Sending out Poetry

This month I decided to concentrate on sending out literary poems. I have scads of them and haven't sent out much for a while. So I did a search through www.duotrope.com and first found the sites that I could submit to electronically. I looked for the highest paying ones of course. This is still a several night project because you have to read each set of guidelines and check the deadlines for submission, any special formatting rules, who the editor is and where exactly to send it.

Then I go through my poems (and if the magazine has samples on the site I read a few) and match the best ones. Plus I read through the poems and do any rewrites that are needed. I reformat them if it's needed, save them into separate documents and send them through email with a cover letter. I then checked the lists for the postal submission magazines. Literary magazines tend to not accept submissions by email. It's the minority that does, but there are more of them than there used to be. I still managed to send out quite a few through email. I'm now sending off another eight by mail. Mail of course means printing out the poems, and a personalized cover letter. Making up SASEs and adding addresses and postage and mailing. In all, this month I've sent out about 23 submissions of poetry with a total of 93 poems going out. Yep, 93! Guinness Book, look out.

I still have some poems sitting around. There are the sex poems that are too descriptive for some markets, a few SF poems, some witch/tarot series poems as well as those I did on Mexico and India. Of the ones still on my desk/computer, some are good to go and some have sat for a long time because they are just...not...right.

It's an elusive thing, and this round I did send out poems that have sat for ten years. In all, I probably have at least another 60 poems at home, including some unfinished ones, and another ten out. I did finish a poem I started last year called Perfect Lover, and another literary one I started two years ago called A Gathering. The second is a 3-4 page poem which I'm quite happy with. And I wrote a new one this week called Medusa that could sell as speculative or literary.

I try to send any poem I can off to literary markets first as they pay much better for poetry on average than a speculative market. I have managed to get $50 for one spec poem and now $100 for a literary poem. On average though, spec poems are around $10 and liiterary $20 and up. I also sent out about ten stories this month. And I continue writing on the erotic novel, but I'm going to have to pull the other novel out this coming week and read over it and the outline and synopsis if I'm going to do the Kansas workshop.

Next month I might delve into the very hard market of children's lit. I have a few stories so it won't take as long. I had this great dream two nights ago and woke up going, this would be a great young adult novel. It had the full plot, conflict and resolution. And can I remember it? No. Wah! But overall, I'm feeling rather accomplished, along with three sales for the month. Wheee!

The Life of a Writer

On Mondays I teach dance. Afterward, I take my laptop and go off to a local cafe/restaurant, have a couple of drinks and work on a novel. If I don't do this I'll get distracted with many other writing projects.

At the moment, I'm continuing the collaborative writing with Rhea Rose on our joint story, though she just threw me a curve ball from our discussed plot so I have to chat with her before I proceed. I'm also working on two stories started nearly a lifetime ago. One is nearly done and I'm hoping to finish it in the next week. It's the retelling of a tale about an old Germanic hearth goddess.

I'm not writing any poetry at the moment but rewriting a bit. And I've been concentrating on going through my bookmarked literary markets the past couple of nights, tossing the broken links and moving the ones that take online subs into a separate folder. And when I find one, I send them off a few poems.

For example, tonight I sat down at 8:00 pm and started going through the markets, continuing from where I left off the other night. It's 11:30 now and I've weeded through them all and sent out poems to about four magazines. That's about four poems per magazine and they're already written. I also submitted two stories to two other magazines. But just doing that, searching through, finding the right poems, reading through them, making a few changes, reading other guidelines took three and a half hours.

When I submit stories/poetry in paper format it takes even longer because I must take the template letter, fill in the titles on each one, print the poems and letters off, match them out, fill out envelopes, make up SASEs, put stamps on, put the material inside, seal them up and take them to the post office. Usually I'll do a batch of about ten magazines and it will take me three solid nights to get everything sorted.

Writing is about 40% and 60% perseverance. And now I'm going to bed, reading a bit before to keep the brain percolating.

Submissions for August

A friend was aghast or at least surprised that I would post my submissions here. That I should only post the postive stuff, the sales I've made. But I think it serves a better purpose to post it all and I see no reason to hide how many submissions I make or are aceppted or rejected. Maybe it will give someone faith to keep going. Some of the most popular books were rejected 100 times before being accepted by a publisher. So... you never know. And I often try to rewrite a story if I get back good (if sometimes painful) feedback. So the same title does not always mean the same story.

