Submissions...

I have been working with my poetry.  I am in the process of submitting my better works to different literary journals.  I started back in March 2014.  I heard from the first place I submitted.  They were all rejections without comment.

The next set of submissions went out in May 2014 and July 2014.  I still have yet to hear from the presses.  I am hopeful, but guarded.  I have gotten many of my earlier works published.  I am not sure about my later works.

And then there is today's round of submissions.  Most journal don't open until September and then close in December or May.  Especially if they are academic.  I sent out some more poetry.  But I also submitted two short stories.  I also spent the evening editing a short story that had been critiqued.

I have not been able to go to my local writers' group on a regular basis because of my father's health.  I went tonight and got some work done.  I would like to get another short story critiqued this month.  I have lots of short stories in need of constructive criticism.  That is one of the advantages of being active in a local writers' group.

I have also looked for new markets to submit works.  I will hold off on my poetry.  I want to focus on my short stories and get more of them submitted to different publishers.  But that will take time.

And the poetry will take time.  In eight to ten months, I would like to put together a chapbook of my published and unpublished work.  I already have eighteen different poems for it.  I think I will pay someone to put the chapbooks together for me.  Instead of trying to do it myself...    

Coming to terms with things...

My father is dying.  He has cancer.  He isn't a candidate for surgery.  He's supposed to get some tests that will reveal the extent of his illness.  Hopefully, it's confined to the esophagus/stomach.  His doctor wants to treat him with radiation/chemotherapy.  I won't know anymore until the middle of next week....

My brother is shaken up by things.  I'm not.  I've already come to terms with my father.  I'm tired of his tirades and temper tantrums about not having grandchildren.  My father has always been selfish and self-centered.  Everything revolves about him.  What he doesn't understand or want to deal with, he denies.

When my father dies, I feel a terrible burden will have been lifted from my shoulders.  There are certain things I've never told my father in order to simplify my life.  I never let him read any of my stories.  I went to an unbiased audience for constructive critiques and objective criticism.  I've never let him read any of my poetry.  I haven't let any of my family read my writings.

I find my voice in the written word.  I don't feel like apologizing for it.  I don't want to hurt their feelings.  I don't want to deal with my brother's egotism or his jealousy.  So my family has a limited view of who I really am as a writer.  I can write poetry and it'll have enough force to get a message across, whether in love or anguish.

The older I've gotten, the more writing has meant.  I don't holding back when I write.  It's different when I'm with family.  I don't say things to offend people and smile.  But all the while I'm counting down the days when I no longer have to.

How do I tell my father I'm no longer a Christian when he invokes Jesus to save him from the grave?
How do I tell him I've been attending a Reform Temple for four years and now am active in a Torah study?
How do I tell my father Jesus of Nazareth means nothing to me?

I've lived with these secrets for a long time.  I'm tired of being burdened by them.  My father's passing will ease things.  But they say even the newly converted are the worst when it comes to their former faiths...

Sending out submissions

I sent submissions for short stories and poetry this past week.  I need to attend more WUTA meetings and have my other short stories critiqued.  I also need to go back to Big Books and attend the month critiques for various novels.

I won't be able to that until January 2015.  I'd like to get back to WUTA next Tuesday evening at the Focal Point.  I have lots of material to read.  I finished a final edit of a novella.  I also got revision of Kepler Falling done.  I'll review it one more time before sending it out for a copy editor.

My next project is rewriting short stories and revising Redemption of Eden.  Those are some of my late summer/early fall writing goals....

Back to revising and editing Price of Command

Too much has happened lately.  However, I've gotten back into the revising/editing grind.  I'm currently working on Price of Command.  I had been working on Kepler Falling.  I want to have Price of Command submitted by October 2014.  That way, I can feel I've accomplished something.

Kepler Falling will be my next editing project after that.  Alas, I haven't been able to make WUTA meetings at all.  And it looks that way for the foreseeable future.

Regards and good writing....
Blake

What I call myself besides chronically unemployed....

I call myself a writer.  That's partly true.  However, I've been unemployed for nine years.  I used to work as an analytical chemist for a pharmaceutical company in Des Moines, IA.  After I became ill, I left that job.

But that company folded a year or two ago.  Now, I no longer have a verifiable work history.  The part-time jobs I've applied for have been courtesy clerks/baggers.  I've gotten nowhere with the two different grocery chains I've applied to in St. Louis, MO.

For kicks and grins, I reapplied to one of them electronically.  Several days later, I checked the status of the application.  It said, "No longer under consideration."  The company hadn't even filled the position.

So much for my bruised ego.  But that was to be expected given my outdated work history.  In this economy, if you're out of work for six months, no one wants to touch you.  I can't even imagine what an HR person would say for someone unemployed for ten years.

I've been dealing with my family's medical conditions too much to really work part-time.  I don't know from day to day or week to week what I'll be doing.  That would make it hard on a work schedule.  It's been even rough to find time to write with all the zaniness in my life currently.

I haven't tried looking for work in my old career since last year.  My scientific skills have atrophied.  I'm not current on the latest HPLC technology.  Most of the jobs I applied for are beneath my education or skill level.

Then again, in this economy, any job is a good job.  So I continue the charade of calling myself a writer and taking care of my parents...

BETA Short Stories

I spent the past two weeks revising several short stories for submission.  One story is complete and ready to go.  The other could stand more critiquing being I submit it.  I have several more short stories for the WUTA critique group.

But life has gotten in the way of me getting to the meetings on Tuesday evenings.  I'll make it next week (finally).  But I'm bringing poetry for a change.  The two short stories will be read over the next two months.  I'll start rewriting them as soon as I get feedback from WUTA.

Mad Dash for ebook purchases....

I've made the mistake of adding on to my reading lists.  I purchase about 6 books this weekend.  Several were pre-orders.  I spent yesterday reading a manuscript for WUTA Big Books.  I got done with the 141 pages and then wrote a brief summary of what I'd read.

But life has gotten in the way of my writing.  One of my parent's wrecked their cars.  I'm now involved with car shopping for them.  I wasn't able to make the session for my books.  Not that it'll matter.  I now have too many things on my plate...

1)  Revising poetry.  I've redone my older works and written newer pieces.  I'm waiting to submit them when the small academic press start taking submissions again in the late summer/fall.

2)  Short Stories.  I have about nine short stories.  Five that are part of the Kepler Cycle.  Two that are Desmon Singh shorts, and two that are stand-alone pieces.  I'm in the process of revising "The Scorpio Affair."  This work has seem major editing.  It'll need more work before I could in good conscience submit it.   "The Scorpio Affair" and the four other shorts will be part of a larger collection of Kepler Cycle stories when I get done with them.  I still need to revise "Polar Landfall," too.

3)  Kepler Falling.  Once I get all the short stories revised and ready for submissions, I'll then go back to Kepler Falling.  This story needs a lot of work.  More than I really dedicate to it, right now.  The poetry and short stories will keep me busy enough for the rest of 2014.

4)  Redemption of Eden.  That is my Big Books submission for 2015.

5)  Idea for another historical fiction/fantasy novel involving the Mongols.  To be developed more fully once i have revised the two Kepler cycle novels and have them ready for submission,