liar's league have taken an old story called 'not dogs, not angie, but life'
it'll be performed at The Lamb, 94 Lamb's Conduit Street, Bloomsbury, London WC1N 3LZ. (nearest tube Russell Square) on september 11th, and could feature as an audio file on their myspace site.
after three rejections from them, this feels nice.
especially after a crap month, less than 10,000 words, too many blank days of no-writing, thoughts of giving up.
there's a link to the liar's league myspace side in the box on the right.
Friday, 31 August 2007
Monday, 27 August 2007
A Couple Of Subs
dead time for a week or more.
i've got twenty or so stories out there, but i haven't written anything new in days, and my email is just loads of spam trying to sell me medicine.
so i did some rewriting and sent off a couple of things, just to feel like i'm doing something.
one to a competition, one to a print mag.
still going to try for ten subs this month, so that means polishing a few turds...
i've got twenty or so stories out there, but i haven't written anything new in days, and my email is just loads of spam trying to sell me medicine.
so i did some rewriting and sent off a couple of things, just to feel like i'm doing something.
one to a competition, one to a print mag.
still going to try for ten subs this month, so that means polishing a few turds...
Wednesday, 15 August 2007
A Week And Two Days At 3am
no, not another story at www.3ammagazine.com.
just the length of time Drumsticks was up there on the front page, new fiction section.
there are usually three or four stories up there with extracts and a photo, and every time a new one gets posted, the one at the bottom falls off into the archive section.
Drumsticks fell off today.
did my life change through finally having a story on there (i've only subbed three times, but it's been an ambition for four years)?
no
no agents beating down the door wanting to publish a collection and give me a ten grand advance on the novel, funnily enough
but hey, i had a story published at 3am.
someone (anyone) might have read it.
and liked it.
that's better than it not being published.
isn't it?
(the fact that the story that pushed it off is written by a particularly attractive Brazillian lady who is clearly more famous than i'll ever be - three novels and two bands more famous, as it stands - has somewhat softened the blow.)
(actually managed to write something today, for the first time since, oh, days ago)
just the length of time Drumsticks was up there on the front page, new fiction section.
there are usually three or four stories up there with extracts and a photo, and every time a new one gets posted, the one at the bottom falls off into the archive section.
Drumsticks fell off today.
did my life change through finally having a story on there (i've only subbed three times, but it's been an ambition for four years)?
no
no agents beating down the door wanting to publish a collection and give me a ten grand advance on the novel, funnily enough
but hey, i had a story published at 3am.
someone (anyone) might have read it.
and liked it.
that's better than it not being published.
isn't it?
(the fact that the story that pushed it off is written by a particularly attractive Brazillian lady who is clearly more famous than i'll ever be - three novels and two bands more famous, as it stands - has somewhat softened the blow.)
(actually managed to write something today, for the first time since, oh, days ago)
Sunday, 12 August 2007
Carve, after six months
i subbed a story to Carve Magazine about six months ago.
usually if i don't hear back within a couple of months i write off the submission and send the story off elsewhere.
but i left this one alone. not sure why.
got an email today:
Jason,
First, thank you for waiting patiently for our response. I wanted to let you know your story has been read by myself or one of our readers and is under consideration for publication. There is a batch of about 10-15 stories I am going to read through again to determine for publishing in the September issue. Yours is one of them. While I know a concrete answer would be more satisfying, I hope this allows you to extend your patience for a little while longer.Thank you,
so not an acceptance, but not a rejection.
sounds promising, perhaps...
usually if i don't hear back within a couple of months i write off the submission and send the story off elsewhere.
but i left this one alone. not sure why.
got an email today:
Jason,
First, thank you for waiting patiently for our response. I wanted to let you know your story has been read by myself or one of our readers and is under consideration for publication. There is a batch of about 10-15 stories I am going to read through again to determine for publishing in the September issue. Yours is one of them. While I know a concrete answer would be more satisfying, I hope this allows you to extend your patience for a little while longer.Thank you,
so not an acceptance, but not a rejection.
sounds promising, perhaps...
Monday, 6 August 2007
I Make Lists published at smokebox
busy day...
http://www.smokebox.net/ has published an old story they accepted a while ago, called 'i make lists'
reading it back is weird - it's old, and i can hardly remember writing it.
one of thoses that just came out of nowhere.
anyway, follow the link on the right to read it.
http://www.smokebox.net/ has published an old story they accepted a while ago, called 'i make lists'
reading it back is weird - it's old, and i can hardly remember writing it.
one of thoses that just came out of nowhere.
anyway, follow the link on the right to read it.
