This
link is long overdue! Visit Leslie Blanchard's,
A
Writer's Choice, Literary
Journal,
for fine fiction. And while you're there
sign up for The Digest for AWC to discover
why she remains one of my favorite,
hard-working authors/editors.
For all those that have inquired,
I am back full of apologies to all. But, I must remind everyone this is an amateur effort.
The change in my job necessitated that I take on new duties, and the first week in February, I had a project of gigantic proportions dumped in my lap. I had never done anything like this before. It meant long hours, and often, I returned home to fall into bed, exhausted.
Project is finished, and I am feeling right proud of me. So I have taken three days, Friday, Saturday & Sunday off to "clean" house. Right. I am living in the middle of the aftermath of the Blitzkrieg, and am on-line first.
I shall up-date MSF&F first, and Sunday take all the subs to the beach. The florescent pallor of my skin offends even me. But on the other hand, I lost 25 pounds. And for a grandma who has watched her rear drop and hips widen over the years, this is good news.
Next weekend, I intend to spend at the beach also. But not on work or MSF&F. I have a stack of books by author Richard Laymon. His death was quite a shock, so I have decided to honour him the only way I know, immerse myself in his written word. If you haven't read a Richard Laymon novel, you are missing out.
The submission form worked out great. It will be the only method of submitting to MSF&F in the future. I lost a great many submissions when they were not submitted properly.
This is a real horror story. I live in the backwoods of NW Florida with Postal carriers that are contract worker. I have many inquiries from persons, not only through MSF&F, but with bills and personal mail that claim not to have received the promised letter or payment.
It is annoying, but I figured it was part of the totally inefficient system known as the US Postal and Artillery Service. In February, I began hearing rumours of a large cache of undelivered and/or unposted mail being discovered. The rumours grew, but no one could get any confirmation.
Being a naturally devious person, I set forth my spies from a rival package service with the admonition to be back the "skinny." And they did.
Seems a contract carrier fell behind in his mini-storage payment (some say a disgruntled friend was not paying the bill). When the lock was popped so that the contents could be auctioned, the room was found to be full of mail, undelivered--unposted. When confronted, he took them to another mini-storage with more mail.
So, the mail now resides in the Pensacola Federal Evidence Room.
There has been no news report on this in the local papers, chads and dimples are infinitely more interesting to the news media. So, if you didn't receive your mail, the FBI probably has it.
Ramble, Ramble, Ramble. I think I'll close now until after the update.
di
Grandma Gives Advice--
"I have a drawer full of rejection slips for my short stories. My Sci-Fi shorts are frequently complimented, but alas no credits yet."
The above email note from a talented author hit home. It brought back a time when I was looking for recognition and publication almost five years ago. Why, I thought, were stories and novels of lesser quality being published on a monthly basis? (Sometimes the almighty Ego gets in the way of reality.) What was I doing wrong? Was I committing errors that I could not see? How do I get published? (And THANK YOU, Steve Algeiri, for that first credit in PULP ETERNITY!)
I want you stand up at your computer, shake your arms, loosen up, and HOWL at the ceiling—SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION. SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION. SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION. (Ahhh, before you sit down, reassure your family that has come running to see what is wrong with you that everything is fine. Boy, have you gotten weird since you started this writing thing.)
So, back to the subject at hand, again you ask, why? Well, Grandma has some advice. (Grandma always has advice.) The answer lies in an area that most authors do not want to acknowledge. Most authors want to be discovered. Some turn up their nose at what they consider 'brown-nosing.' Get over it. You probably won't be discovered; it's up to you to force your discovery. (You are not Stephen King or Isaac Asimov, at least, not yet.)
One of our authors (notice my possessiveness) was published for the first time in MSF&F last April. I just accepted a story from him. It is his 24th credit. I have turned down more from him than accepted, but it's that first toehold, that first acceptance that makes a difference.
Checklist Time:
- Cardinal Rule #1. SUBMIT. SUBMIT. SUBMIT.
- How well do the zine editors know you? (I troll the competition to see who is writing what, and how well they write."
- Are you a member of any email list where editors lurk?
- Are you positive in your comments on the list?
- Do you attend event (chats with authors, on say Cybling) where other writers and editors gather?
- Do you have a web site where you have your works are listed (not posted)?
- Do you link back to the zines?
- Do you remember to say Thank You, even if the *#%@* fiction editor turns your piece down? (Short-sighted wench!)
-
Do you read the editorials and columns, make comments? (Jo has an excellent column on MSF&F, "Dr. Web-Write." Go there. Read what she has to say. She knows her stuff. She's had dozens of short-stories, an award winning anthology, an award winning novel, a new book (Jumpstart Your Writing Career With Electronic Publishing) and articles on web authorship that have also appeared in Fiction Writer and Writer's Digest published. Yet once, she too was looking for that first credit.)
- Do you follow guidelines?
- Are your stories as free of spelling and grammatical error as you can possibly make them? (The two stories posted this week were wonderful to edit. I made few changes. One word was changed because I thought it gave away the ending too soon, and I zapped a semi-colon before my pard, Jo, did—we differs on the use of semi-colons. I am the Queen of the semi-colon; Jo is the Executioner. Off with their heads.)
- Do you read the zine and know what kind of stories the #$%@$ fiction editor buys?
- Do you promote the zine that publishes you? (I have a warm spot in my heart for a certain author that was a major reason that MSF&F had a mega-hit day after his/her story was posted. The author directed his/her fans to enter through default.htm. Yes, I figured out who that author was. There are tell-tale signs leading back to the beloved culprit, and hee-hee, and I’m not telling how this cyber dummie figured it out.)
Actually, I have a warm spot for many of the authors that appear on our pages. I hate turning someone down. Many times, the reason is not grammatical or story line related. We just don’t have the room. I wish we did.
And always remember—I cannot say this enough—always remember that this is the minor leagues. We are the dime novels of the 1890's, the pulp fiction of the 1930's. (At least for now.) You want your name up in lights...you want to be a star...or at least on the title page of a print publication. BY You... So, use this time to hone your talent. Listen. Look. And don't run with scissors.
Enough of the lecture. I hope the advice helps.
If you overland mail us, please send Kevin Costner.
He can find us at:
Millennium Science Fiction & Fantasy Magazine
JoPop Publications
PO Box 8118
Roswell, NM 88202-8118
OR
