set up to keep track of such things, I submitted "The Last Day" to Barbaric Yawp back in December, and I haven't heard from them yet. I think I'll give it another month before I start shopping that story around again. In the meantime, I have other stories to submit. Space and Time magazine says it's closed for submissions every time I check the site, which is a shame, as I think I'd be a good fit with them.

I have a couple ideas of other places I can send stories to, I just have to determine which of my stories they'd be most likely to accept. That, and get to work on putting my current story idea together. Time to put the old nose to the grindstone.

-E. Maxfield Moen