Anthologies and Writing Update

If you look under my list of short stories, it's slowly growing. I sold another flash piece for Pill Hill Press' Daily Bites of Flesh anthology called Deadly Flat Tire. I also sold Dead Roses to Gone with the Dirt: Undead Dixie. This anthology contains stories about the south, during the Civil War, about zombies. I adore Gone with the Wind, so I really wanted to be included in this anthology. Don't you just love the cover? I love all of PHP's covers.

I also sold a short Christmas sweet romance story to Night Wolf Publications called My Christmas Luck in A Yuletide Wish anthology.

I use duotrope.com to find most of the anthologies. Duotrope is such a wonderful resource. You should check it out, if you haven't already.

I love writing short stories for anthologies. However, I'm going to stop writing them for the time being so I can clear my plate and gear up for Nano. November is almost here! I'm getting excited (while hubby is groaning, lol)

Do you write short stories? Have you ever tried to get into an anthology?

Writing Update

I'm finally getting back into writing somewhat consistently after giving birth to son #2. Yay!

I had a flash piece that I tried to sell to different magazines. No one wanted it so I chopped it up, changed the bad guy to a paranormal creature and submitted it to Pill Hill Press' Daily Flesh Anthology. A day later, I received a contract for it. Another yay! So now I will have two stories in it: Deadly Flat Tire and Zombies Don't Bite.

I also received contracts for a short sweet Christmas romance story called My Christmas Luck which will be in A Yuletide Wish from Night Wolf Publications.

I submitted a short story to Pill Hill Press' Gone with the Dirt anthology. Since Gone with the Wind is one of my all-time favorite movies, I had to submit a piece to this anthology. My story is called Black Roses and I should be hearing about it soon.

The Prideful Knight had been shortlisted for Pill Hill Press' Shadows and Light II anthology but when the editor looked over their slush pile, rejected it. So I sent them another story which is now on the shortlist.

I started to write a prequel to Hidden in Shadows to submit for an assassin anthology, forgetting that the market wants sword-and-sorcery type stories set before 1700's. So I started another story, with a FMC that I have a couple of other stories about, and submitted that. The editor liked it and asked for the rest of the story so I finished it and submitted it. This story is called Collecting Hearts.

I had written a paranormal romance short for ARe's contest but it wasn't picked as a semi-finalist so I submitted Never Shall We Part to More Scary Kisses. I really like this story. It's different than most paranormal romances.... no vampires or werewolves. But I'm gonna be a tease and not say what creatures. :P

I still have several other short stories currently on submissions to different magazines. One magazine, I've been waiting over 470 days on. It would be worth it though, I receive an acceptance. It's a pro market so that means 5 cents a word. Would definitely make my day to crack that market.

As for novels, a publisher and an agent both have the full MS of Hidden in Shadows. My stomach flip-flops each time I check my email. I also just about ready to start querying Alexia's Pen.

I'm also working hard on Champion of Valor. I've been slowly piecing together an outline and trying to make certain that there aren't any loose ends. I really want this book to satisfy my readers.

So that's my writing update. How's your writing going? What step are you at ? Querying? Submitting? Revising?

I'm in Print!

Bloody Carnival is now available for purchase! For a limited time (until the end of the year), you can purchase the hard back version. And the soft cover is on sale until Halloween. If you enjoy reading horror stories and being scared, this anthology is for you!

Author Interview with Cherie Reich

I'm here today with author/blogger Cherie Reich. I love reading Cherie's blog about her writing journey and her cute animals. :) It's amazing how well she's doing, but I'll let her share her good news herself.

So, Cherie, tell us your latest writing news.

It's been very exciting lately with my writing, especially last week. I received my contributor's copies of the Virginia English Bulletin. Back in March, my alternate ending to Gaines' A Lesson Before Dying won third place in Roanoke Valley's Big Read writing contest, and my winning entry was published in the Virginia English Bulletin, a literary magazine. On Thursday, I had my horror story "Freak Show" accepted into Pill Hill Press's Bloody Carnival anthology, which will be published in September. "Freak Show" is story about the monster in Once Upon a December Nightmare and its origins. On Saturday, I received an acceptance for my story "Tradition" for LL-Publications' Oil and Water anthology. The Oil and Water anthology is very special to me, and I'm honored to have my story accepted into that anthology because all the proceeds will go to help the Gulf Oil Spill victims. Oil and Water will be available in September, as well. In October, my fantasy story "Neptune's Treasure" will be published in Wyvern Publications' Mertales anthology. I also have plans to polish up my novels in the next month or two.

