Sunday, December 9


Sorry about that. Almost two weeks since my last entry. Have I gotten lackadaisical or what?

What's going on? I just got a rejection from Ellen Datlow at SciFi.com. She said Shattered wasn't at all bad but she didn't like it enough to buy for the site. I'll see that I get the story back out on Tuesday. I'm still poised at nine stories. Two stories in the works (one a rewrite, another in shambles but fixable) and I'm itching to start a new one. I'm not moving too quickly to break the double digits. I could have eleven stories in the mail right now. It's nice to have this journal to remind me of these things.

Still haven't heard the results from the Strange New Worlds contest. Any day now, I'm sure.

Members of the Wordos have been having lots of success. Ken Brady sold a story to Talebones. Devon Monk also sold a story to Talebones recently. Leslie What sold a story to SciFi.com AND a story to MOTA/Triple Tree Press. Dianna Rodgers and Ted Stetson also sold stories to that MOTA anthology. Jay Lake sold a story to . . . to . . .Damn! There's so many sales I can't remember all the details! Let's just say Jay Lake also sold a story and he has close to FORTY stories circulating the markets. That guy kicks ass. Jerry Oltion had a great review of his new novel Getaway Special at SciFi.com.

Looks like Santa Claus came a little early this year.

I'm currently reading a novel by a former Wordo. Jim Brown was a television news anchor man in the Eugene area until he sold two novels--a finished one, and one on proposal. The workshop got to critique the first three chapters of the finished novel, titled 99-Einstein. And I gotta tell you, after reading those three chapters I want to read the rest of that novel, but I have to wait another year for that one. The novel written as a proposal needed to be finished and then published first because of the timing of the subject matter. 24/7 deals with realitiy television, with a killer twist as the book cover claims. Someone takes control of a game show on an island, a hybrid of Survivor and Big Brother. The stakes are high. The contestants are playing for their lives.

Jim Brown came back to Eugene a week ago (he and his wife moved to Fresno where she still works as an anchor woman) for a book signing. He told us the publisher wants to change the name of 99-Einstein, which is too bad. I like that title. He's already written two novels beyond 99-Einstein, or as he said, he's working on two at the same time.

It was good to see Jim again. He's a familar face even if he wasn't in the workshop for long. He's more familiar because of doing the local news on television. I wish him the best of luck and success. And it appears he is doing well.






Tuesday, December 18



Tonight was the last workshop of the year. We ate goodies and read short-short stories aloud. I didn't read one, but I might have one to read on Christmas Eve.

Updates in the journal this month have been few and far between. Next month should be the opposite with me in seasonal lay-off from my job. I'll be home to write and read. Also plenty of time to update this journal about my writing progress. And if I'm not updatin' I must be slackin'.





Sunday, December 30

Three rejections arrived in the mail within the last week or two. One from F&SF, one from Analog, and one from Talebones. I just updated my storyboard tonight, even though I have all three stories packaged up and ready for the post office tomorrow. I'm just being official. Tomorrow night, before the year changes, I'll update the journal and say I have nine stories in the mail at the end of 2001. However, might I have a rejection tomorrow? Maybe a sale?

Tomorrow, I'm sending stories to Realms Of Fantasy, SciFi.com, and Writers Of The Future.

January will be a much better month for updating this here journal. I promise. I'm looking forward to my time off from the day job. Man, I could really use the break and have some "me" time. A eight hour works shift really takes a chunk out of one's day. Oh, the next couple of months are going to be so sweet.





Monday, December 31


For the end of the year I have nine stories in the mail and twenty-two rejections. That's not bad at all. I almost got as many rejections as the two previous years put together. In 1999 I had fourteen rejections, in 2000 I had ten. And nine stories in the mail is an all time high. I still didn't break the ten barrier, though.

No sale. At least in 2000 I had a sale. I'm not worried. 2002 will be a good year I think.

Tomorrow is a new year. And on Wednesday I officially start my writing season (also known as my seasonal layoff from the day-job). Woo-hoo!

To everyone out there, have a happy and productive and save new year!