Quills Conference 2023 comes to a close

 This Quills Conference was memorable for a couple of reasons. One, I'm no longer part of the executive committee. Every year or two, we cycle in a new President Elect, the old President Elect becomes President, and the President becomes Past President. I've been the Past President for two years, so I am now out to pasture for a bit before finding where I want to land in the local writing community. I gave a nice (and short) speech on focus, and that you find more of what you look for. So go looking for success, and do things successful authors do, and hang out with successful people.

Also memorable was winning two first place awards on the writing contests.

The first win was for my unpublished short story "Scrappers of the Great Starship" about a guy who makes a meager living scrounging scrap from an old starship that crashed generations earlier.

The second was a tie for first place for the Gold Quill in the Collections catergory of published works with The Best of the Planetary Anthology Series which can be found on Amazon. I've updated the cover to include the emblem for the award as shown here. I couldn't have done this one without the help of twenty-two awesome authors and several editors from the original series.

You can click the picture to go to Amazon to see it there. It comes in ebook and paperback. It's also on Kobo, Apple, and Nook. This was my first venture into wide ebook distribution with self-publishing, and it worked out pretty well.

The Best of the Planetary Anthology Series

 I've got a new anthology coming out. The Planetary Anthology Series of eleven books has gone out of print, so I contacted the publisher to get their blessing to put together a single book pulling two stories from each volume. This is the result.

The official release date if February 27, 2023. You might notice on the date of this post that this is still almost a week away, but here's a secret. I released it a few days early. :)

This book contains 22 stories, selected as the best available, to go into this remastered, re-edited volume. Here's the lineup:

Sol

• Sundown And Out (David Hallquist)
• Let The Dead Bury Their Dead (Caroline Furlong)

Mercury

• The Mirror of Circe (John C. Wright)
• The Element of Transformation (L. Jagi Lamplighter)

Venus

• The Fox’s Fire (Danielle Ackley-McPhail)
• The Rocket Raising (Frederik Gero Heimbach)

Earth

• We'll Always Have Earth (Bokerah Brumley)
• Extinction Point (Richard Paolinelli)

Luna

• Luna Sea (Jody Lynn Nye)
• Samaritan (Karl K. Gallagher)

Mars

• Human, Martian—One, Two, Three (Kevin J. Anderson)
• The Clockwork King of Mars (C.T. Phipps)

Jupiter

• Sunward (Jeb Kinnison)
• Freeze (Jane Lebak)

Saturn

• The Clockwork Copper and the Priestess of Mystery (J.M. Anjewierden)
• Doing My Job (Dana Bell)

Uranus

• Room to Breathe (Marina Fontaine)
• Muddification (Clint Hale)

Neptune

• The Dogfisherman (Edward Ahern)
• The Lost Wind (David Breitenbeck)

Pluto

• The Heart of Pluto (Christine Chase)
• A Brush (J.D. Arguelles)

The Whirlwind Continues

This week, I'm doing a presentation at Fyrecon titled "Structure, Outlines, and Other Things Pantsers Hate". Next week I'll be at the 20 Books to 50K writing conference in Las Vegas. I recently released Breakdown, book 2 in the Polecat Protocol series.

Add to that edits for book 3 in that series, assembling a Best-of anthology for the Planetary Anthology series, and editing two novels for a local small press, and I wonder when I'll have time to sleep.

Then there's the day job that runs 40-50 hours per week. I don't recommend a schedule like this since many people don't do well with so many irons in the fire. Sometimes I wonder how well I do at it. My problem is that I don't really know how to sit and do nothing. Relaxation means digging out a favorite project instead of a required project.

Such is the life of a creator. I love to build things. Woodworking, writing, editing, electronics, software, they all count as creative outlets for me. Those things all recharge my batteries so I can go out and socialize again.

What is your passion? If you're not sure, find something worth dedicating time to. Learn something new. Expand your horizons.

---

Need something to read? I've got Science Fiction: The Polecat Protocol trilogy.

I've got Fantasy: The Riland Throne trilogy.

And I've got a bunch of short stories in anthologies, including this collection that's all mine:

More Anthologies

 I like to contribute to anthologies. You can tell that with a quick look at my Amazon author page. The short stories are a great way to experiment with new styles, techniques, and genres, and some calls for contributors have a narrow focus that can spur some interesting ideas.

This past month, the League of Utah Writers has published two anthologies, and my role differs between them.

