Release Day: Dreams of Stars and Lies

Today is the release of Dreams and Stars and Lies. This collection features five short science fiction stories. They are all unrelated but two take place in far flung corners of the greater Narvan universe, though also not directly related to the series. 

Last year, when I received the news that Caffeinated Press was closing and the first rights for Sipper would be returned to me, I decided to pull this book together. Sipper had been contracted for an anthology so this seemed an appropriate new home. 

Destiny Pills and Space Wizards, my first short story collection, features more lighthearted YA-friendly stories. With Dreams of Stars and Lies, I focus on deeper plots and longer stories more intended for an adult audience. 

The cover features Sipper, one of the two anchor stories of the collection.

Poverty has shaped Tia’s life since childhood, labeling her a roach. A day without hunger pains or despising looks is pure fantasy until she accepts a job offer to explore a wondrous deserted city on a distant world. All she can think about is the life-altering payout she’ll receive in six months. 

A hundred roaches are set free in the city of crystal spires. Their mission: To learn what they can about the previous occupants and to verify that the place is habitable for the host of wealthy future occupants waiting in orbit. 

Well-provisioned, Tia and her fellow roaches scatter to explore the dunes and spires. Then people start to disappear. Are they being picked off to lessen the payout or is there a killer among them?  All the credits in the world won’t matter if she’s dead.

What are readers saying? 

“Davis shows us a new frontier of space discovery, but there is no rover facing the space dust. We are the guinea pigs, and that adventure is not for the meek."  

- Stella Telleria author of Across The Wire

”Jean Davis speculates on a future that seems all too believable. Her stories will entertain, and they will make you think. Don't look in Dreams of Stars and Lies for easy solutions.”

- Joan H. Young author of Accidentally Yours

$9.99 print / $1.99 ebook. Want it free? Review any of my other books on Amazon, let me know when your review has posted, and I'll send you a free ebook of Dreams of Stars and Lies.

Dreams of Stars and Lies can be found in both print and ebook on Amazon and in ebook through Smashwords / Barnes & Noble / Kobo and more.

If you're not familiar with 

the Insecure Writers Support 

Group, check it out here 
and find links to all the other 
participating writers.

This month's ISWG question: There have been many industry changes in the last decade, so what are some changes you would like to see happen in the next decade?

I would love to see either Amazon playing nice with other online book sales outlets or the other way around. Mostly, if they could all just get along, that would be super helpful and make things easier for authors when publishing their books. I get that many readers don't want to feed the Amazon beast, but Amazon does make it very simple for authors to publish through them. Other places are getting better, but they don't like Amazon, which means if we want to sell elsewhere, we have to publish in multiple places and that often means setting up separate files (because the publishing specifications are different), tracking sales in multiple places, and can cause problems if you want to run a sale. 

On a related note, I wish IngramSpark would reduce or do away with their charge per publishing platform because at least they are a one-stop place to publish. If you don't mind paying for it or if you're lucky and happen to have a promo code to bypass the charge. 

ISWG: June and Cover Reveal for Dreams of Stars and Lies

How is it June already? Even with most everything closed for a couple of months, you'd think things 

If you're not familiar with 

the Insecure Writers Support 

Group, check it out here 
and find links to all the other 
participating writers.

would be more relaxed, but it sure doesn't feel that way. I've been finding plenty to do and because my day job is half e-commerce, I've still been working too. 

Since it's time for another Insecure Writer's Support Group post, I'll start with writing-related happenings. The question this month is: Writers have secrets! What are one or two of yours, something readers would never know from your work?

Well, it's not a big secret that I have a new book coming out soon. Dreams of Stars and Lies will release late June or early July. With all my usual signing venues shut down right now, I'm feeling a little more relaxed with the publishing schedule I'd originally set up for the year.

Dreams of Stars and Lies is a collection of five short science fiction stories. The front cover features a scene from the story, Sipper.

Poverty has shaped Tia’s life since childhood, labeling her a roach. A day without hunger pains or despising looks is pure fantasy until she accepts a job offer to explore a wondrous deserted city on a distant world. All she can think about is the life-altering payout she’ll receive in six months. 

A hundred roaches are set free in the city of crystal spires. Their mission: To learn what they can about the previous occupants and to verify that the place is habitable for the host of wealthy future occupants waiting in orbit. 

