I'm tired of dealing with literary journals. My poetry has been rejected once again as unusable without any explanation. Other that it didn't meet the current publishing requirements via a form letter. I save my rejections letters. It's a history of where I've applied and where I don't need to, again.
What they don't tell you that your work wasn't left-leaning enough, you didn't graduate from the right undergraduate institution, and you didn't sleep with the editorial staff while in graduate school. I'm amazed some of these presses are still in business, other than to nurture said baby-academic writers.
Am I too cynical? I sent my best work to them. And when I mean my best, it was my best. Only to be gutted by silent, pro-forma rejection. What qualifies as acceptable work?
I wonder....
Saturday, February 24, 2018
Saturday, February 17, 2018
Completed projects....
I completed the rewrite of my draft of Kepler Falling earlier this month. I'm now working the rough draft for Eternity's Edge. I'm also working on my weekly critique and revision of Nordic Sun, too. That should be done in ten weeks...
Blake Wood Walker
Blake Wood Walker
Friday, December 8, 2017
Year end review....
I thought I'd do a year end review of my current writing projects. Here we go:
1) Kepler Falling 3rd Draft Rewrite: I'm about 60% through my rewriting of the third draft of Kelper Falling. I wanted this done by New Years 2018. Looks like the spring of 2018, now. I'm further behind than I'd like in getting done with this rewrite. I might have bit more off than I could chew, however...
2) Eternity's Edge 1st Rough Draft: I have about 26,000 words written. I don't know how many more I'll do. Maybe another 25,000 words for 50,000 plus word novel. I should aim for 60,000 and then cull the manuscript when I go to revise it the first time through. I'd like to have this done by July 1, 2018....
3) Nordic Sun WUTA Critique: This is still underway. It'll take a while to get done, unfortunately....
4) Johannesburg Passage WUTA Critique: Not started yet.
5) Ganbaatar WUTA Critique: Not started yet.
6) Vanishing Point WUTA Critique: Not started yet.
7) Jesus Christ - Necromancer WUTA Critique: Not started yet.
1) Kepler Falling 3rd Draft Rewrite: I'm about 60% through my rewriting of the third draft of Kelper Falling. I wanted this done by New Years 2018. Looks like the spring of 2018, now. I'm further behind than I'd like in getting done with this rewrite. I might have bit more off than I could chew, however...
2) Eternity's Edge 1st Rough Draft: I have about 26,000 words written. I don't know how many more I'll do. Maybe another 25,000 words for 50,000 plus word novel. I should aim for 60,000 and then cull the manuscript when I go to revise it the first time through. I'd like to have this done by July 1, 2018....
3) Nordic Sun WUTA Critique: This is still underway. It'll take a while to get done, unfortunately....
4) Johannesburg Passage WUTA Critique: Not started yet.
5) Ganbaatar WUTA Critique: Not started yet.
6) Vanishing Point WUTA Critique: Not started yet.
7) Jesus Christ - Necromancer WUTA Critique: Not started yet.
Tuesday, November 21, 2017
Weekly rewriting/revision grind: part II
Here are my weekly rewriting/revision projects:
1) Kepler Falling. I've been rewriting this manuscript for a while. I don't think I'll have it done until spring 2018. The damn thing is taking much longer than I anticipated. Life got in the way of my writing, unfortunately. On the bright side, I think about 60% complete with the current rewrite. This is the manuscript's third draft....
2) Nordic Sun. I've been taking this to my local writers group, Writers Under the Arch. I've been using their feedback to revise the novella. Nordic Sun is undergoing its second revision. I hope to have this completed by March 2018....
3) I've shelved Eternity's Edge writing until I get done with the Kepler Falling rewrite. That project has been backlog to the rest of 2018...
Kepler Falling is a sci-fi novel where a woman astrophysicist must make hard choices concerning a girl she loves on a sabotaged, sub-light interstellar colonization effort to a distant star system. The choices the main character makes determines the outcome of the novel.
Eternity's Edge is the sequel to Kepler Falling. This time, the story is told from the prospective of the child who was saved aboard the Johannes Kepler. Now an adult, she journey's to the edge of the universe with immortal descendants of survivors who settled Proxima Centauri aboard the FTL vessel, the Beersheba. With their Yahweh leaders, the humans interact with a race of giant, intelligent praying mantises, who react to their presence.
Nordic Sun is a hard sci-fi novella about a Scandinavian interstellar expedition that finds out the terrestrial satellite they chose to colonization has already been claimed by another intelligent race who terraformed the world to their needs. Hilarity and misunderstanding ensues.
