Legitimacy Bred by Rejection

Well, I can feel marginally more legitimate now.

Today I received my first rejection letter.

Yeah, personal little confession here. Even though I published on Amazon.com earlier this month, I still don't feel like I've really gotten my work out there. I don't feel all the way official yet.

Now, that'll come in time as I continue the story begun in "Reserved for War," but there's something about that external confirmation of an editor that's been deeply bred in the writer's psyche. While I've chosen to not completely shackle myself to the opinions of a single reader (i.e. an editor), I still hope to develop a positive relationship with the traditional publishing industry.

So, to that end, I've begun submitting my shorter fiction to the online magazines.

My first victim was the Hugo-award-winning Clarke's World Magazine. Competition is stiff there, as they only publish three stories a month. Think I'm crazy for even trying?

Hey, all they can do is say no, right?

I will admit that I chose Clarke's World more for their speedy turnaround (most submissions are read and replied to within the first three days), and I think this worked to my advantage. Rather than building up my hopes and expectations over weeks or months, unsure what to expect, only to ultimately be let down (or not, I guess), this way I was able to eagerly anticipate a reply and then move on.

Intense emotion packed into as small a space of time as possible.

Now I can stop worrying and move on with the writing. I received my first rejection. I am an official, legitimate contender in this journey now.

Just as publishing on Amazon was the first step on a new journey -- one of independent publication -- so this rejection is the first measurable step on a similar, parallel journey -- one of traditional publication.

Both are exciting, and I eagerly anticipate watching my own progress over the coming months and years.

(Hm, last statement = slightly narcissistic? Probably. [Shut up, inner editor.])

Until next time...
-josh k.

The First Steps on the Longest Walk of My Life

"The Road goes ever on and on

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

And I must follow, if I can,

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

And many paths and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say."

-J.R.R. Tolkien

Well, one journey ends...and another begins.

Today I become a published author. The first episode in my serialized story Paradise Remnants, went live on Smashwords.com earlier this morning. You can now buy it for a buck.

Later today, it'll probably go up on Amazon.com. By the end of the week, it should be available on BN.com. And sometime this month, Smashwords will push it out into the rest of the channels. (By the way, Smashwords is the best site to go to if you're a reader outside the U.S. They don't add any kind of fees to the price like Amazon does.)

This is an exciting day, for sure. But it's hardly a stopping point.

Instead, it's almost like the true beginning. Everything leading up to this point is prologue. From here the real story of my journey as a craftsman begins.

Will it be a rough start? A triumph? A slow and steady pace?

I don't know. But I'm ready to see where this new adventure takes me.

And you can bet that I'll be sharing it with you along the way...when I have time.

There's writing to be done, folks!

Until next time...
-Joshua Kehe

The Final Story of 2011

In literature, only trouble is interesting.

-Janet Burroway

Although much of my time during the first few days of this new year has been spent in preparation for the release of "Reserved for War" next week, I did finally have some time to sit down this evening and write out an ending for a story I started on New Year's Eve.

For that reason alone, really, I feel like I'm finally done with my writing for 2011.

So, I think it's time to do a bit of a look-back.

I won't be able to do a memorial for the whole year until I get back to my records on Thursday (yeah, I should keep those with me). But I at least wanted to look back on this "Short Story Spree" I started in December.

As predicted, it didn't accomplish nearly as much as I intended it to.

But it was definitely successful.

I wrote five short(er) stories, the beginnings of a sixth, and reworked a seventh over thirty three(ish) days.

I'd call that a success.

In all, it's about 34,304 words of new fiction, plus "Reserved for War," which clocks in at around 6800 words.

So 40,000 words of work in a month.

I'm happy with that.

What's more, there is (I think), a clear trend of improvement throughout all that work. While the first couple of stories were a bit fumbling, they turned out well-enough in the end, and the most recent few stories I've written (two in the past week!) I consider to be competent and engaging members of the form.

(As in, they're actually stories that conclude within their short framework. Wow.)

Really quick, now, let's just run through what I worked on, shall we?

2012 Goal #5 -- Spiritual Development

Goal: Read 1 chapter of the Bible per day, read 1 book of C.S. Lewis per month, read 1 day of "My Utmost for His Highest" per day.

Goal: Ongoing...

2012 Goal #4 -- Exercise

Goal: Run 5 kilometers once per week.

Deadline: Ongoing...

