Wednesday, June 30, 2010

WIP Wednesday – On a Roll

For the first time in months, I have been writing. Only a few hundred words but its a start. Thanks to Autumn Forest’s contest I actually felt inspired to write. Even if I don’t finish before the deadline I’m glad I have something on paper.

The story doesn’t have a title yet but it’s about a guy who lost his wife and child due to an undisclosed cause. He takes this poison to make himself a zombie to join a big zombie army. While he waits for the transformation to finish and for the head honchos to pick him up, his soul starts to haunt him. That’s about as far as I’ve gotten.

As of today, I won another contest. My prize? The Crazies remake on DVD from Twisted Central! This is the second contest I’ve won in the past three weeks. These things come in threes right?

Monday, June 28, 2010

Moving on to 3rd Round

I finished the 2nd round of edits. This was dedicated to suggestions made by my fellow writers who were kind enough to critique "The Boy in the Book". Still don't like the title but haven't thought of a different one yet. Story will be put through another round of torture before being released to the sharks.

Only a few hundred pages away from finished Stephen King's Under the Dome. Got the book for Christmas. Figured why not give it a try. I have to admit so far it's pretty good. Managed to get a rise out of me once or twice. Totally rare. Kind of think the whole alien aspect of it wasn't totally needed. If Big Jim Rennie was the guy behind the dome, I could totally buy that. Get some foreign scientists to do a sold for him. A guy like that would have figured a way to make it happen. Then blamed it on God.

Here's hoping the ending isn't as predictable as some have claimed. (Yes, I've peeked a couple of times. Such a bad compulsion)

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Still Being Considered

Hi there!

I just wanted to let you know that we narrowed your story submission down to the next phase of our acceptance process. While there is no guarantee that we will be able to ultimately accept it, we are interested in reading it again and giving it additional consideration.

However, this means that it may take longer before we offer a response, OR, it may not be selected for publication. If you'd prefer that we release it immediately, please let us know.

Thank you so much for your patience. I understand how stressful this process can be. If your story is selected for publication elsewhere in the meantime, please notify us

Tim Deal
Editor/Publisher
http://wwwshroudmagazine.com
http://www.twitter.com/shroudmag
http://shroudpublishing.blogspot.com/

I know this isn't a guaranteed acceptance, but I'm a tad excited "Sealed With Anguish" didn't automatically get the axe as it has in the past. Now, I go back to crossing my fingers and hoping for the best.

Monday, June 21, 2010

A Break from Normal

We now take a break from the nonexistent regular posts here at Southern Writemares for a picture of a pregnant dog:


This cutie is our neighbors dachshund named Cocoa. She's not a happy camper not that I can blame her.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Not so Short Rejection

Dear Andrea:

I want to extend my sincere thanks for your recent submission to the newly launched Short Story America website. Our mission and survival depend on people like you being willing to trust us with your creative efforts and supporting other authors by becoming part of our reading membership. You were one of the first people to discover this new resource, and we are so pleased to have you join us!

Writing is a very difficult and intensely personal undertaking and submitting a piece for publication can be agonizing. Understanding this so well is what makes it difficult for us to have to choose only certain stories and have to turn others down. Unfortunately, your submission Tornado Luck is not something our team feels we can publish at this time. However, we encourage you to continue to submit Tornado Luck for publication elsewhere, as each publishing team looks for something different, and we certainly encourage you to continue writing and to submit to Short Story America again.

We hope that you will remain a part of our community by being an active member at our site and we look forward to your contributions on the discussion forums and to future submissions of stories. Thank you again for your interest in Short Story America.

Most Sincerely,

Sarah Turocy
Co-Editor
Short Story America

Going to submit this piece to another publication (if I can find one). One more rejection and its being retired to the website. It's had a good run.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

WIP Wednesday - The Reveal

Still in the process of editing "The Boy in the Book" (not in love with the title, by the way). Second run through is dedicated to changes by outsider feedback. The third will be my own personal touches. Thrilled to have received a lot of positive comments. I was so sure it would get the "excessive bleeding" treatment.

If you haven't checked out my sidebar (which you so should), Autumnforest at Ghost Hunting Theories is having a short story contest. The prompt caught my eye, enough to make me want to pick up a pen and write something. In case you're wondering, the theme is: what if a zombie's soul haunted him. Interesting, right?

Now for the reveal some of you have been waiting a week for. John at Season of Shadows hosted a little giveaway recently. I was one of the lucky winners. WooHoo!!! The prize? Zombie blood! Green zombie blood! Now I have the secret ingredient to clone my very own zombie army. If only I could remember what I did with my stupid laboratory. I never can find it when I need it the most. Grrr...

Monday, June 14, 2010

Another Clue

I received the super secret object a couple of days ago. Before I reveal its identity, I leave you with yet another clue. Since I'm so great it will be a combination of two separate ones. This object is green and may help sustain life.

Love to know what you think it is...

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

WIP Wednesday - Golden Moment

Not much really going on in the writing department. Still waiting to hear from three magazines. However, I do have a bit of good news to report. Not so much with writing obviously but good news nonetheless.

But I'm not going to tell you yet. The official announcement hasn't been made yet. I'm going to make you wait until the point you want to claw your eyes out before making the big reveal. It isn't anything majorly huge but since its the only good news I have, I'm going to milk it for all it's worth.

I'll leave you with one tiny clue. I'm dragging out my mad scientist lab coat just for this. You do the math.

Never realized how gender biased the mad scientist profession was until now. This must change...

Thursday, June 03, 2010

Grinding my Gears



Following in the footsteps of the infamous Peter Griffin, you know what grinds my gears? People who put a ton of graphics on their blogs. I like your blog. At times I become infatuated with it to the point I touch its hair when its unaware and run away in humiliation when it catches me. But I'm not going to stick around if I have to wait three hours to confess my undying love via a poem recited in front of the whole class. I'd rather move on to the next unexpected vict..er...crush. Then, you'll be kicking yourself because I didn't choose you to lock in my basement to be worshiped and scowled for all eternity. You may not think so now but one day you will. One day I'll be all famous on the news and you'll be sorry. Yep, just you wait and see. Seriously people, take a hint from the 1800s and dial down the graphics.

Back to you Diane...