Linkage

Richard Parks takes a look at the downside of persistence. http://richard-parks.com/2012/01/09/the-downside-of-persistence/

And Brian Lindenmuth sings the praises of the novella. Http://dosomedamage.blogspot.com/2012/01/was-2011-year-of-novella-new.html

In Honor of Frank Bill

Punchnels is sponsoring a "Hard Boiled-Down Noir" fiction contest. Up to 500 words max with a deadline of January 27. The top five stories will be published and the authors will be paid the zine's usual fee of $10. And a side note, all entries will be considered for publication. You can find the details here:

http://www.punchnels.com/fiction/the-hard-boiled-down-noir-fiction-contest/

A big tip of the hat to Brian Lindenmuth for the link!!

Charity Anthology Call

Author, Eric James Stone has posted a call for submissions for a charity ebook anthology. He's looking for PG-13 stories up to 4500 words in any genre inspired by the theme "The Three Bill Goats Gruff". The deadline is February 19. You can find the details here http://www.ericjamesstone.com/blog/contact/writing-for-charity-anthology-open-submissions-guidelines/

The charity is an ongoing one that supplies books to kids http://writingforcharity.com

The Short Story Process

Over at the Bookview Cafe is a fun essay by Linda Nagata on why science fiction short stories are so hard to write. http://blog.bookviewcafe.com/2012/01/06/why-science-fiction-short-stories-are-really-hard-to-write/

Truth is, this applies to every genre a short story writer works in.

When More is Just Right

Victor Gischler has a great post about the less is more theory of writing. http://victorgischler.blogspot.com/2012/01/remember-writers-less-is-more-really.html

Western Anthology Call

Michael Knost has a call for a Western anthology listed on his blog. The title is "Dark Trails" and the deadline is June 1. He's paying pro-rate plus a percentage of shared royalties. He wants weird or dark Westerns. The stories must be Western first but no modern westerns. You can find the details here http://michaelknost.blogspot.com/2011/11/new-anthology-guidelines-dark-trails.html

Competitive Writing

Some of the blogs I visit have a little yellow block on them that contains writing advice. In general I agree with most of the tips that show up but the one today had me scratching my head. "Every writing project competes in the marketplace. It's important to know your competition."

As a short story writer it's hard enough to figure out what an editor wants without having to worry about what other writers are writing to fill one of those vacant slots. The truth is, I don't write like Patti Abbott, or Michael Bracken, or Stephen Rogers, or Keith Rawson, or any one of a thousand other writers out there.

I'm me, and I'm my only competition. All I can do is write the best story I know how and submit it. The rest is up to the editor. If a hundred stories show up for one slot in a magazine, chances are I won't be the one filling it. That doesn't mean my story wasn't wonderful, it just means the editor preferred someone else's story. And the reasons can range from the subject matter I chose to write about to the fact that he spilled hot coffee in his lap while reading it.

When you submit, study your market, see what the editor has published in the past, try to get a handle on the market's target audience. Then sit down and write and rewrite until you have a polished story that you're proud of. The rest, well, that's up to the luck of the drawn.

Our best chance of getting published is to keep learning, to keep improving our writing skills, and to keep writing and submitting. Worrying about what the other guy is writing? Well, that will just drive you crazy.