The next update of Aswiebe's Market List will be on 12/15/2009.
Editor's Note
You may recall back in August, right after I had knee surgery, I talked about choosing an anthology and writing a story to submit to it. I was in a fair amount of pain and heavily drugged, and I could only write tiny amounts at a time. My point was that even when you can only do a little bit, it's worth doing instead of giving up. Well, they accepted it! "Missing You in Pieces" will be published in the upcoming Dead Bells anthology.
This month I've been thinking a lot about motivation and production goals when writing. I read an article about setting achievable goals that resonated. Writing is one of those things that there's always more of, and it's easy to feel like the only way to get a break from it is to procrastinate. The article makes the excellent point that instead of a to-do list, perhaps what we need is a done-after list: a set of easily achievable goals after which we are guilt-free done for the day. Step one is figuring out what achievable goals actually are--how long certain tasks take. I've been trying it out. Counter-intuitively, by trying to do less, I'm getting more done. As in all things, YMMV.
( Links and lots more )
10/17/2009 - Saturday
* http://www.sfwa.org/2009/08/reading-alou
10/16/2009 - Friday
* Got Aswiebe's Market List newsletter out.
10/15/2009 - Thursday
* Read the entire backlog of my writing newsletters: Critters, Writing-World, 4 Lunch Weekly, 4 WritersDigest, 2 WritersWeekly, 2 FundsforWriters, 2 FFWSmallMarkets, and Duotrope newsletters--and updated market list from them.
* This is an article I plan on rereading frequently as I write--4 Techniques to Fire Up Your Fiction: http://writersdigest.com/article/4-techn
* Finished updating and uploaded newest Aswiebe's Market List.
10/14/2009 - Wednesday
* Read WritersWeekly, and Ralan newsletter and updated market list from them.
10/13/2009 - Tuesday
* Read WritersWeekly, Critters, Writing-World, FFWSmallMarkets, FundsforWriters, 2 Duotrope, and PublishersNews newsletters and updated market list from them.
10/08/2009 - Thursday
* Updated market list from LJ Specficmarkets.
10/07/2009 - Wednesday
* Posted writing log.
* Penthius freewriting (private), another one where two influences collided and a full-fledged idea leapt to mind.
* Pimped "The Radiator Burped" to the notification list through Critters. (Yes, I have a 14-item action list for when things get published.)
* Read Critters newsletter.The next update of Aswiebe's Market List will be on 11/15/2009.
Editor's Note
This month I have three personal announcements!
First, my annual contest for speculative holiday works, Spec the Halls, is coming up soon! Beginning November 1st, you post your holiday-themed science fiction, fantasy, or horror creation on your blog or website, I link to all entries, and I give a prize to the one I like best. Reprints are just fine.
Second, this November, I'm planning on doing--not NaNoWriMo, but Nano WriMo. I'll be writing a steampunky sci-fi story in daily Twitter installments at http://twitter.com/cloudscudding. Or I might set it up in its own Twitter feed. Thoughts?
Third, "The Radiator Burped," my comedy/horror modern fantasy about a gay man looking for just the right person to split the rent with is now out in the free PDF fall issue of Strange, Weird and Wonderful Magazine.
( Read more... )
- True job title: "Erection Consultant and Field Service Representative."
- Sometimes you can best enjoy where you are by approaching it as a tourist: ping.fm/j6Ehs
- Dear editors, Making my eyes bleed looking at your website is not the same thing as being bleeding edge.
What happened to these days? Hmm. Ah. Work, roofing contractor meeting, and then--I guess Saturday was a lost day too, though cleaning got done because we were having people over spontaneously, and we bought supplies to refinish wood things. But lost to creative productivity, I guess.
09/17/2009 - Thursday.
* Posted writing log.
* Finished Aswiebe's Market List Newsletter, emailed, and posted to LJ, website, Facebook, and Twitter.
* Approved final draft editing of my Wiscon report, wrote a 50-word bio, and sent it all back to be compiled into the massive con report doc (which seems like a cool idea).
* Read 2 WritersWeekly, FundsforWriters, and PublishersLunch newsletters, and updated agent list from them.
The next update of Aswiebe's Market List will be on 10/15/2009.