The League published "Strong at Broken Places" on November 30th. This one was a lot of fun for me since I helped to pick the theme, contributed a story to it, helped to judge the stories, and got to write the foreword. The theme is based on an Ernest Hemingway quote, "The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places." I took that quote and chose to emphasize the idea of strength gained through adversity. My story in that volume is a fantasy story called Living on Borrowed Time where a young man is falsely imprisoned and meets a deranged magician the evening before they're both to be executed.

Then, on December 14th, "Beyond Behives: Poetry & Prose Commemorating Utah's First 125 Years of Statehood" came out. I wrote a poem for that one based on an overnight winter scouting trip I took once to Peter Sinks, one of the coldest places in the lower 48 states. It's record low is -69°F. Rogers Pass in Montana has a record one degree colder, and Prospect Creek Camp, Alaska holds the record of -80°F.

If you're looking for opportunities to contribute to things like that, check with members of your local writing community, or visit the Submission Grinder for ideas on where to submit stories and poetry.

Collective Darkness Anthology

 Elizabeth Suggs, the editor for a horror anthology Collective Darkness, interviewed me a couple of days ago. I wrote the forword for the collection she edited.

While I don't consider myself a horror writer, I'm in two horror anthologies put out by the Utah chapter of the Horror Writers of America. This forword was a great chance for me to introduce a work that consists of a nice mix of already-published authors and some new voices, so it's a good chance to find a new favorite author.

Click on the book to take a look at it.

League of Utah Writers, Quills Conference 2020

The League of Utah Writers Quills 2020 conference is over. It was memorable for seveal reasons.

1. I'm the new President of the League. Johnny Worthen has moved to become the Past-President and Bryan Young has become the President-Elect.

2. I got to participate in a commemorative 85th year anthology The Function of Freedom as a contributor, an editor, and in writing some closing remarks. It contains work from a wide range of League members in several genres, including poetry and essay along with speculative fiction. My story Give and Take tells of a man working to make up for a past he regrets as he slaves in the mines to extract bits of magic from the ground.

3. The conference was entirely online with some pre-recorded classes, live Q&A, live workshops, live one-on-one pitches with agents and editors, our annual writing contest awards, and even a social room for chat and networking with fellow-attendees. Live would be better in most cases, but we were able to pull people in who would otherwise never be able to come.

It was a great event and I look forward to working with a great team.

More Anthologies

It's been one right after the other for a while. It's great when things like up like this. For anthologies released in three months!

December 1, 2018 - The Hundred Worlds
December 4, 2018 - All Made of Hinges
February 5, 2019 - Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel
February 14, 2019 - Trace the Stars

Just as a point of reference, I wanted to show my amateur author rank numbers on Amazon to show what can happen with a rapid-fire release schedule. Those who know how the rankings work will not be impressed by the absolute numbers I show, but what I want to point out is that short fiction can have cool side effects. When an author can maintain a ranking, the Amazon algorithms can notice. I hope it is self-sustaining.

Now, author rankings on Amazon don't really mean a lot in terms of dollars in the pocket. It works the other way around. Sell a lot, and your ranking goes up. Rankings are just one indicator that you have a little traction in the marketplace.

I also have a story in a First Contact anthology coming out within the next month or two. It's been a great winter. Now I need to buckle down and finish my trilogy. I'm about 15,000-20,000 words from finished. It won't be out until probably sometime in the fall.

Great reviews coming in

Here's a sample of one of the great the reviews coming in for All Made of Hinges. I copied his review to here for my story, but you can find his extensive review of every story in the book here.

Marching On to Glory, by John M. Olsen. This one is exciting! It also manages to bring in the truth that military leaders frequently do not take into consideration the strengths and limitations of their troops when they make their plans for conquest. It's also a good example of that genre of literature which demonstrates that a prophecy may be fulfilled in more ways than one. Join the troops of the gigantic airship, as they make their way to battle the mechanized monsters of the South, and on the way get a glimpse of what the Eternal City must be like. This one, as others, makes lovely reference to the genius works of John Moses Browning, one of which is strapped to my right hip at the moment.

Between that and The Hundred Worlds anthology, I've had a great December. Now to buckle down and finish my draft of Crystal Empire. Yeah, if you haven't heard, volume 3 of the Riland Throne trilogy went through a name change.

New short stories

It's double release week for me, with two new short stories coming out. First (just out today) is the anthology All Made of Hinges which contains my story Marching on to Glory. It's a collection of Mormon Steampunk, and is lots of fun. The idea was to include in each story some element of steampunk and some element of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints. In my case, I took the story of the Mormon Battalion and put them on an airship and armed them with steampunk-inspired repeating recoilless rifles.