Well-provisioned, Tia and her fellow roaches scatter to explore the dunes and spires. Then people start to disappear. Are they being picked off to lessen the payout or is there a killer among them? 

All the credits in the world won’t change anything if she’s dead.

In other news, I'm trying my hand a co-authoring a book. An early YA book. Secret? I've never managed to write a story for that age group, though I've tried. We'll see if I can keep my dark and twisted plot brain harnessed.

And an actual secret? Long ago, the genre I first wrote in? Mystery. I was surrounded by mystery books as a kid. My mother was addicted to them and so when I started reading chapter books, guess what area of the bookstore I was introduced to? Yep. Mystery. While I do enjoy working that angle into my stories now, it's not something that ever quite clicked for me as far as writing. I still enjoy reading it though. 

This weather blows

Quite literally. Today's winds are averaging around 30 MPH. It's cold. It's blustery. At least it's not snowing (at this moment). So far we've only lost power for a minute.

Most of the high winds overnight helped melt some of our current snow, so hey, that's a plus. As you can see we've lost a few pieces of trees, but nothing big or house endangering as of yet. The high winds are supposed to continue until tomorrow morning so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Earlier this week, we ventured over to Detroit, a two and half hour drive, to see Peter Murphy and David J perform a host of Bauhaus songs. I was fortunate to see Love and Rockets in concert in the early 90's, but never Bauhaus. It was funny to realize I still remembered almost all the words, despite not hearing many of these songs for roughly twenty years. What did I have to eat yesterday? Why am I in this room? What was that important thing someone just said two minutes ago? I often have no answers for that. So useful, the knowledge we retain.

Because I'm still sick...yes, still - it's down to being generally exhausted all the time and this persistent chest congestion though, so I'm feeling fear less likely to contaminate anyone - we splurged upgraded our general admission tickets to get balcony seating directly facing the stage. This seriously hurt my thrifty Dutch sensibilities, but was so worth it. Not only did it mean I wasn't spreading any lingering germs with the generally crammed together populace, but I got to sit down and have a clear view of everything with great sound. Saint Andrews Hall is a very cool venue and having the VIP lounge and bathrooms, along with seats and a table, was really nice. I did still get the true concert experience of having a large drunk guy (sitting) next to me that deserved a neon shirt saying 'say it don't spray it' and a super annoying chatty woman behind me whose purse kept knocking into my arm every few minutes as she leaned against the railing behind me to talk to some guy. But really, it was a great concert. Peter Murphy's voice is still dead on and amazing.

My intention to participate in the February edition of 30K in a month didn't pan out very well due to the fact my brain has been mostly mush and all I want to do it sleep. Being sick for nearly three weeks straight does tend to hamper the whole productivity thing. Instead, I've been working on a rewrite of a 10K word short story. It's going so very slow, but any progress is good so I'm not going to complain about it too loudly.

Since I haven't been very good at writing this month, I'm (also slowly) working my way through Nick Wilford's Corruption. I haven't read the first book, but it's been pretty easy to follow along.

Now then, I suppose I should get some writing done.

It's release day for The Last God and more short stories are the way

I'm happy to announce that's it's finally release day for my sci-fi romance novel, The Last God. To me, it feels like this has been a long and wearing process, but in truth, the book began it's birth last November. Perhaps it just feels like a wearing process because it's been my focus for seven months. But it's been a fun and rewarding seven months too.

Abducting the angry and suicidal god of war might not be Logan’s wisest choice, but she’s the weapon that might be able to defeat the army of Matouk, who destroyed his homeworld. If he can show her how to love, they might save each other from the terrors that plague his nights and all of her days.

If you haven't picked up your copy of The Last God yet, it's now available in paperback and e-book. The e-book is currently on sale for .99 through Amazon / Nook / Kobo / Scribd / Inktera/

While I'm announcing things...

I also got word this weekend that my short dark sci-fi story, Sipper, has been accepted to Caffeinated Press's Brewed Awakenings 3 anthology.

And production work on the Grey Wolfe Press anthology that includes my humorous fantasy short, Chetric The Grand appears to be wrapping up. I'm looking forward to announcing it's release soon.

Next week I'll be taking a break from books and talking about my chickens and my garden because I need a break from book things.

Until then, I leave you with an excerpt from The Last God.

Logan watched in horror as the king left the side of the queen and erupted into a towering being of light.

And then that’s all there was, heat and light. He shielded his face with his arms. Huddling against the wall, he blinked rapidly and waited for the ringing in his ears to subside while he got his bearings.