Editor's Note
Is it September already? Really? Where did August go? I don't know where time goes or what it does once it gets there, but I do know I'd never be able to keep track of it without help. In the spreadsheet I use to track submissions, I always put in the date that the market's guidelines say I should expect a response by. And once a piece is accepted and published, I make sure to put a note in my Google calendar to tell me when I'm allowed to start shopping the reprint around. It's hard enough to get published as it is, without letting stories languish on my hard drive! (And yes, there are stories languishing as I type.)
Now that we're in September, remember that publications are buying for their Christmas issues. This is when you want to polish up that heartwarming winter story and send it out. Hmm. I think I have one of those languishing on my hard drive.
Things Shiny or Useful
* MPR discussion of the Google book settlement (podcast). I was undecided about the settlement before listening and am now tentatively in favor. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor
* The 7 Biggest Myths of Publishing: http://writersdigest.com/article/th
* An interview about storytelling with Robert McKee: http://www.storylink.com/article/32
* Ken Schneyer's Clarion reports: http://ken-schneyer.livejournal.com/182
* How to support an author friend: http://www.startribune.com/entertainmen
( New Markets )
Links
Aswiebe's Market List
About Aswiebe's Market List
Abra Staffin Wiebe's main website
Abra Staffin Wiebe's blog
Keep writing, keep submitting, and good luck!
Abra Staffin Wiebe, Compiler of Lists
The next update of Aswiebe's Market List will be on 09/15/2009.
Editor's Note
Never think that circumstances mean that you can't write. They might mean that you write less, or that you have to focus on shorter projects, but they never mean you can't write at all. Especially never allow yourself to think, "Well, I'm too [fill in excuse here] to write, so there's no reason to try." Give it an honest try and you'll be surprised.
A couple of weeks ago, I had knee surgery to replace a torn ACL. I couldn't sit in a chair. I was under the influence of painkillers. I slept an awful lot. Just as I was starting to sleep less and get a little bit done, some neighbor kids knocked on our door and handed us a very, very tiny kitten to take care of. Tiny kittens need a lot of being taken care of, and I was the one who was home all day.
Not the best writing circumstances. I didn't trust myself to do my best work, so I stayed away from my larger writing projects. Instead, I started work on a short story. It was slower going than usual, but I'm just about to finish it. And--surprise!--I'm quite happy with the results. I picked an anthology with a specific theme (because that right there increases the odds of a story that fits being accepted). I played with story structure as a necessary part of the plot. Even if it doesn't get accepted, I'll have an interesting story written. I'll call that a win.
( Useful Writing Links and SF/F/H Market Info )
The next update of Aswiebe's Market List will be on 08/15/2009.
Editor's Note
This month has been hectically busy, between family obligations, appointments, photography assignments, and conventions! That's right--conventions. If you're a fantasy/science fiction writer or fan, you're probably aware that there are a ton of great conventions all over the world. Some of them specialize, some of them generalize. Some of them are great for panels, some for costuming, and some for--well, pretty much whatever you can think of, and a few things you wished you hadn't. This year I attended three local-ish ones: 4th Street Fantasy, Wiscon, and CONvergence.
End result? Lots of food for thought--and no time to think. Hopefully I'll remember to go back and re-read my notes and ponder some of the philosophies and experiment with the techniques that were discussed. First, of course, I have to actually finish writing up my rather extensive panel notes.
Aswiebe's Market List is a searchable, sortable spreadsheet of paying fantasy, science fiction, and horror markets. This way it's easy to find, for example, only horror markets that accept reprints greater than 10,000 words. For more information on what it is and how to use it, see About Aswiebe.com's Market Spreadsheet. If you find it useful, please consider donating via PayPal to help support it. If you get a story published in a market you found through this list, let me know and I'll add a note to the next newsletter!
Things Shiny or Useful
* Article on the 1,000 True Fans marketing model, with useful resources: http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archi
* Recommended writing books--I can vouch for The Writers Guide to Life in the Wild West and On Writing: http://bookstove.com/non-fiction/five-g
* Perceiving the foundation of storytelling: http://www.storyispromise.com/wfound.ht
* A simple productivity improvement trick, but useful for writing--I find the two overlap often: http://lifedev.net/2007/05/prepare-f
* To people who can't stick with a story all the way through, ever: http://suricattus.livejournal.com/10856
( Featured Market and New, Changed, or Dead Market Listings )
It's much on my mind, the closer it gets.