We're in two anthologies together - Mertales and Bloody Carnival. I love being in anthologies with blogging buddies. When did you first consider yourself a writer, Cherie?

To be honest, there are times when I still don't consider myself a writer. I wish I could say that I've always been writing, but I haven't. And, my English grades really told my lack of writing skills (not including grammar/spelling). Then, I began writing when roleplaying. Yet, I didn't consider myself serious about writing until January 2009. I started writing my first novel and never looked back.

I know that feeling. Sometimes it's hard for me to believe that I'm a writer, especially with the little ones needed so much of my time and energy! But they inspire me. Speaking of inspiring, what inspired you to write Once Upon a December Nightmare?

In December 2002, my friends and I wanted to go to dinner and a movie. We ended up riding around on an old mountain trail when the truck broke down. We walked to the main road and called my dad to pick us up. I kept thinking about what happened from time to time and thought it would be a great story. Then, I finally wrote it down in May 2009.

How did you come up with the title? I love it, by the way.


The title is Once Upon a December Nightmare. I know it is cliché, but I like the idea of "once upon a time." Usually, those four words denote a fairy tale, but bad things can happen in those tales, so I considered those words. Then, I remembered the song "Once Upon a December" from the movie Anastasia. When I was in choir, we used to sing that song. So I took that part and added the "nightmare" to it, since the story takes place in December and is a true nightmare to the characters. And, thus, Once Upon a December Nightmare was born.


A lot of fairy tales, in their 'true forms' were actually quite gruesome so I think your title is perfect. A lot of times, I struggle to pick a good title. What are your current projects?

I like to work on both short stories and longer works. I try to keep a list of what short stories I would like to write for various anthologies. I also am an author of the blog Raven and the Writing Desk, and I write a short story a month for it. I also write flash fiction every week and post it up on Fridays on my blog. I am also slowly working on a paranormal romance novella titled Panther Moon. Then, I have my novels. My work in progress novel is Moonlight Murders, which is a historical mystery set in 1891 London. Then, I'm rewriting/editing my two complete novels: Virtuoso (a YA Paranormal) and The Phoenix Prophetess (YA Epic Fantasy). In November, I will be participating in NaNoWriMo for the second year in a row. I will write my thriller/horror novel Sarah's Nightmare.

Ah, you're like me. I work on multiple projects at the same time too. If I get stuck on one, I move on to the next. What was the hardest part of writing your book?

I wrote Once Upon a December Nightmare in a few weeks in May. The story, at the time, was a little over 10,000 words, and I didn't find it hard to write it, since I considered writing the story down since the end of 2002. Then, when it was picked up by Wild Child Publishing, I learned the hard truth of writing: editing. It took me from April to the end of July to get through four edits of Once Upon a December Nightmare. The story went from 10,000 words in the beginning, down to 9,000 words at the first edit, to 11,000 words of character building. 

Editing is, at least in my opinion, one of the worst parts of writing. A necessary evil. Well, thanks for coming 'round, Cherie!


Some of Cherie's links for you to enjoy:


Blog
Website
To Purchase Once Upon a December Nightmare

Rejection and Acceptance

I recently submitted a short story to Pill Hill Press' Fem-Fangs Anthology called A Woman's Scorn. It's loosely based on the Venezuela legend of La Sayona but with vampires. Unfortunately, it was rejected.


Not to be deterred, because I really want to be in a short story anthology for Pill Hill Press, not just their flash fiction ones, I noticed that the deadline for their Bloody Carnival anthology was the 20th.


So on the 19th and 20th, I wrote a piece called Carnival of Shadows. It's really creepy, I even creeped myself out writing it. And just now, I received an email that it was accepted! *does the Snoopy dance*


Have any of you had any recent rejections/acceptances lately?

Magzine/Anthology Submissions and Rejections

I've been trying to break into the pro-rate magazine market since I started to submit my writing back in the late summer of 2008. Although I've sold several short stories for inclusions in anthologies, all I have to show from magazines are rejections.

As a result, I've submitted two short stories to Under the Moon for the stories to possibly be published in both ebook and chapbook formats.

But Under the Moon has a 5K minimum requirement, and many of my shorts are shorter than that. So I keep revising the stories and submitting them to the next pro-market magazine. One short story I've been waiting over 400 days to hear back on!

