What’s currently in submission #11

As the last one was in early December I thought I’d update you before the year is over.

What’s currently out in submission?

The Concentration Camp (subbed to Persistant Visions)
Even Stevens (subbed to AE)
Junkie (subbed to Blind Spot)
A Head Of Steam (subbed to Edge Onlines Fantastic Trains)
Summerland (subbed to Occult Detective Quarterly)
I Want Candy [subbed to Gathering Storm]
Witch Hunt (subbed to Weirdbook) [at their request]
Muse [subbed to WolfSinger Cat Tails anthology]
Life In Small Places [subbed to Red Dashboard]
Follow Your Father (poem) [subbed to Red Dashboard]
Memories Of The Yakuza [subbed to Insignia anthology]
King For A Day [subbed to Pulp Literature]
Even Stevens [Subbed to Outlook Springs]
The Plan [subbed to Red Rabbit]
The Doomsday Machine Retires [subbed to Third Flatiron]
Departure Date [subbed to Factor Four Magazine]
Travelling Without Moving [Subbed to The Book Smugglers; Awakenings]
The Parting [subbed to Liminal]
Assessment [subbed to Intergalactic Medicine Show]
My Best Friend Is A Bog Troll [subbed to cosmic roots & eldritch shores]
Green Fingers [subbed to Manawaker Studio Flash Fiction Podcast]
Welcome To Your New Home [Manawaker Studio Flash Fiction Podcast]
Lost Children [Manawaker Studio Flash Fiction Podcast]

22 stories & 1 poem now out there.

Happy New Year! I’m having tomorrow off, as it’s my 48th birthday.
I’ll try not to die of old age. See you all next, I hope!

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Summing up this year

I didn’t set any resolutions this year, but I did have a few things I wanted to do. Let’s see how I fared, shall we?

Submitting More Stories.
I think we can say that was an outright win. I’ve subbed more stories this year than ever before. Also had more stories out in submission at once than ever before as well. Yes, it DID mean more rejections but it also meant more acceptances.
I had 9 stories picked up this year.
Of those 6 were for money. 4 of them are yet to be released

Write On A Regular Basis.
So I haven’t been quite as fruitful this year as in previous years. I’ve completed 103 short stories. I also completed a novel too. More on that further down the page.

First “What’s Currently In Submission?” entry created.
February – 7 stories out.
March – 11 stories out.
April – 13 stories out.
May – 14 stories out. (No entry for June)
July – 11 stories out.
Aug – 9 stories out.
Sept – 9 stories out.
Oct – 18 stories out. New personal best.
Nov – 16 stories & 1 poem out.
Dec (start) – 18 stories & 1 poem out. New personal best.
Dec (end) – 22 stories & 1 poem out. New personal best.

Established rules for Camp NaNoWriMo April 2017.
30 short stories or 30,000 words written. Reached 30,259 April 15th. WIN!

Established rules for Camp NaNoWriMo July 2017.
Decided to write a novel. 40k target set.
41056 words written by day 20, official win! 50017 words in total on day 24.

Tried Story A Day September. That was a bad mistake. I wrote 23 stories and hated the entire exercise. I’ve never enjoyed anything less.

The Tight-Fisted Bargain Hunter (poem)

The Tight-Fisted Bargain Hunter
(C) Ray Daley 22/12/93

Oh no, it’s that time of year,
When the public are gripped by a manic fear.
To all go out and spend their money,
And end up broke; It isnt funny!
They all go out and have to shop,
Then don’t give up until they drop.

It all seems an enormous chore,
To be in a Department Store.
You always get the squeaky trolley,
Which won’t go straight; So you look a wally.
The stupid things they spend their cash on,
Just like the stuff’s going out of fashion!

But there’s a few who buck the trend,
And see how little they can spend.
I will not say that they are tight,
But they won’t spend cash without a fight.
Since shelling out’s a point that’s sore,
Which they find such a major bore.

You watch the way that they behave,
When you tell them that they can’t save.
So will they pay with cash or credit?
If they’re not saving; best forget it!
And everywhere the price gets steeper,
They’ll get elsewhere; Find it cheaper.

But there is one who’s no big spender,
She’s a woman known as Brenda,.
We don’t think that she is mean,
At spending little; She is queen.
Avoid the crowds, avoid the spending,
It’s ZERO presents she’ll be sending!

