Publishing updates

My publishing “system” is picking up steam. First, let’s revisit November:

• 7 pieces: 1 novella, 3 short creative nonfiction essays, 3 short stories
• 36 total submissions
• 14 rejections
• 2 of those were personalized, the rest were form.
• 1 of the rejects made it to the second round

Has turned into:

• 12 pieces: 1 novella, 3 short creative nonfiction essays, 8 short stories
• 80 total submissions
• 43 rejections
• 6 personalized rejections
• 1 short list
• 1 long list
• 1 acceptance
• 1 thing I can’t talk about yet, but is very exciting.

“This Did Not Matter” didn’t make the short list for Fractured Lit’s Elsewhere Prize, which was a bummer, but expected. I’m shopping it to some more horror/dark-fantasy-focused venues.

The acceptance listed above is one of my weirder pieces - about dissociation and giving up agency. Also a little spicy. It got picked up by BULL. I’ll link to it once it’s live. It got a very binary reaction on CritiqueCircle, which probably means it’s good. :D

The exciting thing which cannot be discussed yet was a big surprise. Soon, my precious. Soon.

Regarding the end-to-end process, I’m finding that:

• I’m gravitating to a form that’s more than flash, less than short story (1000-2000 words). Some places call it short-short, but most call it flash. Whatever.

• My general familiarity with mags/journals is maturing and I’ve developed a better sense of fit based on editorial theme. Fewer wasted shots.

• This is pretty fun. Even if some parts are a slog.