Drumsticks published at 3am
'drumsticks' has gone up today at 3am magazine.
i make that less than three weeks from submission to publication, which is pretty good.
follow the link at the right of the page to read the story.
i make that less than three weeks from submission to publication, which is pretty good.
follow the link at the right of the page to read the story.
Open Wide Rejection
after a quiet weekend, i got this brief email from the managing editor of www.openwidemagazine.co.uk...
Many thanks for your submission. Sadly, on this occasion, it has beenunsuccessful. Please do submit again in the future.
i submitted the story to them three and a half months ago, and i'd pretty much given up on hearing anything , so it was good to at least get something. i find it very depressing that some places don't reply to unsuccessfull submissions. i mean, how long does it take to put together an email like the one above?
anyway, this submission was a punt, really - openwide seems like quite a difficult market, and the story probably needs a good edit to bring it up to scratch (i'd already subbed it to 3am previously, and although they were positive about it, they gave me some sound advice on a rewrite, which i promptly ignored and just mailed it off to openwide instead. )
so that brings my totals for august to: submissions - 0. acceptances - 1. rejections - 2.
(i managed a bit of writing over the weekend - 2000ish words, one story 1st draft which needs a good edit if it's ever going to see the light of day.)
Many thanks for your submission. Sadly, on this occasion, it has beenunsuccessful. Please do submit again in the future.
i submitted the story to them three and a half months ago, and i'd pretty much given up on hearing anything , so it was good to at least get something. i find it very depressing that some places don't reply to unsuccessfull submissions. i mean, how long does it take to put together an email like the one above?
anyway, this submission was a punt, really - openwide seems like quite a difficult market, and the story probably needs a good edit to bring it up to scratch (i'd already subbed it to 3am previously, and although they were positive about it, they gave me some sound advice on a rewrite, which i promptly ignored and just mailed it off to openwide instead. )
so that brings my totals for august to: submissions - 0. acceptances - 1. rejections - 2.
(i managed a bit of writing over the weekend - 2000ish words, one story 1st draft which needs a good edit if it's ever going to see the light of day.)
Thursday, 2 August 2007
Liar's League Rejection
yesterday, an acceptance; today, a rejection
here's what liar's league ( http://www.myspace.com/liarsleague ) said about my submission for their 'home and abroad' themed competition:
We loved the idea but were a little hesistant about the execution - we felt this story suffered slightly from over-writing here and there and was a little weakened by the ending, as well as the peculiar lack of specificity of the Oxford setting - we would have liked to have felt more rooted in the place, emotionally and physically.
...and fair enough
this is the second month i've entered this comp, and the second rejection.
it's nice, though, the way they do it - emailing everyone a list of the stories (without author names) and a brief comment like the one above.
seems like a good thing they've got going - the winning stories get read out by a professional actor in a pub in london.
i've already submitted a story for their next comp, theme is 'birds and beasts'.
and i will, of course, keep submitting stories to all of their comps , month after bloody month, until they accept one...
(haven't written a word today...)
here's what liar's league ( http://www.myspace.com/liarsleague ) said about my submission for their 'home and abroad' themed competition:
We loved the idea but were a little hesistant about the execution - we felt this story suffered slightly from over-writing here and there and was a little weakened by the ending, as well as the peculiar lack of specificity of the Oxford setting - we would have liked to have felt more rooted in the place, emotionally and physically.
...and fair enough
this is the second month i've entered this comp, and the second rejection.
it's nice, though, the way they do it - emailing everyone a list of the stories (without author names) and a brief comment like the one above.
seems like a good thing they've got going - the winning stories get read out by a professional actor in a pub in london.
i've already submitted a story for their next comp, theme is 'birds and beasts'.
and i will, of course, keep submitting stories to all of their comps , month after bloody month, until they accept one...
(haven't written a word today...)
Wednesday, 1 August 2007
3am magazine
www.3ammagazine.com editor Pete Carvill emailed today to accept 'Drumsticks' , a story i sent him a week or so ago.
nice when editors get back to you.
even nicer when they say yes.
be great to have a story up at 3am.
been a fan for a long time.
if you're reading this and you haven't been there yet, have a look.
you'll like it.
nice when editors get back to you.
even nicer when they say yes.
be great to have a story up at 3am.
been a fan for a long time.
if you're reading this and you haven't been there yet, have a look.
you'll like it.
trying to find the words
1st august 2007.
thought i'd get a blog up and running.
just to detail how the writing's going, places i've got stuff published, moans, groans and things.
if you're reading this - stop.
you probably should be writing.
thought i'd get a blog up and running.
just to detail how the writing's going, places i've got stuff published, moans, groans and things.
if you're reading this - stop.
you probably should be writing.
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