SUBMITTED IN August: 15 Spec fiction: 8 submissions
"Visions in Red” Strange Horizons
”Visions in Red” Abyss & Apex
“Fathomless World” IGMS
“The Collector” Noctem Aeternus
“Simple Pleasures” Red by Dawn anthology
“Bite Me” Heliotrope
“Lady of the Bleeding Heart” Sniplits
“Misdemeanor” Scarlet
“Touch the Magic” Clarkesworld
“Gingerbread People” Weird Tales
“Skin Deep” Neo-Opsis
Poems: 4 submissions
“Garuda’s Gamble, Robotics, Drowning Ones” Aeon
“Charmed” GUD
“Tales Never Told” Sybil’s Garage
“Pilot Flight,” “Millennium’s Edge,” “Time,” “Remembrance” Mythic Delirium

ACCEPTED:
REJECTED: 7 submissions (& 2 poems)
“Ice Queen” Speculative Realm
“Timebubbles” Withersin
“Slow Burn” Cincinnati Review
“Changes” IGMS
”Visions in Red” Abyss & Apex
“Highest Price” Glimmertrain
“Safe Sex” New Genre

“Charmed” Poem GUD
”Talesen’s Traps:” poems 1-4 From the Asylum

STORIES STILL OUT from January on: 15 & poems
Spec Fiction: 9 sumbissions
“Werewolf,” “Pumpkin’s Watch” Lycanthrope anthology
“Serpent’s Mouth” Pagan Fiction Award
“Cold Bones” Story Station
“Amuse-Bouche” Deathlings
“Lady Lazarus” Interzone
“In the High Tower” On Spec
“An Ill Wind” Talebones (resubmitted-not found)
“The Brown Woman” All Possible Worlds
“Rites of Passage” Dark Discoveries
Erotic fiction: 2 submission
“Pearls and Swine” Fishnet
“Unpacking Boxes” Super-Sexy Short Story
Fiction: 4 submissions
“No Place to Go” American Short Fiction
“Bird in the Hand” Pulpnet
“Sackcloth and Ashes” Fog City Review
“Elastic” The Sun
Poems: 5 submissions
Ø “Secrets of Trees”, “Garuda’s Folly”, “Negotiating the Power that Drives Me Round,” “Dark Side,” “A Match for Nostradamus” Strong Verse
Ø “Courtship,” “Whole World,” “What Goldilocks Learned” Going Down Swinging
Ø “Persephone Dreams,” “Finding Dionysus,” “The Traveler,” “Geomystica,” “Of the Corn” Tin House
Ø “Sweat Lodge,” “Between the Lines,” “Dust,” “Evidence,” “In the Garden” Agni
Ø Rewrite asked for on “Mermaid” Abyss & Apex

Summer Slowdown

There have just been too many things going on. Summer becomes busy with the usual work but all the sun worshipping going on. That and some extra work and going away for this weekend has made everything woodgy. Next week, I will hopefully figure out a way just to list the titles of past entries so it's easier to find things here. So, even though I could go on about all sorts of topics I'm just going to post the continuing summer submission challenge that we do over at the Twilight Tales group.

SUBMITTED IN July: Spec fiction: 7 submissions
“Ice Queen” Speculative Realm
“Highest Price” Glimmertrain
“Unpacking Boxes” Super-Sexy Short Story
“Werewolf,” “Pumpkin’s Watch”, Lycanthrope anthology
“Ice Queen” Speculative Realms
“Highest Price” Glimmertrain

ACCEPTED: 1
“Strict Management” by Cleis Press

REJECTED: 8 submissions
“Hidden Diaries” Fantasy
“The Strip” Ruins
“What Strange Fruite” Aeon
“Bite Me” Strange Horizons
“House of Cards” Prairie Fire
“A Book by its Cover” Noctem Aeternus
“Nick of Time” Weird Tales”Flight” Clarkesworld

STORIES STILL OUT from January on: 17 & poemsSpec Fiction: 11 sumbissions
“Serpent’s Mouth” Pagan Fiction Award
“Timebubbles” Withersin
“Changes” IGMS
“Safe Sex” New Genre
“Cold Bones” Story Station
“Amuse-Bouche” Deathlings
“Lady Lazarus” Interzone
“In the High Tower” On Spec
“An Ill Wind” Talebones
“The Brown Woman” All Possible Worlds
"Rites of Passage” Dark Discoveries
Erotic fiction: 1 submission
“Pearls and Swine” Fishnet
Fiction: 5 submissions
“No Place to Go” American Short Fiction
“Bird in the Hand” Pulpnet
“Sackcloth and Ashes” Fog City Review
“Slow Burn” Cincinnati Review
“Elastic” The Sun
Poems: 5 submissions
“Secrets of Trees”, “Garuda’s Folly”, “Negotiating the Power that Drives Me Round,” “Dark Side,” “A Match for Nostradamus” Strong Verse
“Courtship,” “Whole World,” “What Goldilocks Learned” Going Down Swinging
“Persephone Dreams,” “Finding Dionysus,” “The Traveler,” “Geomystica,” “Of the Corn” Tin House
”Talesen’s Traps:” poems 1-4, From the Asylum
“Sweat Lodge,” “Between the Lines,” “Dust,” “Evidence,” “In the Garden” Agni
Rewrite asked for on “Mermaid” Abyss & Apex

May Submissions

At Twilight Tales www.twilighttales.com we do the great Summer Submission Challenge. No prizes, no accolades, just community and encouragement to get people to write. So without further ado, this was my month of May.