If you don’t think this story’s true,
Just wonder what she’s getting you?
And think about this little tale,
When you find she bought it in the sale.

THE END

Patrolling In An Afghan Wonderland (A military parody xmas song!)

Merry Xmas to one and all!

Patrolling In An Afghan Wonderland (Full version)
By Ray Daley. (Royal Air Force, retired)
24/12/17

Sands too bright, it’s just glistening
Past the wire, Dickers listening,
The desert is shite, Looks crappy tonight
Patrolling in an Afghan wonderland

Gone away, the gozome bird
Here to stay, the radar dome bird
But it feels so wrong, As we go along
Patrolling in an Afghan wonderland

In the compound we can’t build a snowman
Pretend we’re not eating Biscuits, Brown
Ask us if we’re worried, We’ll say no man!
Just tell us that the war is drawing down?

Later on, We’ll conspire
Get the brass to call a ceasefire
They’ll stand us all down, Then pass the beers round
Patrolling in an Afghan wonderland

Sleigh bells ring, Are you listening?
With AK’s; ISIS bristling
Can we please go home? Leave this place alone,
Patrolling in an Afghan wonderland

THE END

Far From The Blogging Crowd

Hello blog readers, and sorry. I’ve been neglecting you again.

It’s for a good reason, I’ve been hard at work finishing my beta comment edits on the 2nd novel.
Those are now done and I am over half way into audio edits.

Over 26,0000 words proofed. But I am far from done.

I’ve decided to put a storyline back that I had in mind but didn’t use as I was writing. It’s not difficult to reincorporate, it’s deciding where to locate it that’s the toughest job. For that I have to do word counts for all of the chapters then see which is shortest.

I’m happy because it means I’ve actually got one of my two novels close to full completion.
I’m hoping to get it done before the year is done.

Dreams For The New Year

This is by no means a “TO DO” list, nor is it a list of New Years Resolutions.

It’s been a few years since I’ve made any resolutions at all because I’d gotten to the point where I’d achieved pretty much everythng that was possible to me.

The following are desires or milestones I’d like to reach in 2018 if possible.

Sell a story for pro-rates.
Earn any SFWA credits at all.
Make more sales than 2017.
Be published outside the SF genre.
Edit & complete at least one of my “finished” novels.
Win NaNoWriMo in November.

I don’t think any of these are outside the realms of impossiblity.

What’s currently in submission #10

As the last one was in early November I thought I’d update you.

What’s currently out in submission?

The Concentration Camp (subbed to Persistant Visions)
Even Stevens (subbed to AE)
Junkie (subbed to Blind Spot)
A Head Of Steam (subbed to Edge Onlines Fantastic Trains)
Summerland (subbed to Occult Detective Quarterly)
I Want Candy [subbed to Gathering Storm]
Witch Hunt (subbed to Weirdbook) [at their request]
REDACTED subbed to ANON. (This is still on-going, sorry!)
Muse [subbed to WolfSinger Cat Tails anthology]
Life In Small Places [subbed to Red Dashboard]
Follow Your Father (poem) [subbed to Red Dashboard]
Memories Of The Yakuza [subbed to Insignia anthology]
Hostile Take-over [subbed to Augur]
King For A Day [subbed to Pulp Literature]
Even Stevens [Subbed to Outlook Springs]
Distant Drums [subbed to Parsec Ink]
The Plan [subbed to Red Rabbit]
The Doomsday Machine Retires [subbed to Third Flatiron]
Checking It Twice… [Subbed to Things In The Well]

Please note, the redacted ones are for anonymous submission.

18 stories & 1 poem now out there.

I’m pleased to announce that Astounding Outpost published “Call Girl”, it’s now for sale in their Neural Nets anthology on Amazon.

Vote for my story! (Please?)

My SF AI story “Call Girl” is now free to read at Astounding Outpost :- http://stories.astoundingoutpost.com/2017/11/20/call-girl-2/

If you want to support my writing please vote for it here:- http://stories.astoundingoutpost.com/2017/12/01/pick-the-best-neural-nets-uplinks-and-wetware-story/

A free story & request for support!

If you enjoyed reading my story “Call Girl” (read it here:- http://stories.astoundingoutpost.com/2017/11/20/call-girl-2/) then please consider voting for it here:- http://stories.astoundingoutpost.com/2017/12/01/pick-the-best-neural-nets-uplinks-and-wetware-story/

It might win me some money, which would be lovely.