I'm the editor for volume two of the Mormon Steampunk anthologies. Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel should be out in January 2019, with the third volume coming out in March 2019.

Second in line, coming out December 1st is The Hundred Worlds anthology, a shared-world where I'm writing in someone else's sandbox. This is a new experience for me, and it involved a lot of back-and-forth with other authors and the editor to make sure all the stories were consistent with each other since all our stories are in the same universe. My story Three Strikes tells of a woman with a lot of patience as she seeks justice for crimes against her family.

Both projects were put together with great editors and co-authors, and I'm happy how they have turned out. All Made of Hinges went to at least #6 on Amazon's Hot New Releases in one of their Steampunk categories today (it's first day).

League of Utah Writers - Quills Conference

I attended the Quills Conference this past Friday and Saturday. I took lots of notes from several amazing presentations. One of the anthologies I'm in (Apocalypse Utah) won the Silver Quill award, so now my short stories have won multiple awards either for the story itself or for the collection it's in. It's great for feeling validated as an author. Will it turn into fame or fortune? Nah. Most awards won't do that, and for those who do, it's not guaranteed. Would I ever give up the award as useless? Of course not! Awards are cool!

Me with the Apocalypse Utah award.

I took a couple different classes from Maria V. Snyder who was one of the special guests at the conference. One was on properly portraying emotions, and the other on believable YA voices. Both classes were excellent.

I also took a class on deconstruction and criticism (the academic kind) from Johnny Worthen who moved from President-Elect to President within the League last night. (More on that later.)

David R Slayton (another special guest) talked about building worlds with a fatal flaw, something that leads to conflict within the world.

Theresa Braun talked about book reviews and how Amazon treats books differently based on when you get reviews and how many you get.

James A. Hunter talked about more details of how Amazon treats metadata, and how you can get the most out of it by understanding how it's used. It's important to get your first reviews from a relevant source to help Amazon put your book in front of the right buyers.

Classes covered a wide range of topics. Two or more talked about tax and IRS issues as they apply to authors. I attended one by Therese Francis on how to look like a business.

Aaron Michael Ritchey talked about story arc and character arc and how they interact, and we ended the class with a storyline brainstorm to apply the principles. It was a lot of fun and might result in some short stories or novels from the attendees.

Lyn Worthen taught about sharpening short story skills. I've team-taught with her before and she's an expert in the field, having written a huge number of short stories and been the editor for multiple anthologies. One of her latest anthos (Mirages and Speculations) won an award last night.

I also attended a class by a local editor, Callie Stoker, on how to find and train alpha and beta readers.

All in all, it was an excellent conference. I went to great classes, hung out with old friends and new, and enjoyed the two days.

But then...

You see, I've been a local chapter president in the League of Utah Writers for two and a half years. Last night they announced me as the new President-Elect of the state-wide organization, elected by the board from a field of three candidates. That means I have one or two years to learn the ropes under the current president, then one or two years as President, then one or two years as Outgoing President. It's kind of a long-term commitment to a statewide organization with hundreds of members. It will be a learning experience, and it will require me to hone my time management skills if I'm to do the job justice. I still have the day job to take care of, still have a trilogy to finish and another series to start, and someone has to do all that yard work.

2017 Wrap-up and Writing Goals

Holidays Winding Down

We had a wonderful Christmas with lots of time spent with family. My wife's birthday party Christmas Eve consisted of making custom tree ornaments. She rolled her eyes at me when I helped one of my sons stuff a clear glass ornament with cat hair and glitter. We had kids, their in-laws, and others over Christmas morning. We visited a local park with a tree lit up as the Tree of Life. I didn't get down to see the lights at Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City this year, but most of the family was there at one point or another.

I hope your holidays were as joyful and filled with family as mine.

Goal Report

Last December I posted some goals, so let's see how things went.

