Alone and Unobserved

Sorry I’m not blogging very much right now. Partly it’s because I suck, but partly it’s because I’m spending so much time writing other things! Unfortunately they’re things I’m hoping to submit to publishers and magazines, so I can’t really show them to you right now (depending on the market, posting a story to my website can count as having ‘previously published’ it, which makes it much less attractive to editors). Don’t worry, though—once I’ve piled up enough rejection slips I’ll probably end up posting them here anyway.

A few days ago my friend John Remy over at Mind on Fire posted on Twitter about a zombie erotica/romance flash-fiction anthology that was soliciting submissions, and I sat right down and reeled off an 800-word short-short story involving zombies and inappropriate sexual contact. I was drunk at the time. Sadly, I was also drunk when I sent it off to the editors, and I’ve been afraid to look at it since for fear of realizing exactly how embarrassed I should be.

A couple days ago Amanda Palmer posted a Twitter update linking to this flash fiction contest for fans who wanted to follow in Neil Gaiman’s footsteps and write stories about Amanda Palmer’s unfortunate end. The deadline was yesterday; yes, I should’ve told all of you about it earlier, and I only didn’t because I’m a terrible, hateful person who wants my readers to be unhappy and unfulfilled. (And also maybe I was afraid you’d write a better story than I did.) I worked a couple days on it, and was pretty satisfied with how it turned out.

Right now I’m in the process of expanding/rewriting my short story “The Strangers” with the idea of submitting it to a magazine or contest in the near future. Anyone who wants to read (and comment on) the current draft, write me an email and I’ll send you a copy. Positive comments are always welcome, but what I’m specifically looking for are constructive critiques, whether specific or general.

I love writing and creating and such, but it would be nice if any of my passions was something that made shitloads of money instead of a pittance (if they earn anything at all). I’m not particularly interested in being rich, but it would be nice to have the same kind of passion and drive for my paying job as I have for my hobbies.