Dispatches From a Promontory
I reach a little high place: one piece published, one on the way, and good news on the novel front…
Dispatches
Entry #6 in my ‘Dispatches’ series of updates on personal writing projects.
This summer has been hectic. My butt’s still sore from all the driving and the air here in Georgia has reached a level of heat and humidity that would make a Finnish sauna blush — but all in all, it’s been a great season.
Just last week, I embarked on a cross-country road trip with my dad and brother to get the latter started on a new job. A few weeks before that, I spent a whole week beachgoing in the Carolinas. Throw in a weekend wedding, some time spent finishing up a DND campaign (the Coalescence tie-in you might remember from Dispatch #1), and work on some new freelance writing contracts in between, and it’s been a busy month or two, to say the least.
I got some fun pictures out of all that travel, though, which I can’t help but share.
Along with a little bit of good writing news.
Updates on Coalescence
Two Novembers ago, I started on my fantasy novel project, and didn’t look up until I’d finished a refined draft a year later.
With that draft buttoned up, the next step was to get feedback, continue revision, and finally, send it out to literary agents — I wasn’t expecting any great success on that front, just hoping for improvement on my last novel submission project. I.e., to get a few full requests and some feedback, if I’m lucky.
For those who don’t know, getting a novel traditionally published (by one of the bigger publishing houses, then getting it onto the shelves of major bookstores) requires going through an agent. After submitting a preview of your book (query letter, first chapters, synopsis), you hope that the agent will take interest and ask to read the whole thing—that’s called a full manuscript request, which I have a little more info on if you’re curious about how to do something like that yourself.
And what do you know? Shortly after my second string of agent submissions, a full request! It was the first of its kind for me, and a huge encouragement. A week ago now, I also got a partial request from another agent. These requests mean that my querying materials are doing their job and that my story and writing aren’t so bad that they must be rejected on their face. Whew.
In the grand world of publishing, one full and one partial aren’t a stellar track record, I don’t think. Several fulls might bode well for a story’s publishing chances, but even then it wouldn’t be guaranteed. Still, requests like these are exactly what I was hoping for, and they mark the improvement that I hoped to achieve — on all accounts, it’s great news.
Now I have a few months to wait for the literary agents to read through what they’ve got and get back to me — on the off chance it’s a yes, we’ll keep talking. On the much more likely chance that it’s a no, I’ll hopefully at least have some feedback from them that can help guide my publication strategy for the rest of the series.
And while I wait, there’s more to write. And even more good news.
Short Stories, Poetry, and Creative Non-Fiction
While Coalescence has been under review from its readers and agents, I’ve taken a break from the novel drafting to work on my short stories, poetry, and other projects and see if I can get anything published on a smaller scale.
Boy oh boy has it been a wild ride.
I’ve written two or three solid (I hope) short stories, a couple of flash pieces, a good number of poems, and picked up submission efforts on a non-fiction piece I originally wrote for a Medium pub…which that pub did not like.
The short stories have been an eclectic mix: horror, science fiction, magical realism, psychological thrillers, a few experimental pieces — just a lot. As I draft and edit these pieces, I can actively see myself homing in on new topics and unusual voices I enjoy, and the results are both surprising and gratifying.
And in the middle of all that scattershot work: 3 acceptances…in 3 weeks!
The first acceptance was the most surprising of all — remember that piece I wrote for Medium that didn’t do so hot? Well that’ll technically be my first piece in a non-undergraduate print publication. Huge.
A few weeks later, two acceptances in about as many days — one for a short story I’ve been workshopping for 2 years now, and another for a piece of horror flash.
Funnily enough, I ended up withdrawing that 2-year-old short story since the circumstances around the acceptance were more than a little funky and the piece had changed massively since I first submitted it. That was a tough decision, but after checking with a few more senior writers knew that I was within my rights to withdraw and that it might be the best move. Hopefully it finds another home soon!
Meanwhile, the other two accepted pieces couldn’t have found better homes themselves. The horror flash fiction was published via Roi Fainéant Press this past Sunday, and preorders just opened for The Word’s Faire’s latest print anthology, The Feast, which will contain that creative non-fiction piece I mentioned.
As you can see, it’s been a busy couple months in the best of ways. Hugely productive, and not in the ways I would’ve expected. The publications and manuscript requests could be seen as small wins, but to me, they’re insanely encouraging. With Coalescence in particular, even though the odds of a traditional publication debut are small, I’ll be keeping my chin up as I work on the rest of the series.
For all those on Medium who’ve followed in the last month (or the last few years) thanks so much for your support and comments. Keep tuning in to see where these little experiments go next — I, for one, am excited to find out.
