Steampost

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Well I’m technically at GenCon right now, but I thought that you might enjoy a post whilst I’m away. This blog is supposed to be dedicated to writing and costuming, but lately I haven’t had much time to devote to the costuming bit. So here’s a post dedicated just to steampunk. Hooray!

Some upcoming events in Ohio (and one in Indiana). Links are to facebook event pages, but many events also have listings on the Steampunk Empire:

GenCon Steampunk Meetup, August 6

Airship Archon sees 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, August 6

Steampunks Invade COSI For Adventure, August 21

The Second Annual Airship Archon Picnic, September 17

The Time Traveler’s Ball, September 24

The Third Annual Airship Archon RenFest Invasion, October 16

And here are a few photos of me and my friends at a recent invasion of the Santa Maria:

The Airship Archon group. We were posing with a lion statue in a fountain, but the lion got a bit lost!

Salena Van Eycke and I on the dock, about to board.

For more pictures of our adventures on the Santa Maria and at other events, you can visit my steampunk flickr set.

August Deadlines (and a little reflection)

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Holy crap, it’s August!

Well, here are some upcoming deadlines for science fiction, fantasy, horror and steampunk publications that pay either royalties or at least $.01/word. Don’t forget to check last month’s post for deadlines that might still be fresh!

Corrupts Absolutely – deadline extended to December 1

On Spec Magazine – August 31

As you can see, I haven’t had any time this month to research deadlines. I’ve been dealing with too much other stuff, from work and school and everything else. So maybe next month will be better…

Here’s a thing that I really like, by Ira Glass, that Wil Wheaton posted on his Google+.

Originally from here. I’m taking a lot of comfort from this. I feel like my work is at a crossroads–I’m not as good as I want to be, and I’ve reached a sort of plateau. I can either keep writing and hope to push through, or give up. My writing is just Okay.  Occasionally I churn out something that’s Good but never Spectacular. The trouble is, there’s no road map for getting from Okay to Spectacular. All you can do is keep working, and growing, and trying to improve. Easier said than done–improvement is such a nebulous thing. But hopefully I’ll get there. Just have to “keep plugging,” as my Dad says.

Onwards and upwards! See you at GenCon!

The Crimson Pact: Volume One…In PRINT!

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Exciting news: the publisher of The Crimson Pact is now producing print copies of the book!

It’s a beautiful book and I’m excited to see my story in print. It’s great that we’re going to be tapping into the market of hardcore print-only book lovers. I am, however, only ordering a few copies to start off with–I’m having a hard enough time selling copies of Historical Lovecraft, of which I ordered numerous print copies. People just don’t seem to be excited about spending $15 on a book at a con when they can purchase it as an ebook for less–and take up less room in the luggage they have to drag home!

Luckily, however, even if I never sell a single print copy, I’ll still see some dollars because of Alliteration Ink’s incredibly generous profit-sharing, which divvies up 75% of the profits among the authors. This is far more generous than most publishers and means that I see a small dividend every quarter, regardless of whether I succeed at selling the print books!

If you know you’d like to buy the print copy, please let me know so I can make sure to order one for you! I’ll probably be getting the copies from the publisher at Gencon.

Ba-Con in Review

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Check out my review of Ba-Con at Doctor Fantastique’s Show of Wonders!

In related news, Tor’s steampunk division has a twitter account, and they retweeted my article. There are a lot of steampunks who read their tweets! Wooo! I’m sure I should be, I dunno, aloof and unimpressed or something, but I’m not, so there. Every time someone retweets a tweet of mine or comments on my blog or tells me they liked a story I wrote, I still get a thrill.

I hope that thrill never goes away!

Gencon Schedule

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*this space left intentionally blank

Teehee!

For once, I’m going to a convention and not presenting a damn thing. No panels, no readings, no volunteering. Nada. And I’m super excited about it.

If you’re looking for me, though, my plan is to spend my days in the Writer’s Symposium. At night…well, we’ll see where the fun takes me, won’t we?

The only event I’m definitely  attending outside of the Writer’s Symposium is the Gencon Steampunk Meetup! Tell your friends!

Lessons from Rejection

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The inevitable has finally happened: I’ve started getting rejections.

And lots of them.

Some editors have the time/consideration to tell me why they’re rejecting my work, which is really helpful, and others don’t bother. But so far I’ve noted a few things that are proving helpful (and preventing me from crying about it).

  • Some editors will hate what another loved. This lesson I learned from a podcast editor, who hated the things that made “Shadows of the Darkest Jade” a Lovecraftian story worthy of being included in a Lovecraft anthology in the first place. This might seem like an obvious lesson, but it made me laugh (in a bitterly ironic kind of way), so it’s worth mentioning.
  • Every high comes with a low. This is, again, a fairly obvious lesson …but everyone experiences an ebb in their popularity/success and this is (one of) mine. I just have to roll with it.
  • The more work you produce, the more criticism/rejection you’ll receive. This is just statistics. I’m not sure whether the quality of my work is suffering with quantity, though, so I think I’m going to dial back how many submissions I’m writing just so I can focus on writing better quality submissions.  If I churn out 20 crummy stories, they will all be rejected; it’s better to focus and produce 2 really excellent stories that actually have a chance of being published.
  • The more risks you take the more you’ll be rejected. My stories lately have been less linear and traditional. They’re a little harder to sell because they’re in unusual formats or have unusual points of view. It may be that these stories are simply impossible (or really difficult) to sell, and I’ll have to compromise and return to linear storytelling if I want to sell stories. I like challenging myself, so this is frustrating, but I understand that readers like linear, third-person storytelling. And maybe I’m just not that good at writing in unusual formats and POVs and I should wait until I’m a more skilled writer to try this challenge again.
  • Sometimes it’s good to focus on non-writing parts of the business. Yes, being a better writer is the most important goal I have, but I also do other things to promote myself (like write blog posts!) that are important. It may be that this time of year, while the sun is shining, is a better time for me to focus on the self-promotion aspects of the business than the writing part. I think my writing is better in the winter. I am, at least, more focused…summer is full of distractions!
  • Not every event/publication is appropriate for a particular author’s work. As an example, I had a frustrating time at Ba-Con this weekend, even though the convention itself was a blast, because my panels were not well-attended. It just wasn’t the right crowd for what I was presenting–and that’s okay. It was the con’s first year, so there was no way to know what the response would be like! The steampunk presentations I did with other members of the Airship Archon were much more popular, which was awesome, so I’m content with that.