One place that I would love to get into their anthologies is Pill Hill Press. Now, I will have a flash piece in their Daily Flash Anthology. I'm waiting to hear back on a flash submission to their Daily Bites of Flesh Anthology. I've had several stories shortlisted for various anthologies, all ultimately rejected, although I have one shortlisted with their Shadows and Light II Anthology.

Recently, the deadline passed for their Flesh and Bones: Rise of the Necromancers Anthology. I really wanted to get into this book so I wrote a short story called "Deadly Revenge" and submitted it.

And received this rejection:

Dear Nicole,

 

Thank you for your submission. I enjoyed your story -- I felt terrible for the wizard who lost both his wife and only daughter in the fire -- but I'm going to pass on publishing "Deadly Revenge". I received several submissions with a similar plot and word count to your story, and I could only accept one.

 

I wish you the best of luck in finding a home for this piece, and I hope you continue to submit your work to Pill Hill Press.

 

Sincerely,

Jessy Marie Roberts

Not a bad rejection. But I still really wanted to be in this anthology so I wrote and submitted another piece entitled "Death Twice Over."

Yet another rejection:

Dear Nicole,

 

Thank you for submitting "Death Twice Over". Your story had very good characterization -- I felt sorry for the little boy and could easily understand his drive to perform necromancy to ressurect his mother, the only person who had ever shown him any love. The boy's actions/motivations were believable. However, we received so many submissions to this anthology -- I was amazed by the response -- and I had to select stories that I think fit well together (while, at the same time, being diverse). During my final selection process, I decided to pass on your story. I had three stories I kept until the very end, yours being one of them, and eventually selected an alternate submission for the final slot in the anthology.

 

I really like your writing style and encourage you to keep sending your work to Pill Hill Press.

 

Sincerely,

Jessy Marie Roberts

With this rejection letter, I can't help but feel that eventually, I'll be able to have a short story published in a Pill Hill Press anthology. How knows... maybe in their Fem-Fang Anthology? I need to hurry up and finish that story, the deadline is the 15th. You can check out all the calls for submissions for Pill Hill Press here.

How many of you have written short stories? Do you publish them in magazines? Or with epublishers? How have your experiences been with magazines?

Acceptance

I woke up this morning to a wonderful email - an acceptance from Pill Hill Press for a short (A New Magical Earth) in their Daily Flash anthology. It's a for the love of market but the exposure has to be good. Plus the flash piece only took me about a half hour to submit, edit down to under 500 words, and submit.

Other than that flash piece, my muse has been on vacation. Which is fine with me, after all I wrote 56k in 6 weeks to finish up Torn Between Murder and Love. But June it'll be back to the grind, I have several ideas that I want to get started on.

In the mean time, I'm getting ready for the Lori Foster Reader and Writer Get Together. I have so much to do yet and the conference is next week already! I'm really excited about going.

How are you all doing with your writing? Is your muse cooperating or giving you a hard time? I would love to hear about your latest WIP!

Courtly Love Winner and Knight of Glory

Drumroll please.....

The winner of the ARC of Knight of Glory.....


From all the great commenters (and comments) was....


Lexie!

I really hope you enjoy my book. If you want, send me an email with what you thought of it after you read it.

Other news:

Knight of Glory was released today! I am very excited about this release. I think it's my best novel to date (which I hope I always say about each new release, I want to always grow and be a better writer).

The blurb:

Sir Geoffrey, along with some companions, has been sent away from Arnhem, entrusted by Queen Aislinn for a special mission, and has to leave behind the mysterious lady Celestia. On his journey, he uncovers seeds of a sinister plot, learns a horrible secret, and makes a new friend in exile Jenanna.

Their mission completed, Geoffrey and his companions rush to two different kingdoms to ask for aid. Danger and betrayal lurks around every corner, and even allies have secrets that could prove deadly. Geoffrey's feelings for Celestia grow and wane. After learning some of Celestia's secrets, he begins to have second thoughts about his love for her and is even drawn to Jenanna

Rumors abound that the Speicans have enlisted a mage of their own, to work unspeakable, forbidden magic. The war between Speica and Arnhem has just begun. Will Geoffrey survive the battle to live another day and discover which woman he truly loves?

And a short excerpt:

One lady stood by herself in the middle of the ballroom. The dancers paraded around her, ignoring her, and she appeared to be in her own world. Geoffrey's feet guided him to her even before he thought about it. "Hello," he said, bowing lowly. He accepted her outstretched hand and brushed his lips against it. A complete gentleman, he released it as soon as his lips touched. To hold her hand any longer, especially without knowing her name, would disgrace her reputation. "My name is Geoffrey of Siva."