SUBMITTED IN MAY: 40 submissions
Spec fiction: 23 submissions
“Serpent’s Mouth” Pagan Fiction Award
“In God’s Image” Cryptopedia
“Timebubbles” Neo-opsis, Withersin
“The Brown Woman” Withersin, Town Drunk
“Fashion Victim” Pedestal
“Changes” IGMS
“Safe Sex” New Genre
“Nick of Time” Weird Tales
“Flight” Clarkesworld
“Cold Bones” Story Station
“Amuse-Bouche” Deathlings
“Lady Lazarus” Interzone
“Visions in Red” Spacesuits & Sixguns, Fantasy Magazine
“Snow White’s Long Day” Cicada
“In the High Tower” On Spec
“Bite Me” Realms of Fantasy
“An Ill Wind” Talebones
“The Boy Who Bled Rubies” F&SF
“Gingerbread People” Heliotrope (FBS)
“Lady of the Bleeding Heart”GUD
Fiction: 9 submissions
“Touch the Magic” Strange Horizons
“No Place to Go” American Short Fiction
“Bird in the Hand” Pulpnet
“Cipher” Atlantic Monthly
“The Diver” Chattahooche Review
“Sackcloth and Ashes” Fog City Review
“Slow Burn” Cincinnati Review
“Elastic” The Sun
“House of Cards” Prairie Fire
Poetry: 8 submissions, 36 poems
“Secrets of Trees”, “Garuda’s Folly”, “Negotiating the Power that Drives Me Round,” “Dark Side,” “A Match for Nostradamus” Strong Verse
“Courtship,” “Whole World,” “What Goldilocks Learned” Going Down Swinging
“Biography,” “Circle,” “In Relation,” “the perfect crime,” “Oh You!” Sub Tropics
“Persephone Dreams,” “Finding Dionysus,” “The Traveler,” “Geomystica,” “Of the Corn” Tin House
“Sweat Lodge,” “Between the Lines,” “Dust,” “Evidence,” “In the Garden” Agni
“Heaven’s Vault,” “Beltane Fires,” “Spinning Wheel,” “Bones of the Earth,” “Spirit Bottle,” Pangaia
“Pilot Flight,” “Illuminating Thoughts,” “Remembrance,” “The First Taste” Dreams & Nightmares
“Sundance,” “Vampire Girlz,” “Shadowrealms,” “Shortsighted,” Mag of Speculative Poetry

ACCEPTED: 2
“The First Taste” Dreams & Nightmares
“Stocking Stuffers” Naughty or Nice antho Cleis Books

REJECTED: 13 submissions, 7 stories, 20 poems
“Gingerbread People” Heliotrope (FBS)
“Alien Invader” Baen SF contest
“Lady of the Bleeding Heart”GUD
“Timebubbles” Neo-opsis
“The Brown Woman” Withersin, Town Drunk (dumb on my part as I forgot they want light and this is darkish)
“Lady Lazarus” Dark Wisdom
“Visions in Red” Spacesuits & Sixguns (6 hours to reject *sob*)
“Trials of Lemons,” “Time,” “Millennim’s Edge,” From the Asylum
“Sweat Lodge,” “Between the Lines,” “Dust,” “Evidence,” “In the Garden” Agni
“Heaven’s Vault,” “Beltane Fires,” “Spinning Wheel,” “Bones of the Earth,” “Spirit Bottle,” Pangaia
“Pilot Flight,” “Illuminating Thoughts,” “Remembrance,” Dreams & Nightmares
“Sundance,” “Vampire Girlz,” “Shadowrealms,” “Shortsighted,” Mag of Speculative Poetry

STORIES STILL OUT(from January on—markets only): 13
Venus Press, Abyss & Apex (poems), Dark Recesses, Aeon, Cleis Books, Chizine, Ruins, Magic & Mechanica, Cthulhu Sex, Splatterpunk Press, Hub, HLQ Spec, Holy Horror

BELIEVED LOST (markets that have not responded to queries and older than 9 months)
Drill Press, S.M.U.T. (I supposedly had stories coming out with these first two),Bloodrose, Like Water Burning, Storie, Andromeda Spaceways (they changed their system around this time), Pine, Arabesque, Adbusters, and all of the European markets including 9, Glasnost, Galaktika Magazine (bouncing), Real’nost’ Fantastiki, Nowa Fantastyka

Rewritten 3 stories, one that hadn’t seen the light of day in ten years. Reading Kushiel’s Chosen, finished Kushiel’s Dart, stuck on Iron Council.