2012 Goal #3 -- Focused Reading

Goal: Read the following per month...
-1 Genre Fiction Novel (SFF, Thriller, Horror, Romance, etc.)
-1 Mainstream Fiction Novel
-5 Short Stories
-1 Nonfiction Book (Philosophy, History, Science, etc.)
-1 Book on Business or Publishing
-1 Book on Writing

Deadline: 25 December 2012

2012 Goal #2 -- Traditional Publication

Goal: Submit 12 short stories and 4 novels to traditional markets.

Deadline: 25 December 2012

2012 Goal #1 -- Amazon Publication

Goal: Publish 20 items on Amazon.com through Kindle Direct Publishing.

Deadline: 25 December 2012

Second Story: Complete

Well... this is taking longer than expected...

Over the weekend, I finally finished the second short story. It's about an android infiltrator who goes to college. It's got a couple of fun bits, a creepy turn toward the end, and what I think is a beautiful last line. (I tweeted it when I finished.)

Unfortunately, there's a big chunk of missing character conflict in the middle (easy enough to fix, really; I just need to add a scene in) and the concept sounds far more fun than the reality. So it needs work.

But it's finished. In the midst of Finals and everything else, I managed to rise up out of my procrastination and Resistance in order to finish it.

So now I'm struggling with the next one.

Sigh.

I'll keep you posted.

Until next time...
-josh k.


Second Story Stats
Title: "The Changer and the Student"
Genre: SF-lite.
Length: 4,859 words / ~17 pages.
Premise: Robby, an android shapeshifter, learns what it's like to live with a roommate.

NaNoWriMo 2011 - Day 30

So, this is weird. I feel like I'm sitting in limbo.

For the first time in weeks, I don't have a writing project on my hands.

Now, that's all going to change tomorrow (I'll talk about that then). But for now, it's... actually kind of scary. I'm floating around looking at all the time I have on my hands and not getting anything done (more or less). I made some progress on my reading, played some video games, and generally wasted time.

It was kind of miserable. Not having anything to write felt... wrong, somehow.

I did enjoy it, sure. And I do think it was a good thing (that's a big shift, by the way; for the longest time I felt terrible every time I took a day off). Breaks are necessary in order to "refill the well," as Brandon Sanderson likes to say.

All that being said, though, I'll be glad to get back to writing tomorrow. I don't want to lose this momentum.

NaNoWriMo 2011 - Day 29

Way, kitty. I'm finished.

Well. That's that. My NaNoWriMo adventure comes to a close. Sorry I've been quiet for the past week. Between the holiday and the traveling and the trying-to-get-the-book-done, I've been a bit busy. I would have liked to offer my insights on the last leg of the project, but... well, it just didn't happen.

Wow, though. This feels good.

You may or may not know this, but Sentinel is only the third book that I've managed to type "The End" on (and I'm going to type "The End" on all my books, it just feels too good to pass up).

NaNoWriMo 2011 - Day 21

No, you stupid cat. I'm allergic! :-(

Well, I guess that's what I get for sleeping in this morning.

So, for those of you who don't have to live with me this week, you should know that I've been getting up consistently at 7:30 in the morning to do two hours of writing before getting started on other things for the day. It's been an amazing practice to get into, and it's probably the main reason I've gotten so much done.

I've also been sleeping on the couch. That detail is important for this next bit.

NaNoWriMo 2011 - Day 20

No comment; just cutes.

K, I'm all caught up now. :D

On a few other notes, here are some things I've realized over the past 24 hours.

1. I no longer complain about not having enough time.

Now, I'm not saying that I got more time, or even that I do have enough. Rather, I stopped complaining about it.

For those who don't know what I mean, here's an example. If you knew me when I was younger, you might have found me wishing for more time, complaining that "I don't have enough time for that." Heck, I used to put "Time" down half-jokingly as the first item on my birthday list each year.

That's how much I wanted time to write (and do other things, of course, but mostly write).

I don't do that anymore.

What changed?

NaNoWriMo 2011 - Day 19

Yeah, that's kind of how I feel right now. :-)

There we go. That's more like it.

Somehow, even though I've been home almost all day, I've still managed to sit myself down for TWO whole writing sessions.

Which, as you should know from reading these posts, gives me almost 5,000 words for today!

WOOHOO!

Granted, I'm not caught up yet. But if I pull this off for the next four days, I can finish the NaNo before Thanksgiving Day! (Which would be lovely for a number of reasons, but I'm going to focus my energy on the actual writing for the moment.)