• Finish and publish “Crystal Queen” with Immortal Works.
• No, but not by far. Crystal King saw some delays, and I've just now got Crystal Queen to where I can send it to the publisher.
• Speak at three conferences (panelist, presenter or moderator). Most likely are LUW spring and fall conferences, LTUE, Salt Lake Comic Con, and FanX. I’m likely to attend all five either way.
• Yes. I presented at LUW spring and fall, LTUE, and Fyrecon. It was a lot of fun. I'll be at LTUE again in February as a panelist and I'm proposing panels for LUW and Fyrecon for next year.
• $200 in face-to-face book sales at conventions and conferences.
• Maybe. I haven't crunched the numbers, so I don't know for sure. We had a very successful booth at Salt Lake Comic Con, with some success at LUW, LTUE, and Winterfaire.
• Publish four short stories. (stepping things up from the 3 and 2).
• Yes. I sold six. It's a difference in semantics when you talk about sold vs. published. Sold is easier to track. I'm also tempted to bend the rules a little since one of the six was poetry rather than a short story. Also, coming in as a semi-finalist at the Writers of the Future is a rejection, but it's a highly valued rejection.
• Get 30 short story rejections.
• Yes. I got 35. I measure rejections because it's a way to turn something that's usually a negative into a scoring mechanism. If I keep my stories out there gathering rejections, I will also gather sales. It worked. I got only a few more rejections this year compared to last but I doubled my acceptances.

Crystal King Published

The book came out in September through Immortal Works and you can buy it here. When I sign this book I usually write "It's all about family and friends." This applies to the story, but it also applies to life in general. Families are the bedrock and foundation of society.

It was a long road to publication, about two years in the making. As a first fantasy novel it required a bit more editing and adjusting than my second effort which is already prepped and almost on its way to the publisher.

Short Stories Sold in 2017

I didn't enter the Utah Horror Writers contest for their anthology this year since I was too busy with other projects. Some of the stories from this year are online or for sale in ebook or paper format. Others are not quite in print yet. Here is a list, including one long lead-time story sold over a year ago and still not quite out.

Learning to Run with Scissors (sold 2015, due out in an anthology next year)

Dissonance (due out online next year)
Market Rat (free online at Silver Blade)
Protector of Newington (Storyhack Issue 1 on Amazon)
Unlocked (poetry in a League of Utah Writers Antho on Amazon)
The Bannik and the Soap (due out in an anthology next year)
The Lure of Riches (Clarion Call 3 on Amazon)

2018 Goals

Here's what I want to accomplish this coming year. I'm not going to keep up on the short story rejection list because I'm transitioning more to targeted anthologies along with the novels. The shorts have done well for me in the past, so I will continue some effort there, but maybe not quite as much as in the past.

• Send Crystal Queen with my publisher (nearly there!)
• Write Crystal Prince and submit it to the publisher.
• Get another Semi-finalist at Writers of the Future. I've got a small stack of honorable mentions now.
• Write a science fiction series outline. Depending on the timeframe for Crystal Prince, I may be able to do this as a NaNoWriMo project in November.

And there you have it. 2017 was a good year. I expect 2018 to be even better.

LTUE 2017 report

Another conference has come to a close. Life, the Universe, and Everything was held last Thursday through Saturday, and I had the pleasure of attending all three days. (Thanks for the two days of vacation, day job!)

I had the wonderful opportunity to help as a panelist to talk about hacking late on Thursday. We covered good examples and bad examples of hacking in media, whether it be books or movies. Some get it close, while others sacrifice any sense of reality in order to get the right sense of tension. Technical people get annoyed if they're picky, but solving a password one character at a time gives a (hideously fake) visual sense of time constraints.

And never put two people on one keyboard to better fight against a hacker. Keyboards don't work that way.

One odd thing happened with the Apocalypse Utah anthology I mentioned in my last post. The publisher ordered copies the same day I did, but theirs came from the east coast instead of the west coast like mine. I got my books almost a full week before the conference, but the publisher's copies (including a copy for each author) didn't arrive until the Friday of the conference.

That wouldn't be so bad except that we had our release party Thursday night. The only copies of the book in the whole building were the ones I had ordered. I brought them along with me to the release party and had them available for purchase. We lined up all the authors in attendance to sign them. Luckily I had enough for all those who wanted to buy a copy at the event.

We also had some authors read their stories. Due to tight time limits, I had to skim over the middle of my story a bit, but it was a lot of fun. My story has a strong Twilight Zone vibe.

Friday morning I realized in the rush of the evening I never got a copy signed for myself at the party, so I tracked everyone down through the day Friday to get their signatures in my personal copy. It now sits on my shelf with the other anthologies containing my stories.

Saturday night we shut down the booth in the vendor room at closing time, so I packed up my books and headed out with the first load to the car. I tossed boxes into the trunk and figured it was warm enough I didn't need my coat, a 2002 Winter Olympics black leather jacket with lots of insulation I didn't need. Into the trunk with it.

