If you’ve decided to sit down and get some writing done, you want to free your mind of possible future distractions. With this list, it might help you do that.
1) A drink, cold or otherwise. Saves you walking later. 2) A snack of your choice when you get the munchies. Same as above. 3) Go to the bathroom before you start. Better out than in. 4) Music to listen to, a queue of at least 2 hours. Even if you don’t write that long, you might skip tracks. 5) Headphone, to listen to above music. No distractions. 6) Enough light so you can see screen & keyboard.
The following works are eligible for the Nebula, Hugo & BSFA Awards in the short story category. NOTE: REPRINTS ARE NOT ELIGIBLE OUTSIDE THEIR PUBLICATION YEAR. To make life a bit easier for myself (and you), I’ve added what genre they are in brackets.
75 stories and 1 poem (206 words). flash 1k or lower-31 titles, 16,690 words Over 1k-34 titles, 58,040 words Stories sold of various lengths-11 titles, 10,181 words 85,117 words written this year. (Not including reviews or non-fiction publications.)
Letters From The Phased Photonic Travel Company sold to Utopia Science Fiction, Jan 14th 2021. Rescue Me sold to Hireath Publishing, Jan 31st 2021. Philip K. Dick Does It sold to The Angry Noodle, Feb 23rd 2021. (1st non-fiction sale!) Exactly The Wrong Shade Of Green sold to The Lorelei Signal, Mar 7th 2021. Overground sold to COLP, Apr 5th 2021. The Message sold to Stupefying Stories, Apr 28th 2021. Fixing Broken Dreams sold to Stupefying Stories, May 23rd 2021. For Sale; Used Time Machine. No Refunds! sold to Stupefying Stories, Jun 1st 2021. The Witless Protection Scheme sold to Flash In A Flash, Jun 20th 2021. Officer Down, Permanently sold to Sanitarium Magazine, Jul 2nd 2021. Too Hot To Handle sold to Stupefying Stories, Jul 12th 2021. Fair King, Fell Low sold to Silver Blade, Jul 15th 2021. A Life Of Mystery sold to 34 Orchard, Jul 18th 2021. Party Of Five sold to The Lorelei Signal, Jul 26th 2021. The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb sold to Stupefying Stories, Jul 26th 2021. The Office Girl sold to Executive Dread, Aug 22nd 2021. Photo Sympathy sold to US/THEM, Sep 3rd 2021. 1 SALE TBA, AWAITING PERMISSION, Oct 6th 2021. Call Back, Any Time! sold to Grandpa’s Deep-Space Diner, 27th Oct 2021. Diversion To Fahla Bha’la sold to Dark Recesses Press, 3rd Nov 2021. Hot Dust was accepted by Starry Eyed Press for their Space Treks Anthology, 6th Nov 2021. To Have, And To Hold sold to Starward Shadows Quarterly, 25th Nov 2021. Where They Fear To Tread sold to Jersey Pine Ink’s Trees Anthology, 6th Dec 2021.
CAVEAT:-Be aware, I am now adding stubs for titles which have sold, but I’ve not yet received official permission to announce as sold yet. These are just an aide memoire for me, and my increasingly terrible short-term memory.
There are currently 46 stories out in submission:-
PUBLISHED THIS YEAR:-
Lost Souls was released at Daily Science Fiction, Jan 27th 2021. Grandmothers Shoes was released at Bards And Sages Quarterly, April issue, Mar 30th 2021. Overground was released in COLP:Underground, May 23rd 2021. Fixing Broken Dreams was released at Stupefying Stories, May 28th 2021. The Message was released at Stupefying Stories, Jun 4th 2021. For Sale: Used Time Machine. No Refunds! was released at Stupefying Stories, Jun 7th 2021. The Witless Protection Scheme was released at Flash In A Flash newsletter, Jun 25th 2021. Letters From the Phased Photonic Travel Company was released at Utopia Science Fiction, Vol 2, Issue 6, Jun 30th 2021. Exactly The Wrong Shade Of Green was released at The Lorelei Signal, Jul 4th, 2021. Fair King, Fell Low was released at Silver Blade Magazine, Issue 50 – Summer 2021 Jul 15th 2021. Too Hot To Handle was released at Stupefying Stories, Jul 29th 2021. Philip K. Dick Does It was released at The Angry Noodle, Jul 30th 2021. [Nonfiction] Officer Down, Permanently was released at Sanitarium Issue #4, Aug 13th 2021. Rescue Me was released in Shelter Of Daylight, Sept 24th 2021. Party Of Five was released at The Lorelei Signal, Oct 4th 2021. Photo Sympathy was released in US/THEM, Oct 30th 2021. The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb was released at Stupefying Stories, Nov 6th 2021. All Clued Out was released in 34 Orchard, Issue 4, Autumn 2021, Nov 10th 2021. The Office Girl was released in Executive Dread: Tales of Office Horror, Nov 11th 2021. 36 Hours In The Space Force was released in Tales From The Space Force, Nov 13th 2021. Diversion To Fahla Bha’la was released at Dark Recesses Press, Dec 5th 2021.
LESSONS LEARNED:-
(This is a new segment, I’ll be adding tips for myself for future blogs.) Add sales as stubs as soon as those are received. Temp entries until officially announced then replace with official info. Add releases as soon as info is received to Shape Of Things To Come. This means I don’t forget over the month. Add stubs to Shape Of Things To Come for unannounced sales. Create entries for the Submission Challenge each day, as they come in or go out. I chose to remove the Stories On Hold section as I didn’t want any markets to feel pressure to buy stuff.
THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME!
Stranding Room will be released at Abyss & Apex, January 1st, 2022. Tuck & Roll will be released in Automobilia, January 31st, 2022. (DTBC). Secret Project TBA, Spring 2022. (DTBC) Where They Fear To Tread will be released in Jersey Pine Ink’s Trees Anthology, Summer 2022. (DTBC) Call Back, Any Time! will be released in Grandpa’s Deep-Space Diner, 2022. (DTBC) 1 SALE TBA, PUBLISHING, Feb 2023. (DTBC) There’s some other stuff coming, I can’t officially talk about it yet. Just know it IS coming. When I get more solid dates on the date to be confirmeds, I’ll announce them. I’ve got 4 stories being held. I’m hoping a few manifest into sales.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS:-
I wrote 6 new stories & 1 poem this month, a total of 6416 words. I did handwrite one story on December 31st, but as it hasn’t been typed up, it can’t be counted or classed as finished, but it exists.
Hot Dust didn’t come to fruition. Starry Eyed Press weren’t interested in having me take part in the edit process which I simply couldn’t allow so they cancelled the sale offer. If a market won’t allow you to be part of the edit process, say no to them, no matter how much money they are offering. Nothing is worth that.
In terms of purely getting stuff done, this has been my best year ever. Joined Codex, got permabanned. Joined SFWA. Still with them.
I’m not setting any New Years Resolutions for 2022 BUT… I would like to finish 26 stories I’ve never completed for whatever reason. They can be outlines, stuff I already started and ran out of steam on, but that’s the target. And it’s my only target.
raywriteswrongs 