06/15/2009 - Monday, photo gig all day
06/14/2009 - Sunday, no work. Photo gig in the afternoon.
* Read Writer's Digest, 5 Publisher's Lunch, WritersWeekly, FFWSmallMarkets, FundsforWriters, Duotrope newsletters.
* Updated Aswiebe's Market List, cleaned out old contests and anthologies, and uploaded newest version.
* Emailed newsletter and posted on website, livejournal, twitter, and facebook.
06/13/2009 - Saturday, no work.
* Finished crits (2 & 3 of 5) for Critters.
* Started getting "The Old Woman By The Sea" ready to edit. Printed off crits from the message board of the now-defunct collaborative project I wrote it for, left note to the effect that I was going to be revising it and submitting it elsewhere, and checked with one of the other members about whether it was okay for me to leave in references to something she'd created, even though it would be in an alternate-alternate world.
06/12/2009 - Friday. Worked all day. Some downtime.
* Approved MinnSpec new member.
* Posted writing log.
* Another private-locked penthius freewriting where the story idea is all. Been having more of those lately. Wish I had time to write them.
* Finished crit (1 of 5) for Critters.
* Worked on crit (2 of 5) for Critters.
- 13:48 New Aswiebe's Market List (Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror markets) update: ping.fm/wW7gU
- 14:52 Worried I'll arrive at photo gig all sweaty because of hot day. Ah well.
- 18:28 Photo gig moved to darkest room in the building. 1600 ASA and I'm still shooting at 1/30 - 1/60th. Should be interesting.
The next update of Aswiebe's Market List will be on 07/15/2009.
Editor's Note
One of the difficulties of being a writer may be the never-ending list of things to do. Sure, you may finish writing that story, but then it's time to write something else, or edit it, or do market research, or get your submissions out, or do critiques for your writing group. That's even without looking at your to-do list for non-writing projects. Sometimes trying to figure out what should get done next can become paralyzing.
I think I may have found the solution: flip a coin or roll some dice.
You'll get more done, because you won't waste time dithering. You'll probably even be happier--the latest scientific studies show that people are happier with quick, arbitrary, and irrevocable choices than they are when they have more time and options to choose. (Scary, isn't it?) The novelty of doing things in a different and unpredictable way can also shake up your creativity and make your everyday routine more interesting. Of course, you should always do what's most urgent/important first, but if you've got more than one thing at the same level? Flip a coin!
I've been trying out this approach, and it's rather freeing. I've also gotten some things done that have been on my to-do list for a long time. It's a good feeling.
Aswiebe's Market List is a searchable, sortable spreadsheet of paying fantasy, science fiction, and horror markets. This way it's easy to find, for example, only horror markets that accept reprints greater than 10,000 words. For more information on what it is and how to use it, see About Aswiebe.com's Market Spreadsheet. If you find it useful, please consider donating via PayPal to help support it. If you get a story published in a market you found through this list, let me know and I'll add a note to the next newsletter!
( Read more--links, featured market, and new/changed market listings. )
* What this writer sees her job as: http://matociquala.livejournal.com/1627
* Caught up on chapter and plot summaries through Vicesteed ch. 28.
* Submitted Vicesteed chs. 29-30(partial) to Minnspec. Those are the chapters with, respectively, The Big Love Scene, and The Whorehouse Revelation. I'm not sure how I feel about listening to people discuss sex scenes that I wrote. We'll see.
* Processed Withersin's speedy "please submit again" personal rejection of "Road of Dreams." I have heard that editors never-ever include "please submit again" in their form rejection letter, only if they actually mean it, but I am unconvinced.
* Proposed syndicating my Aswiebe's Market List newsletter to a website looking for unpaid SF/F/H columns.
*
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
penthius freewriting about no news.* Copied Penthius freewritings over to backup file.
* Created a new document for "Kept in Coral," a flash fiction piece I accidentally wrote while doing freewriting.
* Posted Part 2 of my Wiscon panel notes.
