Scorpions and Future Mayhem

Darlings. I sold a story today, "Plastic Scorpions" to Raechel at Jackhammer. Which is the first place I sent this story. Odd, I know, as I generally start at the top markets and work my way down to semi-pros, but this story is an odd case. It's startlingly short for me (only 1600 words). I wrote it in under an hour (and that's total work time-- this story got a draft, a quick polish, and I sent it out immediately). I wrote it about two months ago while struggling with another project, when I got annoyed at beating my head against the wall of words. I decided to write something quick (if not necessarily dirty), just so I'd have some sense of accomplishment. I had no ideas in mind at all, just sat at my computer and looked around. I happened to see the plastic scorpions Meg bought for me, and decided to write a story about them.

So I did. It's a good enough little story-- better than the effort that went into it, probably. But I knew this wouldn't be the tale to break me into the big-leagues. So I pursed my lips, thought a moment, and said to myself "Raechel would like this one!"

So I sent it to her. I'm not really surprised that she bought it. I imagined it'd be her cup of tea.

Raechel is probably the only editor I feel confident making such a judgment about. I've only sent her 6 or 7 stories, and she's bought 4, which gives me a good indication that she likes my stuff, and I gleaned something about her tastes from the ones she rejected.

Of course, I've sent Tim Cooper two stories, and he bought both of them, so I've yet to discover anything about what he dislikes. I'll have to send him more stuff. Hmm. I think I only sent him two. I might have sent him one before "Straight Trade" that he rejected, but I don't recall...

Anyway. Idle babblings. I have no idea when "Scorpions" will come out-- this new incarnation of Jackhammer doesn't really have scheduled issues, their process is odd, go read about it on their site if you want. But I should have a couple of weeks advance notice before it appears, and I'll let you know.

First sale of the new year! Whee!

The story is dedicated to Meg, of course, who knew me well enough to mail me plastic stinging things.

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The Modest Mouse disc is good-- it's M.M., I knew what to expect. They play this disc a lot in Pergolesi, and it often puts me in a writerly mood, so I decided I should own it. No surprises, though.

The Neutral Milk Hotel disc, though... totally rules. Awesome. I love it. "The King of Carrot Flowers"-- it doesn't get much better than that. This disc is on perpetual repeat for a while.

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It looks like I'm taking part in a February Dare proposed by Web Rat Jim Hines. Dubbed the "Masochism" Dare, it is your usual 60K-in-a-month thing... but masochistic because February has only 28 days.

Sounds like my kind of fun. I'm not sure what I'm going to apply my 2k-a-day toward... a series of short stories? A new book? Finishing the Marla book? Something cool. I haven't binge-written in a while. It'll be good for my morale.

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I've been good tonight. I printed stories to mail out, to Century and Asimov's and F&SF and even Black Gate-- they want colorful action-oriented sword-and-sorcery, so I'm sending them the closest thing I have to that... (and no, it's not my shredded S&S story from Clarion, or any incarnation thereof-- I left that defiled corpse moldering on the floor in Michigan)

Thinking back fondly on my experience writing "Scorpions" to get past a block on another story, I decided to apply a similar tactic regarding my problem with "Uncrowned Kings" (the problem being that I know it ends soon, and I know who's involved, and where it happens, and vaguely what needs to happen... but for various reasons I have no clue how to achieve resolution. This bothers me so badly that I'm dreaming about my characters, and they're arguing over what should happen; if only their suggestions were helpful! Maybe they'll return more coherently in tonight's dreams).

So I sat down, deciding to write a story about Mr. Zealand (who truly ardent readers might recall from one of my ever-popular Beginnings Exercises). I had a vision of him standing on a balcony, smoking a cherry-scented cigarette and talking to a blind woman who mistakes him for her son, because her son smokes that kind of cigarette and she identifies him with the scent. I decided that was as good a beginning as any. And, knowing only that Mr. Z is a nasty bastard, I proceeded to write.

I've got 1400 words so far. To my surprise, it's a science-fiction story, near-future. I quite like it so far, and see clearly where it's going. It'll be a neat and vicious tale, under 3,000 words, I think. The scenes are short and vivid, which appeals to me right now. The plot, though somewhat complicated, seems positively linear when compared to the byzantine twistiness of "Uncrowned Kings." I'm a happy little writer-boy.

I hope y'all are having a grand old day.