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The Great Challenge – Week 16

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Shoulda posted this on Sunday. But I didn’t.

So yeah. 16 weeks down. And I finished another story. More success.

Is it just me, or is this becoming repetitive? 😉 Of course, that’s the point. Get into a routine so strong I can’t break it because psychological damage if I try to. And now, after four full months of this, it’s starting to feel that way.

Two weeks ago I really, really, REALLY didn’t want to write. But when Sunday came along I simply couldn’t face the prospect of not getting the story done; of breaking the streak. So I sucked it up and did it.

It was easier this week. Not nearly the same amount of resistance. But still, the thought of not gitting ‘r done never seriously crossed my mind.

Here’s the tally of challenge stories so far.

  1. Red Orchid – Romance – 3,800 words
  2. Debts And Obligations – Sword and Sorcery – 14,200 words
  3. Naughty And Nice – Modern Fantasy – 4,800 words
  4. Popper’s – Mystery – 4,100 words
  5. The Case Of The Missing Rocker – SciFi/Mystery – 7,200 words
  6. Fences And Neighbors – Post-Apocalyptic – 4,800 words
  7. Give A Dog A Bone – Doggy Mystery – 3,200 words
  8. Untitled – Romance – 5,300 words
  9. Lost On Cordant Station – Science Fiction – 8,560 words
  10. Kicking The Anthill – Urban Fantasy/Adventure – 3,863 words
  11. VIP Treatment – Modern Fantasy – 6,012 words
  12. A Man Of Faith – Religious/Supernatural Thriller Maybe? – 9,013 words
  13. Abe’s Liquors – Romantic Suspense – 2,951 words
  14. Cave Diving For Dummies – Sea Story/Suspense – 3,491 words
  15. Work Release – Science Fiction – 4,910 words
  16. Miss Melody And The Elf Spa – Fantasy – 4,175 words

That brings it to 90,400 words total for this challenge, and 128,287 words for the year over the span of 67.37 hours (1,904.31 words/hr on average).

The problem I’m facing now is what to do with them all. This is an issue I’ve had for a while, and I’ve discussed it here before. Besides these sixteen, I’ve got another fifteen or twenty stories that I’ve written since late 2015/early 2016 and haven’t done anything with.

Well, that’s not true. I’ve sent most of them out of submission to various professional markets. And none have sold. Now that I type that, it seems really pathetic, looking at it. Thirty-some stories, and no sales.

Well, that’s not quite right. In that same time period I had to professional sales to Fiction River. But somehow that doesn’t seem to count; I guess because I already had the sales before I started submitting the rest of the stories that I wrote alongside the particular stories that sold? Not sure if that makes sense.

Anyway, the newer ones still have a lot of venues to go through the submission grinder before I have to figure out what to really do with them. But a bunch of the older ones have just been sitting and languishing.

And as you know, because I’ve said it here before, I’m going to be putting those out individually and in collections over the next several months.

But damn, I can’t help but thinking I’ve really got a problem with Heinlein’s Rule #4. Except that’s not completely true. When Heinlein said “put it on the market” he meant submit it to publishers. And I’ve been doing that.

But not all the stories. And for some of them, after I’d gone through all the markets I wanted to submit them to I just didn’t do anything with them, when I should have indie published them long ago.

Oh well. I’m probably overthinking this.

Regardless, I’ll be remedying that lack of publication soon enough.

Case in point, as you saw from my last post wherein I presented my contribution to The Infinite Bard, I just released my short scifi mystery, Doppelganger. You can read it here for free, but I’d really like it if you’d also buy a copy, either directly from me or from one of the many great retailers who are now carrying it.

So standby, people! Lots of cool stories incoming!

I’m continuing my trend of Bookfunnel promotion participation. This month I’m once again giving away Glimmer Vale (Glimmer Vale Chronicles #1) in the Heroes and Heroines promotional giveaway. If you haven’t read it yet and you don’t mind joining my mailing list, go on over and have a look. There are also some 80 other authors participating. Plenty of great books to choose from.

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