Friday, February 17, 2012

Six Week Update


It's all about accountability I suppose. So here is my attempt to let you know where I stand so far this year in my goals.

I have half-heartedly agreed to participate towards the write 1 sub 1 for this year. I say half-heartedly because there is no way in hell I am writing 52 short stories in a year. I figure I can whip out 12 though. Which means I’m doing one a month instead of one a week. Close enough for me. Oh, and I've not actually signed up for anything, it's more of a personal goal.

Also, I’ve only now about to submit my January story. I figure I’ll submit all 12 this year sometime. Again, close enough. My short stories to tend to run long. I’m going to try to do a few 2000-3000 word ones this year. It’s hard for me, because I really like digressions, a lot. I’ll have to try to rein those in a bit going forward.

But by Monday submission number one should be out the door. Probably to Writers of the Future again. A grand prize winner gets something like $5k. It’s hard to not make that a priority up until such a time as I become ineligible – which happens with professional sales.

The story? Glad you asked. About an astronaut trapped on the moon and contemplating suicide as the earth endures the apocalypse. Early drafts focused on Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch and shoddy Chinese screening processes for choosing their taikonauts. Also, a main character whose Russian sounding name turns out to be Latino, go figure.

I’ve been in the self-editing stage in my February story – this one about a disgruntled teenager who finds something he shouldn’t when piddling around somewhere he shouldn’t be.  I’m already freaking out about his one – is there a market for YA novelette thrillers? If there is, I’ve not heard of it.

But whatever, write it first, worry about the market later I suppose.

As it stands, I'm way behind my larger goals, as these short stories were supposed to be nothing more than weekend projects, with the rest of the time spent working on revising novels. The short stories have been bigger, longer, and more time consuming than I would have hoped. 

Still, the year is young. I can catch up.

15 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Marky Mark - thanks for the first chuckle of the morning.
Someone posted that mysteries and thrillers were the best sellers in eBooks, but don't know about the young adult part.
Astronaut on moon? Ever heard Ayreon's The Universal Migrator CD?

Tonja said...

Short stories should be quick and easy since they are short. I think they are a bit more difficult since every little detail should count. I gave up on my short story dreams for the year - something had to give.

Deborah Walker said...

Hey. I didn't realise you were doing W1S1, Rusty. And 12 stories in a year is nothing to be sneezed at. Good luck.

PT Dilloway said...

The first story sounds like a Twilight Zone episode where an astronaut crash lands on a planet and when he calls back home he finds out that home is about to be obliterated in a nuclear holocaust. Then he goes out and finds this alien girl whom he calls Eve. Guess what his name is?

Anyway, it's good that you can keep that up. I never do a lot of short stories so I passed on that thing.

Gail said...

I seem to only be able to write shorts. Being thinking of a collection but don't even know where to start in finding a place to look at them.

Good luck...if your short stories are as enjoyable as your blog, you'll have no trouble getting noticed.

Anonymous said...

All my shorts end up in my novels. The upside is this makes writing novels much easier!

Jay Noel said...

I knew a guy who was a member of the Funky Bunch. Although I didn't consider him very funky.

Short stories DO take up a lot of time. It takes a lot of precision and focus to write them. Good luck to you on catching up!

Andrew Leon said...

Did you see Moon with Sam Rockwell? Not the same plot, but you made me remember it, and it's an excellent movie.

In my experience, there is no such thing as catching up. There is only restarting at 0.

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

Can you still qualify for the Writers of the Future contest? You are professionally published now. Or does it not count because you published the book yourself? I'm not up on the rules of their contest but you're a published author in my book so I'm a little confused.

Anyway...best of luck to you. I hope you write a story that wins money and that you fulfill your write 1 sub 1 goal.

M Pax said...

I was going to try the write 1 sub 1 thing, but I'm too wrapped up in novels to even think about it.

I'm sure there's a market for YA thriller. Just call it paranormal or something. :)

Cindy said...

Just one thought. Don't mess around with short stuff. Even if they are accepted somewhere, most places pay either a token amount or nothing. On Kindle, people want novels. They aren't satisfied with smaller works.

However, your ideas sound interesting. I especially like the one about the guy stranded on the moon.

Rick said...

Hang tough. The year is just beginning.

Misha Gerrick said...

YA novelette thriller sounds awesome to me. But there's nothing wrong with writing an adult thriller about a younger character.

I read something like that once. :-)

Anonymous said...

Ugh, goals...you saw how fast I cranked out the last novel and I had momentum. Then I had to return to work, at least part time. We're not rich, ya know =(

Anyway, that's a lofty goal Rusty! Best of luck.

Golden Eagle said...

It sounds like an interesting story. I don't really know of any YA novelette thrillers off the top of my head--but I'd second Misha. Some Adult books have teenage characters.

Good luck!