Beside him, Colonel Rice swore. “What the hell was that?”

Logan had no answers. He could only attest to witnessing the woman he’d seen when they’d entered the massive chamber cover herself in the same golden suit of armor they’d spoken with. Then she grew taller, brighter, glorious. Though his mind reeled with what he’d seen and he was only half certain this wasn’t another one of his nightmares, he hazarded a glance to where the king and queen had been.

The two beings of light exchanged blows of massive proportions. Bombs of energy exploded against their bodies. He couldn’t fathom how either remained standing.

“I’m pretty sure the queen exploded,” he said, knowing how absurd that sounded but having no other explanation.

Everyone else in the room had gone to their knees when the king had stood. The uniformed men that they had followed back here, now had their arms outstretched and their faces plastered to the floor.

While beings of light danced in his vision and bombs exploded against his eardrums, he achieved a single glimpse of clarity. Everyone who had been near the throne was blackened. Dead. Bile rose in this throat.

A thunderous clamor claimed his attention. He tore his gaze from the bodies to see the being of white light, what had been the king, sprawled among the remains of the thrones. He dimmed and then was nothing more than a battered and bloody man. His crown lay at the bottom of the stairs.

A shimmering sheet flowed from the General to hover over him and Rice. The ground beneath them rocked and the walls shook. The ceiling above began to crumble.

The colonel didn’t move. He found he couldn’t move either. He wasn’t easily scared, but he had no idea what was going on here and safety anywhere on this planet was questionable.

Without taking his eyes off the General, he said, “We’ve overstayed. The planet is going to go with us on it.”

“Maybe.” The colonel also stared at the giant golden glowing figure.

Debris thundered down on the sheet above them. A shield of some sort.

Logan prayed their ship wasn’t being crushed where they’d left it with the rest of their team inside. Then he wondered if he should hope that they’d left. He and Rice might not make it back. The shield didn’t look able to stretch that far. In fact, it didn’t even go as far as the archway.

A giant explosion struck the General. For a moment he was blinded again. Another blast of scorching air blew past them, though it seemed the shield protected them somewhat as the heat wasn’t near as intense as the first time.

“Holy shit,” muttered Rice.

The King was gone. Only a large scorch mark on the floor where his body had been. The General lay sprawled on steps, her feet just below the thrones. Her armor missing the golden glow and blackened. Blood dripped down the steps from the seam at her neck where her head was suspended over the edge of one of the stairs. She lay on her back as if she’d been blown over, unable to catch herself.

She was still moving. Slowly, but twitching enough to indicate she wasn’t as bad off as the rest.

“We’ve got to get out of here.”

“Agreed.” Yet, Rice crept forward instead of back the way they’d come.

Following behind, they checked the bodies of the others as they went. All of them had burnt to death. Pain on his own arms registered. He glanced down to find them blistered. Rice’s face and neck was red. He guessed his was too by the tightness that hit him now that the shock had worn off. His clothes were singed.

“Good thing we weren’t any closer,” Rice said, working his way toward the armored woman.

Logan rushed up the stairs. He knelt beside the General, who seemed to have returned to her original size. She weakly pushed him away but said nothing beyond a faint moan.

“Let me help you.”

She pushed at him again. He tugged on the helmet, trying to free her head so he could better assess the damage.

The voice that came from the blackened metal face was a ghost of the powerful voice that she’d used earlier, barely a whisper. “Leave me.”

He pushed her hand aside and felt up the back of the armor, searching for a lever or latch of any sort. There was nothing there but blood. He wiped his hands on his pants. “How do you get this thing off?”

 “You don’t.” Her voice grew slightly stronger. “Now go, I can’t hold the shield much longer.”

Rice crouched down beside them. “You’re coming with us.”

To Be Published: Chetric The Grand

I've been remiss in my short story writing of late. Not to mention the editing and submitting of those I've already written. Since November, I seem to be in full novel mode. Not that this is a bad thing. In fact, it's been quite productive. The Last God has breeched 70K, and I know the ending...at least generally. Yay pantsers!

Back in November, I took a NaNoWriMo day to write a short story for a local small press's contest prompt. While I didn't win, that story is slated to be included in their upcoming anthology.

It was a challenge to work all of the prompt into the story, but fun, nevertheless. Chet wakes up to find himself inside a video game. All he has is backpack, as sword, and a note that says "Beat me and I'll send you home." More news on Chetric the Grand when I get a publication date.