Anyways, not much else going on right now. It's the weekend, so I don't really feel obligated to offer and incredible insights or anything.

However, I do have the two new chapters of the NaNo I wrote today posted over in my Writings section. Lots of action (finally) and some big twists. Go check it out. I enjoyed writing it, so hopefully you'll enjoy reading it.

Until next time...
-josh k.

NaNoWriMo 2011 Progress
Today: 4,912/1,666 words.
So far: 29,982/31,666 words.
Total: 29,982/50,000 words.

NaNoWriMo 2011 - Day 18

Hey, you. You're cool.

I'm home, now! :D

It's the beginning of Thanksgiving Break for me now, so I've finished (most all of) my papers and homework that needs to be turned in. I've survived the moderate drive back to St. Louis, and now I'm home.

Which is dangerous for the writing... but at this point I'm not really concerned. I'm just glad to have some time off from school.

In other news, I've made more progress on the NaNoWriMo novel, which means I've finally finished chapter 9! (Took me long enough.) Hopefully I'll be able to get back on track and make regular progress on the book again. There's a write-in on Sunday that I'm thinking about going to, but that's thinking just a little too far ahead right now.

First, I'm going to celebrate my sister's birthday. Then, I'm going to settle in and reconnect with my family.

Tomorrow, I'll try to make more progress on the book, and get back on track with things.

For now, though, like I said, I'm just happy to be home.

Until next time...

-josh k.

NaNoWriMo 2011 Progress
Today: 780/1,666 words.
So far: 25,070/30,000 words.
Total: 25,070/50,000 words.

NaNoWriMo 2011 - Day 17

Yeah... I have no illusions about getting any writing done today. I'm still writing this paper for tomorrow, due to my horrendous procrastination habits when it comes to academic and other "real world" deadlines.

However, on a significantly more awesome note, I have several pieces of exciting news to share with you.

First, I was interviewed in the student newspaper this week! It's a part of an article the paper ran on NaNoWriMo (so this post is totally topical, yep), and I'd say I acquit myself fairly well, even if I was apparently too verbose for any actual quotes.

You can find the article on the Index's website: Writing contest creates bonds.

On another happy note, my proposal for English Honors was accepted today. Not only that, they gave the idea some very high praise.

Here's the relevant portion:

"We would like to share with you the following remarks, made by a reviewer, about your creative project proposal:

"Sounds great to me. A fine plan for proceeding on a creative project. Contextualized, researched, written with literary models in mind. I wish all the creative honors projects were this thought out."

*pleased face goes here*

I'm excited, despite the fact that I'm behind on my wordcounts and still struggling to finish this paper. I'm sure I'll be sharing much of this excitement over the coming months, but for now I'm going to buckle down and finish things so I can go on break (during which I will work very hard to catch up on all the writing and homework I've neglected).

Until next time...
-josh k.

Runic Progress Report -- Accountability

This is called public accountability. I hear a lot of big companies do something similar: board meetings, voter meetings, earnings reports, etc. Call it what you will. It's a rather ingenious way to motivate yourself. After all, if you know you're going to have to give an account for your actions, you'll likely follow through on goals and promises that you've made to yourself that pertain to those actions.

So that's what we have here.

Two things I want to say tonight:

1. I've "finished" the outline for my rewrite of Runic. Yes, it took way too long. I was travelling during the weekend, as you noticed. Work doesn't happen when I'm travelling.

As far as the outline goes, though, it's looking good. An intriguing opening, a solid enough ending, and a couple twists and developments in the middle. The middle bits will certainly need the most work, of course, but that's always something that I seem to work on during the actual process of writing. So...problem for another day.

With the outline finished, though, I should be almost ready to start in on the actual prose. I'm going to take the rest of this week's writing sessions to work on some much-needed worldbuilding and character development, that way I won't have to bog myself down with on-the-fly creation and/or fact-checking when I'm trying to crank out multiple thousands of words each day.

...which brings me to my second point.

2. My goal is to finish the first draft of the Runic rewrite by the time I leave for midterm break on October 12. That means, if I start writing sometime between Saturday and Monday, I'll have just around a full month to expand my initial concept from the 2009 rough draft into the bone structure for this year's edition. There's at least twice as much story and probably four times as much eventual plot involved in this rewrite. So...yeah, quite a bit to churn out.

That's my goal. This is me being held accountable. Let's see what happens, folks.