It Happens

I am not in the Indiana Horror Anthology, sigh. I'm actually in the Indiana Science Fiction Anthology (new cover above) coming out soon.

It was a misunderstanding and I'm cool with it, although I do apologize to those who have already purchased the horror anthology thinking I was in it.

The reviews have been great...even if I'm not in there. :-)

Indiana

The Indiana Horror Anthology is now available on Amazon!! I’m so excited to be included. (My story is Networks.) It’s always wonderful to be published, even better in an INDIANA book.

I love my home…can you tell? I didn’t always. India-No-Place. Hicksville. I thought the coasts were more glam. Hipper. Close to the ocean which I adore. I only appreciated Indiana’s quiet beauty and quirkiness when I grew older.

And what is more quintessential Indiana than the State Fair? My husband and I go every year. He loves the farm animals. I love watching the people. We both love the food. The fair is a microcosm of Indiana: farm folk and city slickers co-mingle eating fried cheese and elephant ears, listening to rockabilly overlaid with raucous 80’s rock.

I’ve heard east coast people describe Indiana dwellers as bland. West Coasters have been known to call us dull. Maybe we are. But we are also something else.

Gary and I were tip-toeing through mounds of poo behind the cow pavilion when we heard a wait, wait! We turned. There was a freckled face girl, her pigtails swinging, holding up a twenty dollar bill. You dropped this, she said to Gary.

A little later on we passed the make shift memorial to the five people killed when a stage collapsed last Saturday. We sat across from the mound of flowers, cards, and stuffed animals, watching people add their own gifts. Some held hands. Others bowed their heads. Everyone who passed stopped talking, if only for a moment.

That’s my Indiana.

Even Shorter

A few months ago I had a conversation with a young man who is starting a novel. What kind, I asked? He frowned. It’s not a kind, he said, it’s literary.

Ah yes, literary. Anyone who writes knows what that means. I don’t write genre. I write literary. High class. Smart. The Good Stuff.

Sigh. I could argue the merits of genre writing but why? You either like it or you don’t. Humans, a good number anyway, like to rate things. Try to “outsmart” one another. And if you have read any of my posts you will know one thing I despise is intellectual snobbery.

And alas, some genre writers are not exempt from this sad trend. I read an article in which a genre writer pooh-poohed short stories. Only those who can’t complete a novel write those. Really? I wonder what Asimov would have said about that. Wait. I think I know. He was somewhat of a curmudgeon.

But I digress. So I know what some writers say about genre. About shorts. What do you think they would say about writing greeting card verse???

Yes, I’ve gotten into that too. I’ve always been pretty good at light poetry…rhyming, structured, and free flow. In fact, I love to add them into stories. Spells are fun. And greeting card companies pay, per word, better than any other writing outlet. Some as much as 300 bucks a verse. They also allow artwork submission and I’m going to try that as well.

Of course, the big companies either have staff or…surprise…you have to have an agent. But small to middle sized ones welcome submissions. So…while waiting to hear back on my novels and writing short stories I’ve also completed my first round of verse and sent it in.

As far as I’m concerned, writing is writing.

And a check is a check. :-)

Shorts

It’s really hot here in Indiana, but I’m not talking about clothing.

I’m in that waiting mode. Making the transition from sending my novels to small publishers to medium and large ones means waiting a long time…for them to say... no. Hopefully at some point one will say yes, but in the meantime I wait, send it out again, and wait some more. It’s depressing.

I’m working on a new novel but this one is going slower, in part because it’s a traditional fantasy, but I know the other reason is because at the end I’ll have yet another manuscript to go out there…and wait some more.

When I was working in corporate America I was almost always in school. I was lucky that my employer paid for a good portion of it, even a PhD. Did I need a doctorate for my work? Not really. After all, I was doing the job. I did learn a lot and I do think my schooling improved my skills, but I didn’t need it.

For work, that is. I did need it for me. Corporate America is many things both good and bad, but one thing it is generally not is affirming. Was I doing a good job? Sometimes clients told me so. My bosses hardly ever. I always got a raise. I was never in danger of job loss. But did that mean I was good? I never really knew. But school…ahhh. Now that was another story. Every semester came a solid confirmation of Kelly Goodness.

And that’s what short stories do for me now. They are quick. They are fun to write. Easier to find markets. You don’t have to make a commitment to a character or setting. And I get that nice satisfying we want this more often.

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve knocked off a couple and already had one accepted to an Indiana Horror Anthology. (How cool is that…an anthology for Indiana writers and/or stories set in Indiana. About time. We’re a spooky state. :-) )

Unless you are famous, you’re never going to make a bunch of money on shorts. But that’s OK. I didn’t get any cash for good grades either.

Being published…it just never gets old.