Success!

Congrats, HL!

New story out at Triptych Tales. My first of 2016.
'Sober Kevin...'
http://triptychtales.net/sober_kevin_is_a_bch.html

*may contain wild profanity & alternate timelines

Very nice!

Thanks, all!

New story out at Triptych Tales. My first of 2016.
'Sober Kevin...'
http://triptychtales.net/sober_kevin_is_a_bch.html

*may contain wild profanity & alternate timelines

That turned into something much more profound and beautiful than I was expecting.

Further to posts in Mixed Feelings, where we drifted off topic: contract signed! Flash Fiction Online will publish "This is the Sound of the End of the World" in March (or maybe April). This is a great comfort to me as it means WotF was not a fluke, and thus I have moved one step up the heirarchy of doubt. Next up: a long barren patch to make me wonder where I've gone wrong.

So - another professional sale, well done!

Huzzah!

Looking forward to seeing how that one changed in edits!

Congrats Matt! I have to tell you, that title just sounds amazing, I can't wait to read it!

And I don't think WotF works on flukes...

I don't think WotF works on flukes...

Do you think my impostor syndrome cares about details like that?

Cheers for the congratulations, all. I look forward to posting here again soon (that's a wish, not a hint. I wish it were a hint.)

Congrats, Matt!

I don't think WotF works on flukes...

Do you think my impostor syndrome cares about details like that?

Cheers for the congratulations, all. I look forward to posting here again soon (that's a wish, not a hint. I wish it were a hint.)

I'm certain you will be. Congrats!

New story out at Triptych Tales. My first of 2016.
'Sober Kevin...'
http://triptychtales.net/sober_kevin_is_a_bch.html

*may contain wild profanity & alternate timelines

I was grabbed by the title and moved by the story. Very nice work, I have to say.

Wow, lots of great stuff going on here while I was gone. Congrats guys!

Might be something about Eldritch and Doh-Vee?

Might be something about Eldritch and Doh-Vee?

Ha, might be. Technically they've accepted, but they want a revision to even out the narration (which I'm doing tonight), and so I've not signed anything yet. But I've clicked the big "YES PUBLISH ME DEAR GOD PRINT MY STORY"* button on their submissions manager, so I'm pretty sure it's a done deal... but until that contract is signed, I ain't counting my chickens.

Which is mighty nice, to go from nothing at all through 2012, 2013, 2014, and most of 2015... to WotF, FFO and then a third pro market. CRaES won't qualify for SFWA until they've survived a year, but assuming they do, I think that I'm now a pro...?

*I may be paraphrasing the actual button here

Congratulations, Matt. Looks like I'm in good company. I also have a 53 day acceptance from cosmic. Minor edits required. Don't know what they are yet. So I haven't counted my chickens yet either.

Congrats to you both!

Congrats to the Cosmic stars!

Here's more fodder for Matt's imposter syndrome to struggle against: a story we co-wrote has just been accepted for Alliteration Ink's "No Shit" anthology!

It's a very ridiculous fantasy parody, too.

This is the story of the most ridiculous title. A title which, in fact, ended up being complimented specifically by the editor. This will not end well. There's a world record for the longest album title; I reckon we can top that with a short story title.

Fun fact: Rachael K Jones, also of WotF 32, will be in it as well. Huzzah!

I will add that album title to my stock of knowledge about Chumbawumba. Which so far contained only my knowledge that the song "Tubthumping" is a thing that exists.

To be fair, the only other thing I know about Chumbawumba is that they once threw water over the Deputy Prime Minister at the Brit awards, and I've been alive and conscious in the UK throughout their musical "career". I was originally going to link the Fiona Apple album, but discovered that it is no longer the longest title despite being a much cooler reference. Alas.

And that's the Cosmic Roots & Eldritch Shores contract signed.

That's 3 pro acceptances in a month.

Brain cannot too much comprehension escapes pretty flowers what is this I don't even

And that's the Cosmic Roots & Eldritch Shores contract signed.

That's 3 pro acceptances in a month.

Brain cannot too much comprehension escapes pretty flowers what is this I don't even

Wow! Congrats. Keep up the momentum.

It's good you won the contest first, then. Before you started your pro spree.

Congrats, Matt

It's good you won the contest first, then. Before you started your pro spree.

I know! One more in the next two months and I've pro'd out in the time from winning WotF (first ever sale) to going to the workshop. If you count the WotF story, I already have pro'd out, with 4 pro sales.

I always felt slightly arrogant and sheepish about the fact I only submitted to WotF so I didn't risk pro-ing out, because really, what were the chances? Well... /blushes

Just to set everyone's minds at ease, I have also had 17 rejections in the time since the first of those accepted stories was submitted, with another 6 outstanding. It is still a miss far more often than it's a hit, and I don't expect that will ever, ever change; not for me, not for anyone

Cheers all!