"Hello, Geoffrey," the vision of loveliness said. "It is a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine." Geoffrey took half a step back and drank in her beauty. Her complexion was unlike any that he had ever seen before, a pale faint blush color.

A single strand of long wavy hair tumbled from her elegant hairdo, and she twirled it around her finger. "I am known as Celestia," she said, her voice light and feathery.

"Well, Celestia, would you care for a dance?" Geoffrey's heart thundered. Is this the first stirrings of love? He found himself drawn to her, unable to tear his gaze away. Reaching out with his hand to hold her, he was shocked when she stepped backward.

"I would rather not."

"Oh." Geoffrey fought back a wave of disappointment and struggled to keep his face from showing his frustration and regret.

The corners of her ruby lips twitched, and she let loose a soft chuckle. "I have never made it a practice of mine to dance with strange men."

"But I'm not a strange man," Geoffrey rushed to protest.

"Ah, but I do not know you, do I? Let us talk awhile." She gestured to some chairs.

They walked over, pausing to allow the dancers room to twirl and glide, and sat down next to each other. "What kingdom are you from?" Geoffrey asked. He placed his hands in his lap, for lack of a better place to put them and suppressed the urge to crack his knuckles. He always cracked his knuckles whenever he felt unsure of himself. Once Brother Amicus had yelled at him for the distracting noise when it had broken the silence of the classroom after the monk had asked Geoffrey a question that he didn't know the answer to.

Celestia stared at him, her eyes pale, barely showing a hint of color. Green? Or blue? Geoffrey couldn't decide which, but he didn't minding gazing into her eyes, trying to decipher their color.

"I'd much rather talk about you. Tell me some of your daring adventures. You have had daring adventures?" She raised an arched eyebrow, and her lips curved into a teasing smile.

Also, in mid-February, the Classic Romance Revival put together a wonderful anthology called The Cupid Diaries: Moments in Time. My short story, A Squire's Love, is included in this wonderful tome! This story centers on the squire Leo, a character that is briefly mentioned in Knight of Glory. It's a cute, heart-warming story in which Leo faces family difficulty put still has time to save a damsel in distress.

I submitted a short story to Pill Hill Press for their Atlantis anthology but was rejected. (Boo hiss) I'm going to try to work on it a little before sending it out.

So what's next? Well, I have a short story in another anthology to be released next month, in Desert Breeze Publishing's Be Mused Anthology. But as for writing, I think I am going to focus on completely redoing the beginning to The Land of Imagining. Work on Alexia's character, add more action to the beginning. The middle and end are done, it's just the opening that is giving me grief. Then I'll send it to a friend's teenage daughter so I can finally have a younger perspective on it.

To check out where I've been lately, read the latest issue of the Avoid Writer's Hell magazine. Toward the back of the issue, Shiela interviewed me.

So that's what's new with me. What's new with all of you? What are you working on?

Writing Update

I know, I know, it's been a little while since I updated. I'm sorry but I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that everyone has a prosperous and delightful new year! I'm hoping that 2010 will be a huge year for me, writing wise.

Speaking of writing, I recently submitted a short story, The Last Raid Against Lushfield, to Pill Hill Press for their Four Horsemen Anthology. Unfortunately, they rejected it, but the rejection letter was rather nice:

Thank you for your recent submission to Pill Hill Press' The Four Horsemen: An Anthology of Conquest, War, Famine & Death. Unfortunately, I have decided to pass on your story. This is not reflective of the quality of your writing, I just didn't feel it was a good fit for this anthology.

I carefully considered "The Last Raid Against Lushfield" -- it was shortlisted. Great story and I hope you find a home for it in a different market.

I hope you will continue to submit your work to Pill Hill Press (see the "Open Submissions" page of our website - www.pillhillpress.com), and wish you the best of luck in all of your writing endeavors.


As far as rejection letters go, that is pretty much the best you're gonna get. Now I'm off to find another home for it. I do think this one will find a home quickly, it is one of my better shorts. It's also set in the same world as my Kingdom of Arnhem series.

Which leads me to the P&E 2009 polls. Woman of Honor is nominated in the annual Preditors & Editors Readers Poll. If you read and enjoyed Woman of Honor, please cast your vote for me here.

You'll have to enter your name, e-mail address, and type two verification words. Click the link in the confirmation e-mail, and your vote is counted!

Woman of Honor is also up for Romance Novels and me under authors.

Thanks! And I promise it won't be so long before I post again.