January Wrap
January’s done already. Wow. Then again, i say that at the end of every month 
So, what’s happened writing- and editing-wise for me this month?
I reopened C&C to subs. Picked a layout for cover #3 of C&C (once again being done by the immensely talented L.E. Badillo). Have yet to buy any stories for the issue, but do have a few in my maybe pile.
Personal writing-wise, i gathered together some poems at the beginning of the month and sent them off to a market i’d love to be in. Have yet to hear back on any of them, but i’m sure i will soon.
Wrote over 16K on the badgerpunk novel. Most of that was during my vacation time. It’s a fun book, though i foresee readership difficulties because it’s so easy to think of the animals as cute and cuddly, and forget that they’re also carnivores and omnivores and there’s a war brewing. Which is to say, some animals die. In all honesty, it shocked me when i realized this, but i can’t see a way around it. At least they’re not dying at the hands of human cruelty–there are no humans in the story–but still. But then i remember all the cool cybernetic/steampunky stuff i’ve got going on and keep writing.
During the middle of the month i went on a bit of short story writing frenzy. Wrote 4 complete stories in 4 days. 1 was flash, but the rest were between 1300 and 2200 words. I’ve edited one up and sent it out the door already. That was my official W1S1 sub for the month. It’s called ‘Just Add Water.’
I also finished the first draft of a novelette i’d been working on, titled ‘Seaborn.’ A few days ago i went back to edit, thinking i’d easily cut words, and ended up adding words instead. It’s about 9,800 words long. I may have trouble selling it, but i do like it very much.
Only 5 rejections for the month, plus a story i withdrew from a market that looks dead and resubbed elsewhere. I had a story make it to the final round at one zine. They included notes from the slushies in the R, and i was surprised it’d been held for final consideration as none of them seemed to like the story! 
I have two stories in the red on duotrope (i own the longest pending response time for one of them) and i have another that i know for sure has made it past slush. In total, i currently have 10 stories and 5 poems out on sub.
Not a bad month, all round. Not as much writing as i’d like, but it’s hard to write and slush at the same time. I’ve found they take quite different mindsets.
How did January go for you?
16 Comments
A member of SpecFicNZ
Congratulations on January!
I wouldn’t worry about the Badgers. Watership Down was red with blood, and they were fluffy bunnies.
And it was supposed to be a kids book.
I had a good month
Yay!
Good point! Thanks
And yay for good months! *does a jig*
Sounds like a great month to me. And yes, lots of fluffy animal books have mucho death and killing!
Thanks, Simon
Are you talking about the FFO rejection? Yeah, mine wasn’t terribly positive, either, but clearly it had something going for it, otherwise it wouldn’t have made it to the final round.
Good luck with your writing! The badger story sounds awesome.
Yeah, that’s the one, def. Perhaps they just sent through the slush notes that they thought could help improve the story. :shrug:
And thanks! I’m hoping the final product of the badger story is as awesome as it is in my head
Congratulations on your W1S1 success.
Thanks, Patsy! Nice of you to stop by
Congrats on meeting your W1S1 goals for the month of January. Despite the ups and downs.
Thanks, Aggs. All in all, i think there were more ups than downs this month
Badgerpunk, huh? Sounds pretty awesome. Congrats on hitting your W1S1 goal amidst all your other projects!
Thanks, Nicole.
I interviewed the protag from the badgerpunk novel a couple posts back, if you’re interested in seeing a bit more of the world. It’s certainly been fun to write
Thanks for stopping by!
Very productive, indeed. CONGRATS on reaching your January Write1Sub1 goals!
Thanks, Milo.
Congrats on reaching your Write1Sub1 goal! Sounds like you had a great month.
Thanks, Andrea!
And thanks for stopping by