Sadly, other than one other short out in submission land, my odds of additional publication notices are slim to none at the moment. Which means I should get back to this finishing this novel while I await edits on Trust so I can get back to short stories before April A to Z hits and drags me there whether I'm ready or not.

May IWSG and a Happy Annoucement

Is it really the first Wednesday of the month again? Where did April go? Oh yes, it was a blur of A to Z blogging.

Which would typically bring me to A Story a Day in May, my annual attempt to refill my short story file with rough drafts. However, after a month of exchanging emails with my publisher, the contract I'd been waiting for finally arrived in my inbox. What contract you might ask?

I'm happy to announce that the first three books in my space opera series, The Narvan, will be published with Caffeinated Press.

I don't have a publishing schedule yet, but I will share that information when it becomes available. First up will be Trust, which has had a very long journey. I'm excited to finally share this story with a wider audience than my critique group.

So what happened to my short story effort? Well, I'm busy learning Markdown, which is what my publisher is now using for edits. What better way to learn it than my doing a quick revision of the drafts of the second and third books? The formatting is pretty straightforward and things are plugging right along. Which means I should soon be back to revising Sipper - which is a short story, albeit a long short story, for an end of the month anthology submission deadline. Once that's out of the way, I'm hoping to get back into the spirit of things and either churn out some new drafts or revisit some of the many drafts I have in my folder from the past two years that I still haven't gotten to.

While I revise and celebrate, I invite you to stop back on the 6th for an interview with author
Susan Royal about her newest book.

Published: Kick The Cat

Now that NaNo is all wrapped up and so are a few Christmas presents, I'm enjoying some writing time at a less harried pace from the comfort of my new writing chair. I'll share more about that next time.

Today, I'm happy to announce that the fall issue of the 3288 Review is now available, which features my short story, Kick The Cat.

You may remember that Kick the Cat was written during A Story A Day In May. I'm looking forward to a creating a host of new short stories next spring and will again be accepting ideas and prompts in April during Blogging A to Z.

Kick The Cat is a quirky little story about a sexy sorceress, her boyfriend, and the cat who hates his guts. I hope you enjoy it.

Now available: Taking A Breather

I'm happy to announce that at long last, Taking A Breather has been published! The inaugural issue of Theian Journal, sister publication to Stupefying Stories has been released.

This little mermaid seeks to find a husband to free herself from her tyrant father, but there's a price for freedom and everyone is going to pay.

For a limited time Theian Journal is free to Amazon Prime and is available though Kindle Unlimited. The print issue will be out next month.

From the Rampant Loon Press:
From the creators of Stupefying Stories comes our new sister publication, THEIAN JOURNAL. It’s a bit unearthly—a bit alternative—these are decidedly different from our usual selection of SF/F stories, reflecting an entirely different editorial philosophy, yet brought to you with our same dedication to finding excellent stories by writers you may not have read before. Issue #1 features:
• THE FISSURE OF ROLANDO, by Judith Field
• ADROIT, by David Williams
• TAKING A BREATHER, by Jean Davis
• A SCORPION WITHIN, by Alison Grifa Ismaili
• PLAINFIELD, NEW YORSEY: 2114, by Angele Ellis
• WHEN WE ARE WHOLE, by Gary Emmette Chandler

To Be Published: Kick The Cat

I'm happy to announce Kick the Cat, a quirky little fantasy short story has found a home in the 3288 Review and will be published this November.

The cover for A Broken Race should be finalized this week. Watch for a cover reveal very soon.

While we're busy waiting for publishers, how about taking a few minutes to peruse the various quirky rituals of the writers of Authors Answer.

Waiting and Voting

October brings great anticipation of seeing A Broken Race in print. I hope to have cover art very soon so I can share it with you. Brewed Awakenings II will also be out shortly, which means more stories to hold in my hands.

I've heard from two editors this week on other projects. It's nice to have activity going on there as well. Hopefully this means I'll have more announcements in the near future. I'd say I was crossing my fingers, but it's hard to type that way.

While we're sitting around waiting, I'd be grateful if you could take a moment to cast a vote for my short story Late, which appeared in the Spring 2015 issue of Bards and Sages Quarterly. The stories with the most votes will be included in their annual anthology, and as you may have gathered, I'd love to be included.