1) Kepler Falling. I've been rewriting this manuscript for a while. I don't think I'll have it done until spring 2018. The damn thing is taking much longer than I anticipated. Life got in the way of my writing, unfortunately. On the bright side, I think about 60% complete with the current rewrite. This is the manuscript's third draft....
2) Nordic Sun. I've been taking this to my local writers group, Writers Under the Arch. I've been using their feedback to revise the novella. Nordic Sun is undergoing its second revision. I hope to have this completed by March 2018....
3) I've shelved Eternity's Edge writing until I get done with the Kepler Falling rewrite. That project has been backlog to the rest of 2018...
Kepler Falling is a sci-fi novel where a woman astrophysicist must make hard choices concerning a girl she loves on a sabotaged, sub-light interstellar colonization effort to a distant star system. The choices the main character makes determines the outcome of the novel.
Eternity's Edge is the sequel to Kepler Falling. This time, the story is told from the prospective of the child who was saved aboard the Johannes Kepler. Now an adult, she journey's to the edge of the universe with immortal descendants of survivors who settled Proxima Centauri aboard the FTL vessel, the Beersheba. With their Yahweh leaders, the humans interact with a race of giant, intelligent praying mantises, who react to their presence.
Nordic Sun is a hard sci-fi novella about a Scandinavian interstellar expedition that finds out the terrestrial satellite they chose to colonization has already been claimed by another intelligent race who terraformed the world to their needs. Hilarity and misunderstanding ensues.
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
Monthly rewriting/revision grind...
I started blogging on Linkedin.com about my weekly rewriting/revisions/writing projects on my laptop. Here's where I'm currently at this month:
1) Kepler Falling: I have about 200 pages worth of rewriting done. I thought I could get done by New Years Day 2018. That won't happen. I'll be lucky if I finish up by my birthday in March 2018.
2) Eternity's Edge: I have about 25,000 words. I need another 25,000 words for a manuscript. I'd like to have the rough draft done by June 2018.
3) Nordic Sun: I'm on the eighth week of 23 weeks worth of critiques for WUTA. This will keep me going until March 2018.
4) Other Novellas/Short Stories: Those projects will take the WUTA critique group until the end of October 2018 to get through with critiquing and revising/editing....
Blake Wood Walker
1) Kepler Falling: I have about 200 pages worth of rewriting done. I thought I could get done by New Years Day 2018. That won't happen. I'll be lucky if I finish up by my birthday in March 2018.
2) Eternity's Edge: I have about 25,000 words. I need another 25,000 words for a manuscript. I'd like to have the rough draft done by June 2018.
3) Nordic Sun: I'm on the eighth week of 23 weeks worth of critiques for WUTA. This will keep me going until March 2018.
4) Other Novellas/Short Stories: Those projects will take the WUTA critique group until the end of October 2018 to get through with critiquing and revising/editing....
Blake Wood Walker
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Current writing projects....
I'm working on the writing the third draft of Kepler Falling. It will take until New Years Day 2018 to get the novel done. I'm also starting to revise and write Eternity's Edge. That's the sequel to Kepler Falling. I don't know whether it will just a novella or a full length novel, yet. I started the chapter outlines last week, however....
I'm also revising Nordic Sun. That should take until the winter of 2018 to complete.
Regards,
Blake
I'm also revising Nordic Sun. That should take until the winter of 2018 to complete.
Regards,
Blake
Friday, August 18, 2017
Want to know a secret about Sapper Joe's reading list....
Want to know a secret about Sapper Joe's reading list? It's all audio-books! I set out to read 30 book by the end of 2017. I've now achieved that goal.
Being a writer, you're required to read to keep abreast of the field of new and emerging authors. It helps to know who your competition is. In fiction, you're labeled by what genera you write. It determines how your books are marketed and how they are sold. The publishing houses came up with it as a way to market their "brands." It's lazy and stupid. Because there are many good writers who's work defies labeling.
But, it's the only game in town. I've been reading science fiction and fantasy since I was ten (except for a break of ten years). It's what I write and am familiar. I also read military history and biographies. Sapper Joe listens exclusively to military history. He's listened to about 30 books on the Russian Civil War. Sapper Joe doesn't read fiction and hates most commercial published works.
