Writing Wednesday – September

Holy crap, it’s September.

Now, I know this happens every year, and it happens at the same time every year (amazing, that) but this year it feels like it snuck up on me. Partly it’s the home renovations, and partly it’s the last few weeks of getting Triad Blood ready to go off and be submitted.

Which, by the way, I did. Boom. Whoosh. Gone.

Huge “thank you!” to my beta reader folk – you guys made it so much better. And now, since Bold Strokes Books is an amazingly oiled machine of scheduling and functionality, I’ve got until January with no immediate work to do on the novel – my editor has it now.

I’m feeling a wee bit adrift, and mostly okay with that. I’ve had that one major focus for almost a year. By the way, isn’t it insane that I’m approaching a year since I left my job? I’m sure that was just a few weeks ago.

I have a couple of short stories due for some anthologies over the next month, and I have an idea I’m pursuing where I could finally dip my toes into releasing short fiction as individual downloadable e-books (which is terrifying, but I think maybe it’s time I tried it).

Anyway. Writing Wednesday is when I come here and be honest about how far I’ve come and how focused I’ve been, as I’m better motivated when I hold myself accountable out loud. Usually, there are two parts – I mention the novel, and then I mention short stuff.

The Novel

Uh. Done. Submitted. Now I wait for edits to come back in January.

Short Stuff

I didn’t submit something short last month, but with the push on the novel, I’m going to let that be okay if I submit two this month. Yes, the goal was to do one a month, but I’ve already had months where I did more than one, so I’m not going to freak out about missing the month where my manuscript was due.

Open Calls I Know About

Torquere Press has quite a few themed submission calls up right now, the earliest deadline for which is August 15th, 2015.

Unconventional Love – Short romantic fiction that revolves around attending a convention; deadline September 15th, 2015.

Girls on Campus: Lesbian Erotica – College setting lesbian erotica. Erotic romance also accepted; deadline September 15th, 2015.

Burning Bright – An anthology looking for stories exploring the darker side of Shifter romance; deadline September 30th, 2015.

Ink Stained Succubus – quite a few different calls, including M/f, F/m, M/M, and lots of different genre calls; earliest deadline is September 15th, 2015.

Men in Love – M/M Romance; deadline November 15th, 2015.

Covalent Bonds – Geeks in Love; deadline December 15th, 2015.

Year of the Superhero – The Book Smugglers, looking for superhero short fiction; Deadline December 31st, 2015.

Friends of Hyakinthos – Fantastical gay male-themed stories set during the time of Ancient Greece or involving Hellenism in later cultures; Deadline January 1st, 2016.

Other places to always check include the Lambda Literary Calls of Submission page.

Know of any other short fiction open calls for submission? Let me know in the comments.