And now it's back to market hunting for me. I've got a few more short stories in my folder that need homes.

So you want to write a short story

A friend recently asked how to go about writing a short short story. Short is a relative term, but generally I'd call that 3,000 words or less.

Cramming a plot into a small word count package can seem challenging. Having come from insanely long novels, to more reasonable sized novels, and all the way to cramming a story into 100 words, I figured I'd share what worked for me. Depending on how you write, it might not work for you. We all have our own methods for creating a story and making it work. Or not work. I've got plenty of those virtually crammed in a back burner folder. But length doesn't have to be the reason why they are there.

If you've started with writing novels and want to try short stories, think of a short as a scene from a novel. You're getting the plot from point a to point b in an entertaining and meaningful way. There is a character, setting, uses of senses, opening, middle and ending, and all the same details you'd write in a larger work, but you need to learn to use less words to do it. Every word has to count.

This is also a useful skill to learn if you've never written the synopsis for a novel, because it's much the same process. Write a novel, boil that same novel down to three pages, then to one page, then to one paragraph. Those three lengths will prepare your novel for most standard submission packages.

But for a short story, we need to first write that story and we don't want to sound like a summary. We want a full story with all the necessary details.

Write a 3,000 word story. Keep it simple for this exercise. One or two characters, getting from plot point a to plot point b. It needs to have a beginning, middle and end. Full resolution, no cliffhangers. If starting out with a word count goal feels more like a collar choking your creativity, just write the darn story however long it ends up being. It gets easier to stay within a word count after doing this process a couple times.

Now read that 3,000 word story. Distill that same story down to 1,500 words. This means you'll have to perhaps lose some of the intricacies of the plot, characterization and description. Maybe the story will have to start a little later or end a little sooner, but it needs to be essentially the same story, just more compact. Tighter. Stronger.

Now read that 1,500 word story. Cut it to 500 words. What is the core of the story? Use only the words you need to make it work in a tiny package. It still needs to be interesting and have a resolution. Keep the feeling. Make every word burn with purpose.

For bonus self flagellation points, take those 500 words and make them 100.

Now you can see what really makes the story work at each length. You can focus each and every word, knowing it's there for a reason.

Next time you start a story, think of what you want to say, what needs to be said, as you write. Have a target word count. Knowing your beginning and ending before you start is immensely helpful.

Don't let the constraint of a word goal stifle your creative process, but staying close to the goal will save a whole lot of editing afterwards.

Good luck and happy writing.

Things Are Happening!

Time for another positive post. If you've been following along for awhile, you realize the novelty of this occurrence.

The first good thing: I met with my editor last night to go over the publishing details for A Broken Race. We chatted about books and writing and authory (it's a word, work with me) things. He's working on the cover art. I'm working on the back cover text. Edits are done on my end and getting finalized on his. We're looking at a release in early October in both print and e-book.

Then, we talked about the Brewed Awakenings Anthology, which includes my short stories Mother and Giving Chase. The Anthology is slated for release in late September in both print and e-book.

I'm excited to have two print projects to add to my published works shelf in the very near future.

We have baby grass! Okay, so grass doesn't go through the baby phase. Whatever. I'm giddy to see tiny hints of green in our "lawn" after eight months of staring at dirt. It was a major workout leveling the construction mess and getting it to a point where I could seed and fertilize all the spots that needed to become one with the existing grassy spaces. Soon we can get our land permit signed off on and the house, as far as permits go, will be done!

I got half of the remaining rock work done on the house last weekend. We officially no longer have the work Tyveck visible anywhere on the house. Now I just have some concrete to cover, and that's not near a much of an eyesore.

Other than installing some insulation in the ceiling of the unfinished section of the basement, finishing the rock, spreading the other half of bark mountain, and planting some dune grass on a hill, all the big sweaty projects are done. The end of all-weekend-long projects is on the horizon, and damn, I'm really looking forward to that!

(Yes, this post contains excess exclamation points. It deserves them.)

This week on Author's Answer: How do real world events influence your writing?

Oh look, a post for July

The blog has been quiet, but I haven't forgotten you. July has been full of doing things!