I read 50 pages per day/four days per week. Two books are nonfiction. Two books are fiction. I read both hard copies and NOOK ebooks. The rules for writing nonfiction are the total opposite of fiction writing. Most authors are either nonfiction or fiction. Then there's genera. Science fiction and fantasy are lumped together. They are really two separate markets. If it involves magic and fairies and vampires, it's fantasy. If it involves plastisteel starships, sci-fi.
Right now, there's a dearth of chick-lit vampire/zombie porn being written and marketed because that what's selling. If it has sex and demons and no plot, that will sell, too. There's some steampunk/alternative history, too. Not too much military sci-fi or decent speculative fiction besides Jack Campbell's Lost Fleet Series and Melunch's Tour of the Merrimack Series. I don't consider Star Wars/Star Trek serious speculative fiction. It has it's fan base. I like to think, so that leaves me out.
WH40K and the Horus Heresy series are almost as bad as Star Wars/Star Trek. Depending on the authors, the books either well written and enjoy or a dredge to read. I thought I'd put my two cents on my own reading. I like popcorn military action in enjoyable amounts. Military sci-fi is an acquired taste. I've broadened out my reading of female military sci-fi to see who writes it well. I've found a few pleasant surprises like William Deitz's Andromeda's War and Legion of the Damned series.
My other interest in military history. I've read a tremendous amount on the Vietnam War and First Indochina War. I've also read about more recent conflicts like Iraq and Afghanistan. Some recent books have included:
The Rhodesian War: A Military History by Moorecroft; The Roman Empire and the Silk Road; Four Days in September; A Devil of a Whipping: The Battle of Cowpens; The Road to Guilford Courthouse: The American Revolution in the Carolinas; The Madness of Alexander the Great; and Empire of the Summer Moon.
The reading piles has about 55 more books before I'm caught up. I'm looking by the end of 2019 to done with all my current read. That doesn't include the manuscripts I review and critique as part of a local writing workshop. However, I am making progress.... lol. However, slow.
Being a writer, you're required to read to keep abreast of the field of new and emerging authors. It helps to know who your competition is. In fiction, you're labeled by what genera you write. It determines how your books are marketed and how they are sold. The publishing houses came up with it as a way to market their "brands." It's lazy and stupid. Because there are many good writers who's work defies labeling.
But, it's the only game in town. I've been reading science fiction and fantasy since I was ten (except for a break of ten years). It's what I write and am familiar. I also read military history and biographies. Sapper Joe listens exclusively to military history. He's listened to about 30 books on the Russian Civil War. Sapper Joe doesn't read fiction and hates most commercial published works.
I read 50 pages per day/four days per week. Two books are nonfiction. Two books are fiction. I read both hard copies and NOOK ebooks. The rules for writing nonfiction are the total opposite of fiction writing. Most authors are either nonfiction or fiction. Then there's genera. Science fiction and fantasy are lumped together. They are really two separate markets. If it involves magic and fairies and vampires, it's fantasy. If it involves plastisteel starships, sci-fi.
Right now, there's a dearth of chick-lit vampire/zombie porn being written and marketed because that what's selling. If it has sex and demons and no plot, that will sell, too. There's some steampunk/alternative history, too. Not too much military sci-fi or decent speculative fiction besides Jack Campbell's Lost Fleet Series and Melunch's Tour of the Merrimack Series. I don't consider Star Wars/Star Trek serious speculative fiction. It has it's fan base. I like to think, so that leaves me out.
WH40K and the Horus Heresy series are almost as bad as Star Wars/Star Trek. Depending on the authors, the books either well written and enjoy or a dredge to read. I thought I'd put my two cents on my own reading. I like popcorn military action in enjoyable amounts. Military sci-fi is an acquired taste. I've broadened out my reading of female military sci-fi to see who writes it well. I've found a few pleasant surprises like William Deitz's Andromeda's War and Legion of the Damned series.
My other interest in military history. I've read a tremendous amount on the Vietnam War and First Indochina War. I've also read about more recent conflicts like Iraq and Afghanistan. Some recent books have included:
The Rhodesian War: A Military History by Moorecroft; The Roman Empire and the Silk Road; Four Days in September; A Devil of a Whipping: The Battle of Cowpens; The Road to Guilford Courthouse: The American Revolution in the Carolinas; The Madness of Alexander the Great; and Empire of the Summer Moon.
The reading piles has about 55 more books before I'm caught up. I'm looking by the end of 2019 to done with all my current read. That doesn't include the manuscripts I review and critique as part of a local writing workshop. However, I am making progress.... lol. However, slow.
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