The wife and I finished packing and took the rest of the load out to the car. I reached for the keys. Yup. In the coat pocket. Inside the trunk. With the banquet starting in about ten minutes.

The Mariott Hotel folks stepped up in a big way. They called around, but the local police who have tools to do that sort of car unlock were not on duty. I could call a tow truck and spend $20-50, but we decided to try our niece who lives with us to see if she could bring a spare key. She was at a movie but would call when she got home.

She called, found the key, and was on her way as we finished dinner. The tension level dropped all the way to DEFCON 5. The entertainment was great, with M. Todd Gallowglas telling stories, and Larry Correia talking about his fondness for the LTUE symposium and the authors, artists, and volunteers who make it great. It's not out on video yet, but you can probably search for Larry's talk if you want to hear Larry talk about Dave Butler's sandwiches.

Long story short, my niece drove 45 minutes to deliver the spare key, and she was able to meet an old family friend who had hung around after the conference to talk to people.

All's well that ends well, and the conference ended well.

You can find my pictures from the conference here on facebook. I got a shot of just about every panel I went to.

Beyond Words

I am participating in the Writing Contest: Writers Crushing Doubt, hosted by Positive Writer. Please follow the link to learn more.

---

Hi. My name is John, and I am an introvert. (Everyone chime in with "Hi, John.")

It's like being eccentric in a way, since one of the cool things about being an introvert (or eccentric) is that you never consider it to be anything but normal. In the 7th grade I was voted the quietest kid in the school. I didn't know anybody, but apparently everyone knew me. I've known and enjoyed the life of a quiet introvert now for over half a century, yet introverts tend to form a small number of deep friendships rather than socializing widely. This was a handicap I didn't know I had.

I'd dabbled with writing fiction on and off for years. The sale of a story in 1995 was more fluke than skill. over the next eighteen years I collected quite a few false starts, and the occasional finished short story. My handful of submissions all garnered standardized form rejections. I was being crushed by doubt and had no idea how to improve.

It's not that I couldn't write. I'd written several chapters in popular books on software design. I just didn't know how to write fiction despite having read hundreds of books in the fantasy and science fiction genres over the years.

Then two things happened, with one triggering the other. First, one of my friends encouraged me to enter an anthology contest. That by itself would have resulted in several so-so attempts, and I would have figured I just wasn't fit to write fiction. It was the second thing which made all the difference.

As a result of my friend's invitation, I did some research and discovered the local writing community with all its quirky wonder. While my first attempts at writing were rejected as before, I was better at completing what I started. I also discovered a treasure trove of web resources on writing. Better even than those resources, I discovered within the local writing community a host of people ready to give me a hand, share encouragement, and let me join in as part of the community even though I was a neophyte.

Within months, I had turned the tables on my old failures and crushed my doubt. I won a position in an anthology, and got a view into the workings of a great editor who showed me what she was looking for in a story. Just this past week, two more anthologies were released with a story of mine in each, and I pitched a book I wrote for NaNoWriMo 2015 at a writer's symposium. The novel needs work still, but I know what it needs, and why it needs it.

Without that sense of community and belonging offered to me by local writers, none of that would have happened. I'm grateful for all my new friends, beyond words.

LTUE 2016

Life, the Universe and Everything, as in the writer symposium in Provo each year.

This is my second year to attend, and I wish I'd decided to go a decade or two ago. I had a great time last year, but this year was leaps and bounds ahead for me personally. I know a lot more people now, and have stories in three anthologies, as of last Thursday when two were released in conjunction with LTUE. I had new business cards made up for the occasion to show off my three anthologies. You can find all three in my "Books" tab.

I started off setting up the vendor table for a group of Xchyler Publishing authors who get together at conferences to sell books and hang out. Here's my first official Dave Doering sighting as he came through the vendor area the evening before the conference started:

Dave Doering

It would take hours to do justice to all the fine panels I attended, so here's a smattering of photos I took throughout the three days. I'll also dump pics on Facebook and tag everyone I can.

