Goodness it has been a minute since I wrote one of these. I’m sure I’ve gone this long if not longer before, but when I wrote number five summer was still trying to murder me with humidity. Now autumn is starting to chill my bones. Despite me neglecting writing a report last month I did not completely neglect my goals. I do need to start making progress on new things, however, plus I’d like to let you know how things have gone.

Short Fiction

“Shower Thoughts” is definitively done. I sent it to several people like I meant to, which is also where I hit upon a snag with progress. Namely, a number of the people I wanted to read it haven’t read it yet. It’s a drag, but I don’t want to put too much pressure on people either. What’s the point of their reading it if I bullied them into doing it, right? The feedback I did get was quite valuable though, allowing me to make some tweaks and small fixes. I’m happy to report that it was fairly well received too.

After deciding I’d waited long enough on people who still hadn’t read it yet, I submitted the story somewhere. I decided to go with The No Sleep Podcast, which is a podcast that performs numerous horror stories per episode with dynamic sound. They pay pretty well if they want it too, which is nice. I might as well go for it, right? The only thing I think might hold my story back is it’s written in the third-person; their preference is first-person. I left it as is, however, because I think the effect of the story is weakened if I change the perspective. We’ll see what happens. Their submission page said they don’t entirely rule out third-person, it’s just not preferred.

Another place I will likely submit to is Martian Migraine Press for their anthology called Monstrous Outlines, which is to be a collection of horror stories focused on the theme of camouflage. I didn’t write the story with this prompt in mind, but I think it has a chance of fitting in. I see the similarity to their theme as a happy accident, but maybe it won’t be enough for them. We shall see. The deadline is November 31st to submit, at any rate, so I have time to make some adjustments if I feel I need to.

As far as other writing projects go, there is another short story idea I have in mind I mean to flesh out. It’s more in the realm of dark fantasy and it’s been bouncing around my head for a few years. Considering my pace and the fact I want this story to be markedly longer, I’m going to try to aim to have a first draft done by the end of the year, with a soft deadline of having started the draft by mid November.

Novel

Ugh, still nothing, though I sure do think about it a lot for what good that’s worth (probably not much). How about this: I need to have a concrete outline for the start of the story done by November 31st. Not everywhere that the story is going and where it will conclude, but the state of the world at the onset, the characters and their desires, and what conflicts come into play. I don’t have to be married to it, I just have to construct something more solid, rather than rough notes and notions in my head. Let’s get this show on the road, eh?

That’s it for this report. Thank you for reading!