It's good you won the contest first, then. Before you started your pro spree.

I know! One more in the next two months and I've pro'd out in the time from winning WotF (first ever sale) to going to the workshop. If you count the WotF story, I already have pro'd out, with 4 pro sales.

I always felt slightly arrogant and sheepish about the fact I only submitted to WotF so I didn't risk pro-ing out, because really, what were the chances? Well... /blushes

Just to set everyone's minds at ease, I have also had 17 rejections in the time since the first of those accepted stories was submitted, with another 6 outstanding. It is still a miss far more often than it's a hit, and I don't expect that will ever, ever change; not for me, not for anyone

Cheers all!

You do realize that you give the rest of us hope (or at least me), because you got rejected for so long then hit the ultimate winning streak! If it happened to you, it can happen to the rest of us!

Tell that to your imposter syndrome!

It's good you won the contest first, then. Before you started your pro spree.

I know! One more in the next two months and I've pro'd out in the time from winning WotF (first ever sale) to going to the workshop. If you count the WotF story, I already have pro'd out, with 4 pro sales.

I always felt slightly arrogant and sheepish about the fact I only submitted to WotF so I didn't risk pro-ing out, because really, what were the chances? Well... /blushes

Just to set everyone's minds at ease, I have also had 17 rejections in the time since the first of those accepted stories was submitted, with another 6 outstanding. It is still a miss far more often than it's a hit, and I don't expect that will ever, ever change; not for me, not for anyone

Cheers all!

Uh, 17 rejections is an average month for me, just saying

Do you suppose, not to discount for a moment the high quality of your writing, that your WOTF win has increased your odds in the other markets? Just wondering.

Uh, 17 rejections is an average month for me, just saying

Do you suppose, not to discount for a moment the high quality of your writing, that your WOTF win has increased your odds in the other markets? Just wondering.

I don't know if it's increased my odds; to a large extent, this streak is an artificial bubble of success because I'm finally sending out all the stories I've sat on for years while I've only been subbing to WotF (mostly, anyway). In the three years to Oct 2015 I had 45 submissions to my name; in the six months since, I've added another 33. Two of the three acceptances were stories written before my WotF win; only the one co-written with Stewart has been since.

But it does feel, anecdotally & purely as a gut feeling, that I'm getting a higher ratio of personals than I used to. Perhaps only because it gives an editor something to say--more than one has proffered congratulations on the win after mentioning it in a cover letter. Which goes to prove that it is a genuinely well thought of contest, I suppose, and worth entering!

Outrageous brag post alert!

I've sold a story to Defying Doomsday, the anthology of "apocalypse-survival fiction with a focus on disabled characters." It's being issued by Twelfth Planet Press in Australia and its a pro-paying market and my longest sale yet--at 4200 words. It's even coming out in hardback. (Drool)

Best of all, fellow contributors include New York Times bestselling writer Seanan McGuire and 2014 Hugo winner John Chu.

Anyhow, having popped up out of nowhere and bragged a bit, I'll now make my excuses. It's true I don't come here much now. I gave some reasons why on my blog a little while ago. It's not primarily because of last year's Hugos (although it's related to that and that's a small part of the reason). Another reason is clearly since KD Wentworth passed away WotF is obviously a more difficult market for me so I don't find it very motivating anymore. And this forum is simply a drain on time too--I try to spend less time on Facebook as well. Nevertheless I reserve the right to visit for the occasional brag due to past history!

Ok, that's not quite true either. I wouldn't have bothered to come back even to brag about my latest sale if it hadn't been for the fact that the story in question is another of those WotF form rejection types. Said story, titled "In the Sky with Diamonds" was unchanged from the time it was rejected here at WotF to its current sale to the Defying Doomsday anthology. I hadn't changed even one word I'm pretty sure because it was also the only story I've ever written to receive a personal R from Clarkesworld magazine (it received the comment your story was "close"), so on that basis alone I was convinced it couldn't be that bad.

So yes, I thought I should come along to offer hope to the starving. Even if your story is form rejected here that doesn't necessarily mean it's total gator dung. Of course, there's a good chance it is total gator dung especially if every other top market form rejects it too. (We all have at least one or two of those, admit it. Don't we? Don't we? *shifty eyes*). But WotF is only one market. For a long time I didn't realize that. I understand the importance of matching stories to markets much better now, although unfortunately I'm still terrible at it. If I was better maybe I'd sell more!

Anyhow, that's it, I'm resubmerging into the swamp.

Later gators.