So, in reviewing my schedule, we determined the easiest spot for me to free up more time would be if I got up at my normal weekday time on the weekend. So I got up at, dear gods, 4:30 this morning to work on my writing. It’s been a slow morning. I’m glad I didn’t go out gaming last night.
Unfortunately, I’m not sure what I’m supposed to work on next. So this is me talking out loud as I dig through all the stuff I want to submit to and determine the deadlines I’m looking at, while sitting on the couch with a fat and sassy orange cat.
4/15/2010: The theme for the October 2010 issue of 10Flash will be announced. K.C. Ball encouraged me to submit at Norwescon. Who am I to tell her “no?” I can’t tell when the due dates are compared to announcement. It may be “when it gets filled.” So I need to get on the stick with that. If I enjoy the flash fiction writing and don’t feel like I totally suck, I may do more of this. There’s a growing number of venues for flash fiction out there, and could be a good way to get stuff in front of people.
4/30/2010: Due date for the Gadgets & Artifacts issue of Crossed Genres. I just finished my first draft of the re-write last night. I’m feeling really good about the new version. Which means I’ve really out done my self or I’m really delusional. ;) Sadly, none of their themes for issues after this one really jumps out at me. The girlfriend was thinking an idea I had might fit for Bildungsroman, but I’m not really sure. I wonder if they take requests for future issues…
5/1/2010: Fantasy Magazine will be closed to submissions for the summer starting on this day. The girlfriend thought this could be a good place to submit “With Fans Like These.” I need to try and fix some of my problems with it and send it off to them. Turn around for responses is supposed to be one week. And! And!! Pro market!!! (Because, you know, competing with 400-500 submissions a month isn’t daunting at all.)
6/13/2010: Due date for submissions to Blood Bound Books’ Rock & Roll is Dead anthology.
6/31/2010: Due date for submissions to Pill Hill Press’s Flesh & Bones: Rise of the Necromancers anthology.
7/4/2010: I fly out to Kansas for the SF Writers Workshop. (The checks are in the mail!!!) By this time I need to have three short stories that I want to workshop. “Thus Have I Heard” is a definite one. After that… well, we’ll see what gets rejected other places.
7/22/2010: PNWA Summer conference. I want to have one of my novels in something resembling “finished” status by this time.
8/1/2010: Due date for submissions to Timid Pirate Press’s Cobalt City Timeslip anthology. I haven’t written anything yet, but have a rough idea.
9/24/2010: Foolscap. No writing goals for this as yet. I just plan on attending.
11/1/2010: NaNoWriMo. I’m torn about whether or not to participate this year. I want to and have reasons to, but I’ve heard reasons not to. This is, perhaps, the subject of another post. If I do this, though, I will need to prep early.
11/4/2010: Ambercon Northwest. Not writing related, but game prep will interfere with my ability to write.
1/14/2011: RustyCon. Probably a month or two prior to this, I need to contact them and see if I’m special enough to be a panelist.
7/31/2011: Due date for submissions to Wicked East Press’s Once Bitten, Never Die anthology. (They have other anthologies, this is the one that seems most appealing to me right now.)
No Due Date:
– Residential Aliens was suggested as a possible next target for “Thus Have I Heard.” Probably not until after I workshop it, but it’s something for me to keep on the horizon.
– Writers of the Future. This is high on my list of “must do.”
– Some other markets the girlfriend found that I might like to write for include Freedom Fiction, Arkham Tales, Beneath Ceaseless Skies. I’ve had a ridiculous amount of fun writing stuff like “A Necessity of the Present” and the Devil Cat short. I’ve been thinking I’d like to try and create more. Plus, you know, I really need to try my hand at cosmic horror after all the time I’ve spent steeped in Lovecraftia. And, if I have a pulp story that isn’t very fantastic, Crime and Suspense could be a good home for it.
So… looks like the top three things I need to do is:
– Write flash fiction piece.
– Finish “It’s All Fun and Games.”
– Clean up “With Fans Like These.”
And I need to get those done ASAP so that I can dig in on the other bajillion writing projects. Great.
Oh the left side is with the hurting!
Um, right. I think it looks unprofessional: their graphics are all pixelley, the color bars are great but don’t match the color scheme of the rest of the page, there’s too much dense text, there’s nothing worthwhile “above the fold”, and the white space on the right is pointless. And the left! Oh, god, it hurts! That is, I can’t see shit when it’s tiny dense blue text on a purple background. The little blurbs on the bottom of the page for each division are good; colorful and terse.
As for content, it screams, “We are out to screw you!” with its constant emphasis on “Yeah, we’re not like those other publishers who are out to screw you…” But that’s just from the briefest of skims, since as I mentioned their text is too dense to read.
I’m baffled why they’d move away from the snazzy-looking design on their current main page. If I were them I’d just add the blurbs about each division down the left side of what they’ve got.
Well, speaking from expierience: A graphically robust page like they currently have is a bitch to maintain. There’s a reason why it’s very rarely seen. I mean, I’m having the same frustration with the DCO site on a lesser level. I want to include new features, but the design isn’t geared towards expansion. And I really don’t want to pay my friend by the hour every time I want to expand the site. Which is why I’m considering redesigning, but I just don’t have the time. =T
You know I’d just change it for you… ;) Design is one of those things you figure out what is or is not practical after you start using it.
Well, there’s also the time concern. If I do it, there’s the satisfaction of knowing when I’ll see the results.
How’s the artwork going?