So, while I’m frustrated with the rejections I’ve been receiving lately, I think I have ferreted out the causes, and my attitude remains positive and hopeful. I also take comfort from the fact that many other, far more accomplished and talented authors than I have received far more rejections. I’m in good company.

Origins in Review

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My official review of Origins was just posted to the Dr. Fantastique’s website!

The review doesn’t mention this, but Origins was a great opportunity for me as a writer. I rubbed elbows with veteran writers like Jean Rabe, Mike Stackpole, Marc Tassin, and Don Bingle. I got advice from my mentor, Steve Saus. I met several exciting new authors like Bryan S. Young, RT Kaelin, and Janine Spendlove. I took home lots of useful advice and contacts, as well as some books! I’m looking forward to seeing some of these folks again at Gencon and learning more.

I’m also hoping to be an author guest at Origins again next year, if they’ll have me. I really enjoyed it and even managed to sell several copies of The Crimson Pact: Volume 1 (amusingly, my sales actually went up when Steve wasn’t sitting at the table…not sure whether that was more of a “riding better without training wheels” effect or a “cockblocking” effect, as all my customers were male).

I’m having a harder time moving copies of Historical Lovecraft. I was really banking on the name recognition (and the beautiful cover) helping to move the anthology, but I think it’s moving slowly for two reasons: 1. it has a higher price point than TCP because it’s a physical book and not an ebook/pdf and 2. it’s a physical book, so it’s heavier and bulkier than a CD, more trouble to carry around at a con, and a lot of people (especially geeks) are into the whole ebook movement. Several people asked whether the book was available as an ebook, so probably there was a small spike in sales of the ebook after the con; this is great for the publisher (and Innsmouth Free Press is a fabulous publisher!) but less great for me since I can’t sell copies of the ebook the way I can with TCP.

My other thought is that the anthology might sell better at a horror-themed convention where people are specifically looking for that kind of material. So that’s something to consider for the future!

July Deadlines!

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Git yer horror, steampunk, science fiction & fantasy deadlines here!*

Machine of Death, Volume 2 – July 15, 2011

The Benevolent Apocalypse Anthology – August 31, 2011

Corrupts Absolutely? A Dark Metahuman Fiction Reader – October 1, 2011

Dark Tales of Lost Civilizations – October 31, 2011

Trust & Treachery: Tales of Power, Intrigue, and Violence – December 15, 2011

Untied Shoelaces of the Mind – ongoing

The Journal of Unlikely Entomology – ongoing

Analog Magazine – ongoing (fiction and non-fiction)

Untreed Reads – ongoing (open to almost all genres, but especially interested in steampunk!)

ChiZine –  ongoing (Dark Fiction under 4,000 words only)

*These are by no means all the existing deadlines in these genres, just the ones that look promising to me. My criteria include markets that pay at least $.01/word and accept electronic submissions. Don’t forget to check last month’s post for deadlines that might still be open!

I’m particularly excited about the Journal of Unlikely Entomology. Who can resist the opportunity to write about bugs?

Ba-Con Schedule

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Well, it’s convention season, and I can tell because I’ve just finished writing my review of one convention and another is already coming up in less than two weeks. Crazy!

July’s convention will be Ba-Con, a local Columbus convention dedicated to geekery and bacon. I don’t eat bacon, but I’m going anyway because the lineup of events looks pretty awesome. Also, they’re letting me do some presentations!

Friday, July 8, 2011

07:00pm-08:00pm How to Write A Scary Story

12:30pm-01:30am Tales of Terror (Author Reading)

The Airship Archon will also be presenting the following:

Friday, July 8, 2011

10:00pm-11:00pm Becoming Who You Are: creating a Steampunk persona

11:30pm-12:30pm International Steampunk: Beyond Victoriana

Saturday, July 9, 2011

07:30pm-08:30pm Costuming on a Budget

09:30pm-10:30pm Steampunk: More Than Just Guns and Costuming

My friends at BigStyle Productions will also be in attendance, but they’re doing too many events to list them all here, so just click here to view their schedule!

So I’ll see you at Ba-Con, right? A pass for the entire weekend is only $35 at the door and there are now day passes too, so you really have no excuse.

Reviews!

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As a writer, it’s generally a good idea to avoid reading reviews of your work, just in case. I let other people point out good reviews to me, rather than go hunting, because you never know what you might find and my ego, while not fragile, is not up for a pummeling. (I’m still at the beginning of my journey and I’m a little worried that if I am knocked off my horse I won’t get back on again!)

Luckily, several good reviews have come along for anthologies that feature my stories:

It’s especially gratifying that several of these reviewers mention my stories–“Shadows of the Darkest Jade” and “An Ideal Vessel”, respectively–as favorite works they especially enjoyed. That’s definitely a boost my writer’s ego can use once in a while!

If you haven’t yet purchased copies of these anthologies, you can do so at the Amazon links above, or you can visit me at Origins Game Fair this weekend!