Our exchange student has been keeping us busy. Or we're keeping her busy. Or both. We spent a long weekend up by Sleeping Bear Dunes, burning our feet on hot sand, catching a little sun (I'd rather forgotten what sitting under that large burning orb felt like), and hiking around South Manitou Island (aka, dodging mosquitos and snakes). We've played local tourist in our own town and others nearby. We've eaten far more ice cream than necessary (yes, there is a necessary amount). And we've done a lot of driving (just 575 miles in the past few days). With only two weeks left, we're trying to pack in as much fun as we can.

Editing. The last couple chapters of A Broken Race are proving to be challenging and my tired brain isn't cooperating. Deadlines are looming.

And now we've come to the part of the post where I can announce my happy news. My short stories Mother and Giving Chase have been accepted into Caffeinated Press's second Brewed Awakenings anthology. Look for it out in print and e-book this fall.

And, of course, I can't close out this post without a dose of Author's Answer. This week: Sex. How do you write it?

This week's goal

Now that A to Z is over and I've taken a little time to catch my blogging breath, it's time to get back into the weekly routine. Weekly should be easier to manage that daily, right? Right. In theory.

Let's start with where things are in my writing world... because that's what I need to cover for some self accountability this week.

Waiting on developmental edits on A Broken Race. Meeting on these has been pushed to early June, which works for me because I still have to...

Finish The Unmaking of Dennis Gilroy for an anthology submission that is due by the end of May. I'd meant to have it done two weeks ago, but time keeps slipping through my fingers. And I'm not even talking about procrastinating or having fun rather than writing. I'm talking days like yesterday when I worked from 8:30am to 10pm with breaks for running kids to appointments and to school. At least I got to watch the latest episode of Game of Thrones before collapsing into bed.

I spent what little writing time I did have last week editing Sipper down from 5,900 words to 5,000 words for another anthology that asked for a tighter version to fit their word limit. The first 600 words weren't that bad, but the second pass to find those last 300 was tough. Talk about making the remaining words work hard to hold everything together. Whew! We'll see how the story works at the shorter length when that fateful email comes in.

Goal for this week: Finish the Dennis story.
Extra credit: Edit and submit it.

Now in Print: Healer

I'm pleased to announce that Acidic Fiction's first anthology: Corrosive Chronicles is now out in print and ebook. This dark and creepy collection of contemporary speculative fiction, includes my short story, Healer. This is a great collection of stories, and I am happy to be included in such talented company.

To be Published: Spring 2015 edition

We're finally all moved out of our old house and are busy unpacking into the new one. It's nice to finally be living in the place we've been working on for so long. If it weren't for all the boxes and wondering where stuff is, I'd say it's downright enjoyable.

My writing room has yet to be assembled, but that will come about shortly. We've only officially been here for three days and there are more important (gasp! I know) things to get set up, like our home business, bedrooms, and most importantly after a couple nights without them...curtains.

Now that I finally have a few minutes to breathe (seriously, we're talking minutes), I had time to take stock of what was in my submission inbox.

I'm happy to announce that my novel, A Broken Race has found a publisher. I'm waiting to meet with the editor in a couple weeks before I make any official announcements. However, it is nice to be able to say (albeit vaguely) that it certainly does have a prospective publication home.

Healer, previously published with Acidic Fiction, has been selected to be included in their upcoming anthology: Acidic Fiction #1: Corrosive Chronicles

Taking A Breather, after a long wait, is slated for publication in February/March Stupefying Stories.

Late is slated for publication in April with Bards and Sages.

The Spell is slated for publication in April with Saturday Night Reader.

Beyond the fact that we'll be leaving the -4 degree temperatures behind, I'm quite looking forward to Spring.

Available today: Healer

I'm pleased to announce the my short story, Healer is out on Acidic Fiction today.

Jillian is tired of being bound to her healing gift. When a desperate mother with a critically wounded child invades her room, she discovers that her gift is both a curse and her salvation. For more details about Healer, please see this previous post. I hope you enjoy the story.


If you're looking to submit a short that sounds like a good fit for this magazine, I highly recommend you give them a try. The editor was awesome to work with, had the fastest acceptance to publication time I've experienced, and on top of all aspects of the publication and submission schedule. I don't usually gush about editors, but really, this was a great experience.

To be Published: Healer

I'm pleased to announce that Healer will be published on Acidic Fiction in the near future.

Jillian is tired of being bound to her healing gift. When a desperate mother with a critically wounded child invades her room, she discovers that her gift is both a curse and her salvation.


Healer came into being four years ago. I don't recall the exact circumstances except that it was around the time I got my first acceptance on a short story and I'd figured out that those came far more often than on novels. So I'd started writing more shorts.

