27 January 2008

Oh the Snow


My eyes are still a bit sun-affected after spending the day in the snow up in the Gifford Pinchot forest, above Swift Resevoir and south of Mount St. Helens. At Eagle Cliff, a sheriff flashed his lights at us to say that the roads ahead were unplowed with 14"-16" of new snow.

"I turned around. Not going to make a mail run today. But you can go if you want," he said. "Not like you can go off the road. The sides are all piled up."

Up the road to Curly Creek, we followed a truck pulling a snowmobile trailer, staying in the tracks cut ahead of us. The big fir trees were so weighed down by the snow they looked like folded up umbrellas. The Jeep slipped around, but Rick kept us more or less on track in between the walls, kind of like a pinball. Sans the giant flippers.

Random thought? It's a fine line of perspective whether you see your place and feel like you have something to do with how and why you are there or you feel like someone else got you into this mess and that same someone should probably step up and make it better for you.

Submission count this weekend: 13

Sherri

19 January 2008

Some days the bear wins

Three rejections today. One is another from a mag I have been trying to break for the last year. I hadn't heard from them after going on 4 months, and I was fairy-tale hopeful that this was the one. To be fair, it was a handwritten note on my cover letter. The last one from them was a personal letter on their own letterhead saying I had been in the final selection round, thank you but no thank you. Not sure which is better.

Glimmer Train announces on their website that they are accepting simultaneous submissions now. A toast to all mags that accept the simultaneous. May your production always be flawless and your sales exceed inventory.

Working on a draft of something new in time for Monday's Hot Pages. So to quote one of the masters of rejections, Howard Junker, "Onward!"

Sherri

15 January 2008

Etchings publication

"Road Dogs" has been accepted in print in the upcoming issue of Etchings: The Art of Conversation. The editor, Patrick Allington, sent me proofs yesterday and I made two changes and sent it back. I am very excited to see this particular story in print. Vincent and Lena are two of my most favorite and dear characters.

The history of this story is also tied back to the beginning of my second life. It is the first piece finished when I began to write again, working out some debilitating self-doubt. I remain ever grateful to Christy Krug from Wildfire Writing for her gentle, selfless, unwavering support while I exorcised my demons and began to heal. Not to be dramatic, but the experience changed my life.

Perhaps exactly why I love Vincent and Lena so much.
Sherri

13 January 2008

Jan 2008

So begins the new year and my first attempt at the online media.

2008 begins with "Thicker Than Water" published online in Bewildering Stories Issue 273:

http://www.bewilderingstories.com/issue273/thicker_water.html

This is an excerpt of a novel-in-progress of the same name.

The long story is that I had submitted a different story to Bewildering Stories and it was accepted - provided I would remove the profanity. So I debated whether to edit or withdraw for a few days. When I finally decided to withdraw it from consideration, the response was a request for another story. With nothing else appropriate for the profanity requirement, I compiled a piece from the novel-in-progress, and it was accepted.

As a further footnote, just days later, the other story (Doing Time In the Real World) was accepted - profanity intact - by the Noneuclidean Cafe and will be published sometime soon in the Winter edition. I will forward a link as soon as I am notified.

Thanks for all you support and encouragement! I am looking forward to a new year, new stories and a new experience here in the world of blog.

Sherri