Lindzee Armstrong, Eric Stone, Dene Low
 How to Pitch Your Novel

Candace Thomas, Lisa Mangum, Michelle Witte
Know Who You're Talking To

Rebecca Rode, Michelle Argyle, Angela Hartley, Larry Correia, Peter Orullian
 Defining and Measuring Success: It's a Mindset

Howard Tayler, Scott Parkin, Wayne Hanewicz
Transhumanism

Michaelbrent Collings, Eric James Stone, Julie Frost, K. B. Rylander
Selling Short Stories

Robert Defendi, Michael Glassford, Alyson Peterson, Peter Orullian, Larry Correia
Writing Action Scenes

Larry Correia, Rachel Ann Nunes, Michaelbrent Collings
Keeping the Chatacter's Backstory Relevant

Kevin J Anderson Friday keynote

Steve Diamond, Larry Correia, Christine Haggerty, Michelle Corsillo, Adrienne Monson
It's a Book, Not a Baby

John D. Brown, Brandon Sanderson, Michael Jensen, Lynette White, J. Scott Savage
The Role of Magic in Your Story

Shannon Hale Saturday keynote

Chersti Nieveen, J. R. Jonhansson, Rachel Ann Nunesh, Michelle Corsillo, L. L. Muir
Bios, Synopsis and Blurbs

L. E. Modesitt, Shannon Hale, Brandon Sanderson, Jason King, David Farland
Writing Natural Dialog

Eric James Stone, Julie Frost, Scott Parkin
Escaping Semipro Hell

Aside from the usual panels, there were other things going on. The two books which were released each had an event. First was the Sibyl's Scriptorium event where I won Honorable Mention for my short story "The Blight". I got pictures of that one. I didn't get pictures from the horror panel which doubled as the release party for "It Came From the Great Salt Lake."

Jason King, Holli Anderson, David West
The Space Balrogs played host to the Sibyl's Scriptorium gathering

Peter Orullian spoke to the folks at the gathering before the awards

Me receiving my Honorable Mention

My friend Jay Barnson receiving his first place award

We spent one night with my son and his wife in Provo rather than driving all the way home that night. I looked at their fridge. I just ... Okay. That's cool. Don't try to read it.

Artists with word magnets. Not an expected result.

I'll declare the 2016 LTUE a success. I hope to see you there next year!

LTUE next week!

I'll escape the day job next week on Thursday and Friday so I can go to Life, the Universe and Everything in Provo, UT. I'm really looking forward to the writing symposium this year. Last year was great fun, but I didn't know many people and had no fiction published this century to sell. This year, I have stories in three anthologies, a NaNoWriMo novel to maybe pitch, and a lot more friends to watch for, both as attendees and panelists.

I'll be attending the "Sybil's Scriptorium Contests Award Ceremony" Thursday night because I'm a finalist in their writing contest. The winners and runners up will be in "Sibyl's Scriptorium Volume 3" which hasn't quite made it to Amazon yet.

I'll miss the first part, but after SybScript, I'll head over to the "After Dark - Horror" late evening panel where the folks in "It Came From the Great Salt Lake" with me will be hanging out.

My day schedule for all three days will be a mix of writing, editing, publishing, and networking panels, along with a pitch or two of "Crystal King" if I can get enough polish on it in just one week. An editor friend has given me a list of things to check on and clean up, so it's touch and go.

For the signing event Friday, I'm supposed to be at three different tables, so it will be a high-calorie burn evening as I bounce between Sybil's, the Utah Horror Writers, and Xchyler.

I'll likely be at the Xchyler vendor table whenever I'm not in a panel. My wife Kelly is a real estate agent sponsoring their vendor table.

2015 Writing Year in Review

It was an interesting year for me, filled with quite a few firsts. I published my first fiction way back in 1995, but only got serious about writing in the past two years. Without further ado, here's the successes.

• A steampunk short story "Revolutionary" was published in the anthology Steel & Bone by Xchyler Publishing.
• A short urban fantasy story "The Blight" was announced as a finalist in the Dragon Comet writing contest, with winners to be announced this coming February at LTUE.
• A horror story "Exposure Therapy" was accepted for an anthology to be released, also at LTUE.
• I won NaNoWriMo. For those who aren't familiar, that means I wrote a minimum of 50K words toward completing a novel. I posted about it earlier. That novel is at 73K now, and is going through edits.
• I have four short stories currently out waiting for a response, three of which I can query next week to see what the status is.

My log also shows six rejections for the year, so it looks like my accept/reject ratio isn't that bad. I'm not a full time writer, so there are limits to how much I can have going at once. Given that this is all from the evenings and weekends not taken up by family, church, or career, I'd have to say it's not bad as entries into the writer community go.

I've been blessed to meet and become at least casual friends with a large number of fellow-writers both local and remote. The local writer community that I bump into at conventions and events is supportive beyond what I could have imagined or expected.

Picked up more books, and reviewed more books than any other year that I can recall (but I'm not counting when I raided my dad's library all through my teen years).

