Things never work out how I imagine.  Remember that story with the blue hand a few posts down?  Still not finished.  On the other hand, I'm sitting on a completed manuscript and another story that's coming together pretty nicely.  Neither of those were on any sort of schedule.

I feel kinda bad because this blog/site was started with the intention of hosting completed works.  However, not a lot of people click on here whose first name isn't Andy.  Legitimately publishing work will help me find an audience, gain some needed experience in the field, and maybe make a buck or two.

I've decided to submit my finished manuscript to Beyond Centauri.  It's a quarterly science fiction publication that focuses on younger audiences and family-friendly stories.  Surprisingly, my work fits this description (in my mind, of course).  I know rejection is the most likely outcome, but submitting is an achievement by itself.

Unknown waters

I've finished my first actual manuscript.  It's a short story, though it gotten a bit longer after a solid revision.  After a few more read throughs and pain-staking edits, it'll be as good as I can get it.  I'm getting ready to tread into unknown waters.  I've never attempted to get anything published before.

Normally, I post my stories online, here or on a forum and end up getting some great feedback.  It's hard to emulate how people read a piece without actually having people.  Unfortunately, as soon as something is posted on the internet, it's considered "published."  So....you won't find the story here unless no one else wants it (like my parents didn't want my brother Melvin).  Just kidding.  Melvin is my half-brother.

As for the unknown waters bit, I'm not even sure where to start looking for publishers.  I've found a list of potential literary magazines and I'm yet to figure out what order I will submit to them.  The Colored Lens, Shadowgate, and Aurora Wolf sound like good starting points.  I'm (initially) skipping ebook and online publishers because I would prefer to have some tangible proof of my accomplishment.  I suppose that's vain, but writing always is.

I'll try the zines that offer some pay and have a legitimate base and then work towards my other options.  Maybe, I'll get some feedback and end up revising the piece.  Frankly, I'm not sure what's going to happen.

I can always go back to Spanish pole dancing,
but I'd prefer to leave the days of El Thrusto in the past.

I'm still trying to get epub versions of my stories up on the site.  It hasn't worked as smoothly as I liked - still ironing out some formatting errors.  If I don't stress out and have a heart attack-ack-ack-ack-ack, they may be available soon.

Just for shits and giggles, here's the proposed cover of "Me and Devil Blues."

The picture is from clker.com, which hosts free clip art that anyone can use and modify.

Obviously, the story was only 3 pages and didn't need a cover, but sometimes guys just wanna have fun....or is that only girls?

Either way, I'm going to keep chipping away.  I know a lot of people carry around those little doohickeys and I'd like to accommodate them, if possible.

If you're reading and have suggestions for formatting or whatever, please comment.

I get so lonely.

Traveler: Chapter 2 & some revisions

Traveler PDF is updated.

I've fixed up a few grammatical slip-ups.  Semi-colons can be a bitch.  After re-reading through the first chapter for the X-hundredth time, it's still not quite right.  I've been using a program called CeltX to map out my dialogue in other stories.  It's open-source screenwriting software, but it has a lot of nice features to stay organized.  Then I take that existing dialogue frame and build a more descriptive piece of writing around it.

I haven't used this process on the Traveler yet, but I think I might give it a shot just to let my descriptions wander without affecting the core dialogue.

In the mean time, I finally released a portion of Chapter 2.  I don't know if I'm in love with the crow's role in the story, but Jonathan's personality finally gets to shine through.  Although, he does seem like more of a dick than before. I'm hoping that will be understandable once you see what's going on.

The chapter will hopefully be completed soon, but I've got other creative ideas to explore.  So, no official timeline.

Check out the latest story here.

Short story about my short story

Last night, I started writing a new short story. It's always hard to tell if an idea's good, but I think the piece could have a cool "woah" ending. Obviously, this isn't the type of thing that's easy to pull off and it will surely take many revisions.

I'm keeping hush on the details because I might actually try to get this one published. It might be a pipe dream, but trying never killed anyone (actually that might not be true).

Just to be fun, here's a photo that holds some clue.

Site tweaks and ebooks

I've been revising the blog layout a bit. I don't even know if this technically is a "blog."

Anyway, I've decided to list categories at the top to differentiate between actual stories and updates - like I'm doing now.

If anyone has suggestions for story formats or anything, please let me know. I've been trying to post stories in plain text and also upload a PDF version using Scribd. I think I can convert the text into an epub format or something if I tweak the document just a little.

I don't actually own an ebook, so I'm not sure what formats are common. I know Kindle uses it's own file type. So, if there's a format that works well cross-platform, let me know. I'd like these stories to be as convenient and accessible as possible.

Still at it

I'm currently outlining a short story that I hope to post here. The Traveler isn't abandoned, but the second chapter has undergone more revisions than I predicted.

I still feel good about what I've got in mind, but bringing it to physical form hasn't been easy.

Stay tuned.