The latest on publication: As I wrote in my last post, my short story, ‘Christmas’, was rejected by eFiction Magazine, but with good reason. Following the rejection, I submitted the story to the eFiction Workshop and received some very helpful criticism. The criticism identified a number of technical errors and style issues that forced me, in the end, to reconsider some parts of the storyline. After some intense revision, last night I submitted the story, now titled ‘The Family Business’ back into the Workshop for a second review. If all goes well, I’ll submit the story to eFiction Magazine for the November issue.
The writer’s mantra is: Revise, Revise, Revise! My experience with the eFiction Workshop has compelled me to do just that. I have several pieces that might be candidates for submission, but I think I’ll take a closer look at them to see if they are really ready. Then I might submit them for some preemptive criticism in the Workshop.
eFiction recently raised the word limit on short fiction submissions to 10,000 words and I have two pieces that now potentially qualify for publication. ‘From the Shadows’ is 5,833 words and ‘Grayson’s Mountain’ is 9,716 words. I plan on submitting these in coming months. The only potential drawback is that eFiction has a number of themed issues planned and I don’t know how the material I write will work with the Family, Romance, or Humor/Comedy themes. Then again, there may be an opportunity here to try something different.
October 2011 – Horror/Paranormal
November 2011 – Open
December 2011 – Family
January 2012 – Open
February 2012 – Romance
March 2012 – Open
April 2012 – Folklore
May 2012 – Open
June 2012 – Speculative Fiction
July 2012 – Open
August 2012 – Humor/Comedy
And to show that Revise, Revise, Revise! Isn’t for emagazine submissions alone, I was searching through my text of Any Tomorrow: The Calling and found a couple of minor typos. Well, if you find two, chances are there are twenty, so one of these evenings very shortly I’ll be scanning the text once more before submitting updated files to Amazon and Smashwords.
What I am reading: In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson is the true story of William Dodd, a university professor whose life-long ambition was to complete his multi-volume history of the Old South. Instead he is called upon by Franklin Roosevelt to serve as U.S. ambassador to Germany, arriving in Berlin just as the violence associated with Adolf Hitler’s rise to power reaches a crescendo and puts Europe on a path that will embroil the world in war. This book is a must read for anyone interested in pre-war German Society.
If you have comments about this or any of my posts, please leave a comment by selecting the Leave a comment or Leave a Reply links. I look forward to your comments.
© Copyright 2011 by Kevin Fraleigh.
I’m loving all these eFiction posts!!
Have you participated in writing workshops before?
How would you improve the workshop experience?
Kevin, let me know what you think about “In the Garden of the Beasts.” I’ve been thinking about getting it. Thanks. Phyllis (Maggie)
In the Garden of the Beasts is a fascinating read. It is one of those books that I hate to put down because I find that period in history so fluid and dynamic. Erik Larson makes you feel like you’re actually witnessing the events unfold.