For the next year, my goals are to:

• Attend four conferences (probably LTUE, FanX, Salt Lake Comic Con and Salt City Steamfest) to hobnob.
• Recruit four new beta readers to add to the pool. This assumes I will also be a beta reader for others.
• Publish Crystal King.
• Submit four short stories to open calls or contests like web publishers, or 
• Get invited to an anthology.

Some of those should be pretty easy, and some will require me to really stick my neck out and plow through undiscovered country, since like many authors, I'm naturally reclusive. If you see me, feel free to drag me out of my shell and encourage me to jump into the thick of things. I will try not to be grumpy about it.

Crystal King novel

I just finished my first pass of Crystal King all the way through to the end. It was my NaNoWriMo project. I was able to top 50,000 words to win NaNoWriMo, but I wasn't done yet. At about 60,000 words, I have my first rough pass done. Really rough.

Some writers need to edit down from their first pass. Because of the way I write, I'll expand the story as I edit, since I tend to write without all the color and description in my first pass.

One amusing note was that Brandon Sanderson posted regularly on how much he wrote in November, and he squeaked in at 50K on the 30th of November. If you ignore clear quality differences, I outwrote Brandon Sanderson last month. :)

Brandon posted this on Facebook:

And I've finished #NaNoWriMo2015. 50,031 words on Stormlight 3 this month--with an entire hour to spare, even. :)
Posted by Brandon Sanderson on Monday, November 30, 2015

Reasons why I made it this far

1. NaNoWriMo gave me targets to shoot for.
2. I had a really detailed outline, which helped me to write quickly. I topped 4,000 words on at least four days.
3. My outline was the right order of magnitude in size. I had hoped it would turn into about 80-90k words, and it might reach 80k once I flesh things out a bit.
4. I took Thanksgiving week as vacation from the day job. I was on pace to make it without that, but it helped.
5. Friends and family all encouraged me.

Next

If I can get my editing done quickly enough, my goal is to have it ready to pitch at LTUE. I have one small press I've already worked with whom I can ask to give it a look, and one or two more I really want to check with.

Also, there some anthologies here and here I want to submit to, but those depend on whether I get my edits done on the novel.

Beyond the Wail - Twelve Grave Stories of Love and Loss

I am still only part way through an advanced reader copy of this book, but what I have read is a lot of fun, particularly if you like reading about paranormal and relationships. That's what paranormal is all about, isn't it? I have a couple of long-time personal friends who have stories in the book, but I'm going to highlight the anthology as a whole and one of the other authors today.

About the Anthology

What is it about fear and the unknown that pulls so passionately at the human heart? Perhaps we are drawn not to the darkness itself, but to the resolution, the overcoming of what we most deeply dread. After all, the more terrible the struggle, the greater the victory when it comes at last. Presented in this anthology are twelve remarkable stories of the darkness that overshadows us, and the resolution that may be found beyond them. They are stories of fear and oppression, but ultimately stories of hope, stories that will take you BEYOND THE WAIL.

At twelve stories, this is a large anthology. There is plenty to sink your teeth into here. We'll check with one of the authors about her story now.

About "Date Due" by Danielle E. Shipley

Danielle describes her story thus:

Let's talk for a bit with A magic library’s guardian determined to protect her treasured books, whether their authors elect to do things the easy way … or the fatal one.

How did you come up with the concept for your story?

I came across an image accompanied by the phrase, “I wish I had a secret library with all the books in the world in it.” My brain’s third reaction – after playing a few bars of the intro from “Into the Woods” and just generally drooling over the thought of ALL THE BOOKS – was to question: Suppose someone had a library full of all the books never written? How far would this bibliophile go to keep the books’ authors from writing them out of his/her possession? I wondered “aloud” on my Facebook page, and multiple responders commented, “You totally have to write this.” My muse seconded the motion, and the “Losers Weepers” theme of Xchyler Publishing’s then-upcoming anthology contest matched my premise perfectly, so I basically had no choice but to get the tale down on paper.

How did you come up with the title?

I wanted something equal parts library-related and ominous. “Date Due” – the little phrase seen on library book check-out cards/receipts everywhere – fit both criteria to a tee. Like a librarian’s dark day of reckoning.

Please provide some insight into or a secret or two about your story.

One of my inspirations was Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”. Both Poe’s narrator and mine are anonymous – the text never once gives their names – and both insist throughout the story that they’re not insane, despite the fact that they are blatantly out of their minds. And, y’know, they’re both murderers.

