Saturday 26 July 2008

Hair-Pulling Nail-Biting Frenzy!!!

I've gone a whole week (plus one day) without working on a short story. YAY! As I have 25 stories out with editors, plus two waiting in the wings for submission dates to open, I knocked myself on the head (HARD!) and settled down to work on the second book in my 'The Poisoned Apple' series. Check out the meter to the right for the current word count.

My other MG book 'Matchsticks, Moths & Machinations' is in hibernation because a) it doesn't want to be an MG, and b) can't decide if it wants to be YA or Adult. It's based on a 3,500 short story I wrote that came back from critique with demands the readers wanted a back story and more! more! more! I was also writing it with my typical MG humorous slant but I think this is a story that needs to be darker and the humor trimmed back. I'm hoping to get the first draft of TPA II' finished by the 16th August (that's only just over 1200 words a day so it should be doable if I give up the constant internet surfing), then I'll set it aside and get to work on Matchsticks during my 2 weeks off work. YAY! Sorry, I get excited at the idea of not having to get up at 5:20 Monday thru Friday.

Okay, so back to the short stories. Of the above 25 submissions those I am most anxious about are (drum roll please):

Dwelling - at the Harvest Hill anthology
Frog & The Mail-Order Bride - at Andromeda Spaceways
The Graveyard of Dead Vehicles - at the Wolfsongs anthology
Flying Dutchmen - at the From the Asylum anthology
PlasticineCoffins.com - at the Ghosts in the Machine anthology
Treading the Regolith - my attempt at sci-fi at the Return to Luna anthology
Sneakers on Asphalt - at the Terrifying Toys competition
Cold Coffee Cups & Curious Things - Malpractice anthology
The Flat-Packed Golfer - at Stymie

Ooh, and my wee 100 worder (which I wouldn't normally stress about) 'Halloween Watch' which is submitted to Necrotic Tissue's BITE contest. We are supposed to hear next week (August 1st) if we've made it or not.


Oh, and very, very, very excited, stressed, excited, excited, excited about The Poisoned Apple. Please don't let me jinx myself.


And the ones I am not nervous about/given up on:

The Last Motel Room - which has been out with Horror d'oeuvres since last October.
Yee-Haw! - the OMG! anthology

Have a good word-filled weekend!

10 comments:

Aaron Polson said...

Good luck with those subs and the longer work. I've had something out with Horror d'oeuvres since last Oct/Nov (my memory fails at that distance).

Fox Lee said...

I forgot all about the haunted toys contest! How time flies.

Cate Gardner said...

Thanks Aaron, Have you status queried your Horror d'oeuvres story? I did so in March and got a reply back saying they had lost it and to resubmit.

Natalie, enter! enter! enter!

Mary said...

Fingers crossed for Halloween Watch.

Tip for not jinxing yourself: Do not make last-minute changes to ANYTHING concerning The Poisoned Apple. Gooooood Luck! :)

Aaron Polson said...

Lost it? Yikes. I'm sure I'm in that boat...my piece wasn't all that great though...maybe I'll just duck and pretend I never sent anything...

K.C. Shaw said...

That is a big list of stories out! And those are only the ones you're stressing over? Man, I have got to write more stories! I feel so inadequate. :)

Cate Gardner said...

Mary, I can't read anything with out wanting to change it. I need to find my edit switch and turn it off.

Aaron - yeah, my submission pretty much stunk hence the non nail-biting.

KC, I feel the same everytime I see the word count for your novels.

J.C. Tabler said...

I've taken to drinking and beating random joggers on my street out of frustration from my waiting.

What about you?

Ed Wyrd said...

Wow. And I was feeling good that I have a novel in submission and a 100-worder to Necrotic Tissue.

Now I feel like a poser. ;)

Cate Gardner said...

Hi JC, I've taken to eating chocolate and walking into walls in the hope I'll knock myself out until someone says YES!

Ed, keeping my fingers crossed for your Necrotic Tissue submission.