05/29/2009 - Friday, no downtime, cleaning for imminent arrival of m-i-l in the morning instead of writing.
* Read 2 FFWSmallMarkets, FundsforWriters, 2 WritersDigest, Critters, WritersWeekly, Writing-World, 2 Duotrope newsletters.
* Posted writing log.
*
penthius freewriting about kidnapping an assistant (was feeling overwhelmed at work).* Updated market list from Duotrope and old Duotrope newsletter.
* A handy trick for figuring out when to use who or whom: http://blog.writersdigest.com/qq/Wh
Facepalm Moment #2: It finally occuring to me that there are these freebie tables, and I have this free SF/F market listing thing, so maybe I should have printed out some copies of the spreadsheet, with the latest newsletter.* For a promotional thingie, the sort that writers should have.
Facepalm Moment #3: Looking at a small press book table in the dealer room and immediately identifying 3 short story anthologies (steampunk, post-cyberpunk, and--I forget what the 3rd one was, but it also hit the sweet spot) I really want to own, then realizing the dealer room closes in 15 minutes and my credit card is back at the hotel. Fortunately, this is remediable tomorrow morning, when the anthologies shall be mine (and to heck with my no-new-books-until-I-have-bookshelf-spac
* This is also an Aha! moment, since I'm going to 2 more cons this year, and presumably they will have freebie tables.
The next update of Aswiebe's Market List will be on 06/15/2009.
Editor's Note
This month, I had one of the most frustrating (software) experiences imaginable. For the last couple of years, I've used OpenOffice, a free open-source word processor. I work in their format and then save the document in whatever format the editor wants before submitting--usually doc or rtf. I recently had occasion to open up one of those old rtf documents, and what I discovered was disheartening. OpenOffice was not saving the formatting correctly. It only preserved line spacing for the first couple of paragraphs, and if there was any bold or italics in a paragraph, it bolded or italicized the whole paragraph. The alignment got messed up occasionally too. Any writer who's tinkered to get the spacing and the emphasis and the headers exactly the way an editor wants them knows how bad this is. I'm trying very hard not to think about how this must have reflected on my submissions.
( The Solution, Things Shiny and Interesting, Featured Market, and Market List Updates )
Links
Aswiebe's Market List
About Aswiebe's Market List
Abra Staffin Wiebe's main website
Abra Staffin Wiebe's blog
Keep writing, keep submitting, and good luck!
Abra Staffin Wiebe, Compiler of Lists
Please feel free to forward this email on to people you think might find it useful. You're also encouraged to link to Aswiebe's Market List on your blog or webpage. If you were forwarded this email and want to subscribe, go here. To report a new paying market, go to my contact page. To unsubscribe, simply reply to this email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line. But that will make me sad.
The next update of Aswiebe's Market List will be on 05/15/2009.
Editor's Note
Sometimes life doesn't provide regularly scheduled blocks of uninterrupted time to write. Okay, most of the time! And sometimes other things happen that throw our planned productivity off.
Last week, I seriously injured my knee. I tire easily now. It's not comfortable sitting at a desk for very long. Painkillers leave me fuzzy-headed and prone to dropping words from sentences (not minor words either--it's the strangest thing).
I've been here before. The trick is to not let yourself give up. You can't let changed circumstances be your excuse for not getting anything done. You may get less done; it may not be up to your usual standards. But no matter what your situation is, it is still possible to write, to revise, and to submit.
Aswiebe's Market ListLast week, I seriously injured my knee. I tire easily now. It's not comfortable sitting at a desk for very long. Painkillers leave me fuzzy-headed and prone to dropping words from sentences (not minor words either--it's the strangest thing).
I've been here before. The trick is to not let yourself give up. You can't let changed circumstances be your excuse for not getting anything done. You may get less done; it may not be up to your usual standards. But no matter what your situation is, it is still possible to write, to revise, and to submit.
Aswiebe's Market List is a searchable, sortable spreadsheet of paying fantasy, science fiction, and horror markets. This way it's easy to find, for example, only horror markets that accept reprints greater than 10,000 words. For more information on what it is and how to use it, see About Aswiebe.com's Market Spreadsheet. If you find it useful, please consider donating via PayPal to help support it. If you get a story published in a market you found through this list, let me know and I'll add a note to the next newsletter!