What was the most surprising part of writing this story?

It was slightly slow going, for a short story of mine. I can normally knock out a story of this length in a day or two, but this one took me ten. My narrator would not be rushed. She wanted to give me her tale just so, and in her own sweet time.

What was the hardest part of writing your story, and how did you overcome it?

The hardest part was titling all of the books the narrator called out by name. Coming up with a title is hard enough for me when I’m familiar with the story in question. To name a book I’ve never read? Horror! Fortunately, once I’d gotten a first draft out of the way, with “[TITLE]” acting as a placeholder wherever necessary, a couple of my best pals were willing to toss out some random options, and I picked and tweaked my favorites from the list to insert into the blank spaces. 

Sherlock: Robert Downey, Jr. or Benedict Cumberbatch? 

Very much enjoyed what RDJ brought to the table, but I’ve got to give this one to Cumberbatch. All my love to BBC’s Sherlock!

About Danielle E. Shipley

Danielle E. Shipley’s first novelettes told the everyday misadventures of wacky kids like herself. . . . Or so she thought. Unbeknownst to them all, half of her characters were actually closeted elves, dwarves, fairies, or some combination thereof. When it all came to light, Danielle did the sensible thing: packed up and moved to Fantasy Land, where daily rent is the low, low price of her heart, soul, blood, sweat, tears, firstborn child, sanity, and words; lots of them. She’s also been known to spend short bursts of time in the real-life Chicago area with the parents who home schooled her and the two little sisters who keep her humble.

There are a zillion ways to get to Danielle's web presence. Here are a few places to learn more about her:

https://everonword.wordpress.com/
https://twitter.com/DEShipley
https://www.facebook.com/Danielle.E.Shipley.Author
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7021985.Danielle_E_Shipley
https://www.pinterest.com/DEShipleyYo/
http://www.amazon.com/Danielle-E.-Shipley/e/B00HG4A0N0/

About Xchyler Publishing

The publisher is running a give-away raffle, so loot is involved! Enter and see what you can win. These have had some cool prizes in the past. Here's the link to it:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

They've also put together a cool trailer for the book.


You can buy Beyond the Wail at Amazon, and find it on GoodReads.

Steel & Bone, nine steampunk adventures

Steel & Bone is coming out this Saturday! There is a Rafflecopter giveaway for Steel & Bone. Enter it and win cool stuff!

I was interviewed for the book's blog tour. It will show up over at Nikki Trionfo's blog tomorrow (Friday, June 26). Go take a look.

It not only has nine great stories, it has some illustrations and a forward by James Ng that are pretty cool. I'm really pleased with how the book has turned out, and I'm sure you will enjoy it. Here's a rundown of the stories:

The Clockwork Seer by Katherine Cowley: On an island of oddities, a young clairvoyant struggles for normalcy, but deadly automatons have other plans.  

Sindisiwe by Scott E. Tarbet: A slave girl in Zanzibar escapes a beating when a stranger in the marketplace proves her past is more than just a fairy tale.  

Stand and Deliver by TC Phillips: Neither shackles, slave labor, nor the island’s deadliest inhabitants will prevent these brothers from meting out justice to their father’s murderers.  

Island Walker by C. R. Simper: Kit digs her treasures out of trash heaps, but the theft of her invention leads to discoveries money can’t buy. 

A Mind Prone to Wander by Danielle E. Shipley: Beyond a locked door lies Rowan Charles’ death or his sanity, and the survival or extinction of his people.  

Curio Cay by Sarah E. Seeley: The future of humanity rests in the hands of three time-traveling scientists battling biomechanical creatures in the Jurassic past.  

The Mysterious Island of Chester Morrison by Kin Law: Dodging her chaperone, a debutante stumbles into adventure and romance at the World’s Fair.  

Revolutionary by John M. Olsen: A dirigible captain goes down with his ship, and wakes to find himself a captive of a sky-dwelling civilization.  

The Steel Inside by Gail B. Williams: Darkness lurks in Sarah’s forgotten past, kept hidden by those who claim to be her devoted husband and loyal servants. 

If steampunk is your thing, you can get it at Amazon starting Saturday. (Or pre-order it right now!)

Steel and Bone

Here's a sneak peek written by Scott E. Tarbot for the anthology my story "Revolutionary" will be appearing in soon.

Steel and Bone Teaser

Publicity for it is in prep mode now, so you may start to see things firing up soon. We still have a few weeks to release, and I'm looking forward to having a print copy in my hands.