Why did it take so long for Healer to find a home? Shortly after completing the story, NaNoWriMo 2010 hit and I was thrown into novel mode. When December came around, I sent the story off to a few sets of eyes who looked it over, made suggestions, and then those suggestions were implemented or not depending on how much I agreed with them. With high hopes, I threw the story into submissions.

After a couple form rejections, I was disheartened, set the story aside and started working on others, along with revising a couple novels. The story languished in my back burner file for a long time.

Over the next couple years, as more of my shorts found published homes, I came to the realization that a rejection merely meant that I hadn't submitted to the right market. Unless the story really did need lots of work. I will admit to occasionally being wooed by sparkly new stories and sending them off before they are truly ready. That fact often becomes apparent upon the third form rejection when I read through the story to find out what these editors are missing about my beautiful, awesome story. "Ooooh", I say as I remove my beer goggles and back away slowly while reaching for my back burner file.

When I eventually did take Healer out of the file, dusted it off, and reworked the rough parts, it was ready to head back out into submissions. And here we are. Acceptance.

In summary: Rejection doesn't mean your story sucks, it just means you haven't found the right market. Unless your story really does suck, in which case, fix it, and then get it out there and find the right market.

Shorts: The submission game

With a handful of short stories in submissions at any given time, the process does begin to feel like a game, or maybe a lottery, while performing a constant a juggling routine. Keeping track of them can be a big job. The Grinder has made life a lot easier. It's free. Go make yourself an account right now.

Once I have a short written, edited and ready to go, I go to manage pieces and enter the title, genre and word count. From there, I can run a search. In that menu I can pick what kind of pay scale I'm looking for, and specify only magazines that accept electronic submissions, because I don't do postal submissions. I can also specify whether I want magazine that accept sim subs or reprints. Then it's just one more click and the wonderful and almighty Grinder generates a list of magazines for me to dive into.

 

This is where the process becomes a little more intensive, because I need to click through to any market's page to find what exactly they're looking for. Each market gets their own page and it contains a lot of very useful information: A blurb of what they're about, links to their submission guidelines and website, what genres they accept, word counts, and the most useful of all, all the submission stats.



The Market Response Data is my favorite area. You can see how many other people using The Grinder have submitted to this market in the past twelve months. How fast (or slow) the response times were, and how many ended up as dead letters. Beware the markets that have lots of dead letters.


This area also shows how the market responds: whether they often issue form rejections or if you'll perhaps get a personal one (should you not get accepted, because yes, that is the desired response). You can also see if they often issue rewrite requests or never do and their acceptance rate. Then, at the bottom of that list of stats, you can see how many people are in the waiting pool with you. Sometimes it makes the wait more bearable to see that there are 44 other people also trying not to stare at their inbox.

 

At the bottom of the market page, there's a nifty chart that illustrates the response times and where your submission is within that. Some markets have pretty clear peeks where you can see the first readers kicking stories out. Others vary greatly. You can play speculation games with yourself while you wait for a response. Having passed all the peaks to the plateau before the zone where there are a few green lines, does this mean you're submission is on the editor's desk? Or did your submission simply get lost?



If you've been submitting stories for a while and watching the market responses or new market list, markets can begin to all sound familiar. Thankfully, any submissions you've done with that market will show up at the very bottom of the page. No one wants to accidentally send multiple submissions. You can also see what the stats were for your previous submissions to help gauge whether you'd want to try that market again.



Another great passing-the-time feature is the My Market Response List. All the markets that you currently have submissions out with show up in this list. You can easily see when markets are currently processing submissions and whether you have a valid reason to be stalking your inbox.

The home page of The Grinder also features the daily activity of all the listed markets, both rejections and acceptances. It helps take the sting out of rejections when yours is one of eight that day. It's like virtually commiserating with others.

However, that commiserating stage should be short, because The Grinder picks you right back up upon reporting a rejection with the great search suggestion: Find a new home for this submission? Why yes, thank you. Let's get right on that. This story isn't going to sell itself tucked away in a folder on my hard drive.

Should a story sell, there is also a place to enter your earnings. The Grinder keeps track of that for you too.  So many stats to ponder while waiting to hear back on submissions. Yes, I should spend that time writing, but there are stats to make one feel special and stats to make one feel not so bad as one of many. It's all in how you need to look at it on any given day.