( Useful Links and New Markets )
03/16/2009 - Monday, no work
* Posted cumulative writing logs.
*
penthius freewriting, "Their Influence On Objects That We Can See."* Updated market list with previously seen markets and cleared out old contests and anthologies.
* Loaded up updated market list, posted newsletter to LJ, website, twitter, facebook, and email.
* Posted to MinnSpec for people who'd expressed interest in reading more of Vicesteed.
* Prepared to start editing Vicesteed draft 3.
- 23:08 Whine. Whine. My stomach still hurts. Whine whine whine. Wanna feel better.
- 11:05 Stomach feeling better. Living dangerously by eating something not in the B.R.A.T. diet: cheerios with milk. Hope feeling better lasts.
- 12:16 + 50+ degree weather means open windows and appreciative cats.
- 14:36 New Aswiebe's Market List update - science fiction, fantasy, & horror markets: ping.fm/XjGdc
- 17:21 Help a good cause & get free (tomato?) seeds. (Campbell's, via lj Gryphynshadow) ping.fm/YLufl
The next update of Aswiebe's Market List will be on 04/15/2009.
Editor's Note
You may remember my venture into self-imposed editing deadlines last month. So far, it's going well--as long as I'm not working full-time (I have an entirely unpredictable schedule at my day job). I'm about 1/3 of the way through my edits.
I also had unexpected good writing news this month. A couple of years ago, I had a story accepted by a publication with a really long publication lead time. I'd expected the story, "Periwinkle Eyes," to be published sometime in 2010, if that gives you any indication! However, it came out in this month's issue of Art Times. Unfortunately, it's distributed by subscription only outside the Northeast (New York and the like), but if you're in the area, pick up a copy and take a look!
Excerpt:
For our first session, she wore a white dress. Even if she hadn't told me, I think I would have guessed. The sound of her movements was stiffer, more abrupt, than when we’d first met. I link that sound to the color white, but maybe she was just shy. I feared she was a skeptic who thought my paintings were popular only for their novelty value.
“Isn’t it the most amazing thing, darling, the man who painted this is blind!”
Aswiebe's Market List“Isn’t it the most amazing thing, darling, the man who painted this is blind!”
Aswiebe's Market List is a searchable, sortable spreadsheet of paying fantasy, science fiction, and horror markets. This way it's easy to find, for example, only horror markets that accept reprints greater than 10,000 words. For more information on what it is and how to use it, see About Aswiebe.com's Market Spreadsheet. If you find it useful, please consider donating via PayPal to help support it. If you get a story published in a market you found through this list, let me know and I'll add a note to the next newsletter!
Things Shiny or Useful
* 10 Disciplines for Fiction Writers (http://writersdigest.com/article/10_Di
* Article on contacting and following agents and editors on social networks (http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/b
* Hilarious publishing 911 "transcript": http://pbackwriter.blogspot.com/200
* Post about "The 5.75 questions you've been avoiding": http://blog.writersdigest.com/norules/5
* Via Nathan Bransford's post (http://nathanbransford.blogspot.com/20
( Read more--featured market and market list updates. )
You'll notice how my productivity is very, very low when I'm working full-time. You'll also notice why I hate the way LJ (and other web forms) adds leading space in wherever it detects a 'return'. Great if you have to convert tabbed paragraphs, I suppose, but that's not the way I write!
( Misc. Writing Logs )
- 00:20 Now new monitor is working on desktop, and old monitor is working with laptop. Mysteriouser and mysteriouser.
- 14:04 Pants ripped right below the seat. Fortunately, *after* church. Still went to Midtown Market for lunch/browsing. Fun morning!
- 14:35 It's with great pleasure that I fill in '0' for hours worked this weekend.
- 17:42 How long does it take for food poisoning symptoms to show up? Ate about five hours ago, stomach now uncomfortable.
- 17:45 Updated Aswiebe's Market List: ping.fm/XjGdc
- 19:24 Feeling better, guess it was just an uncomfortable stomach, not food poisoning.
- 22:53 My dad got laid off--his teaching contract wasn't renewed. They've applied to teach in India again.
Profile
- cloudscudding
- Abra SW
- Website
Syndicate
