“Fire Dance” is off to Flash Me Magazine as of today! I also wrote a new one for LH’s weekly Flash Challenge. I’m not very happy with it, mostly because I wanted to do much more with it than I was able to in 90 minutes. I’ll revise it and expand it some after the challenge is over.
“Finnegan’s Pig” has made it past round 1 of reading at ASIM. They said I should be hearing from them in about three weeks - that was about three weeks ago. They recently temporarily closed to submissions, so I’m sure they’re beyond swamped! I’ll wait at least another couple of weeks before I inquire. I’m excited to see whether they’ll take it. It sounds like it’s perfect for their format. So far, this one has been the favorite among my family members (who never pass up an opportunity to chuckle at the image of a huge pig eating Jesus - we’re a blasphemous lot, what can I say?).
Haven’t heard a peep from IGMS about “The Conductor,” which is to be expected. They gave a 3-month turnaround time for submissions! I’m being patient.
I wrote a very interesting flash for the annual flash contest at LH. Other forum members and I are on pins and needles waiting to read all the submissions. The trigger was excellent - “Schiamachy: Fighting with a shadow or an imaginary opponent.” Intriguing! That should have produced some juicy tidbits from the LH crew. Part of the fun in this challenge is that some readers for Flash Fiction Online are going to read all the entries - so we all get to bypass the slush pile. If the FFO readers don’t bite on my story, I’ll have another to send out next week. 
In other news, I finished a 9-page working outline for my novel, jokingly working-titled Walk Like an Egyptian. I completely redid the beginning of the story and came up with a creative twist that should entertain fiction readers and piss off every Egyptologist and Egyptology nerd on the planet. It can’t be helped - art before truth. Ha ha.
I’m hammering away at a minimum of 3 pages per day on the new and improved Walk Like an Egyptian. It’s coming together fairly well so far. Soon I’ll be sending the first couple of chapters off to Marianna, my super-excellent reader. She gets to read everything I write before anybody else does because she’s got an amazing brain and a degree in creative writing. And lots of time on her hands, and she gets bored frequently and needs stuff to do. It’s a great arrangement. Hopefully she will like the opening and I won’t have to revise the hook any more. I hate writing hooks - I suck at it, or so I think.
I’ve started compiling lists of conferences to attend next year. I will definitely be going to the Willamette Writers’ Conference in Portland next August. I’m blocking off the dates on my calendar after I finish this post. An agent, Paige Wheeler, will be there accepting pitches. She is on the top of my list for this novel. From what it says on her site, it should be a good fit, so as long as she likes my writing I’m hopeful that she might be interested. Being able to pitch to her in person is appealing. And there are other agents who are going to attend, as well. I’ll definitely pick a few others to toss the idea at. Somebody out there has got to think it’s interesting!
I’ve fantasized, all starry-eyed, about getting my first rejection ever since I was a kid. Now at last it has happened! Heliotrope has turned down “The Conductor,” but gave me a very friendly personal rejection note. 18 days. I’m so pleased with getting a nice personal note that I’m taking my camera to the zoo today and having a glut of critter-photography to celebrate. I know it sounds weird, but getting my first rejection is this huge step in my life. I’ve known it was going to come ever since I started seriously considering trying to get my work published, around the age of 10 or so. I mean, has ANY writer ever been accepted on their first try? Sheesh, I doubt it! Rejection #1 is a milestone. I’m thrilled! Here’s to many more, and hopefully some accepted manuscripts, too.
“The Conductor” is off again to the IGMS. They have a three-month turnaround time, so it could be a long wait. I’d better write more short stories so I have more stuff to do in the meantime!
First. Submission. Ever. I’m SO EXCITED!
Okay, I do have one thing published already, but it’s a nonfiction article in a hobby manual. It was fun to write, but it’s not fiction. I loves me some fiction.
I submitted “The Conductor” (about 1550 words) to Heliotrope. We’ll see how it goes! Their response time is 30 days, so by November 22 I’ll have news, good or bad. It’s so thrilling!
WOOT!!!
