Diabolical Plots

Almost three weeks have passed since Anthony Sullivan and I launched The Submissions Grinder, a web-based tool for writers to find markets, track submissions, and look at market response statistics. At the time of launch the site was very simple, with a limited set of features, and yes some stability issues. We succeeded in getting that first working version running just one week after Duotrope going behind the subscription wall, and we are still the only free tool of this kind available.

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I’m a bit of an odd duck in my reading habits, in that I ready only a small niche of the types of stuff out there, but I read that very deeply. Almost all of my fiction intake comes from fiction podcasts, which are all Short Story categories, but are often reprints from previous years which are not eligible. I do read novels, but have not read any written in 2012 yet, because I am a slow read and because I re-read the entire Wheel of Time series that pretty much took all year, in preparation for the 2013 release of the final book.

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The SF award nomination season is here. The Nebulas (the writer-voted award) have been open for a while and close in February. The Hugos (the fan-voted award) opened on January first. Both sets cover works published in the 2012 calendar year. About this time of year, every writer and their dog posts a list of their eligible works.

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This is the story of my first dog. This is the story of the first dog that Heather was really responsible for. This is the story of Aria the papillon. She had the name Aria when we got her–we thought of renaming her Oreo but it didn’t stick. Over the years we had many nicknames for her–Ariana, Missy Lu, Missy Moo, Lu Lu Bell, many others.

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Most writers I know are familiar with Duotrope, which I have recommended as the single greatest writer’s resource available. It maintains publication listings, including keeping track of when these publications open and close. It has a search engine to find new listings, which you can restrict and sort by a variety of factors, including word length, genre, pay rates. It has a submissions tracker, which is somewhat handy, but the important part of that is that the submissions tracker provides response statistics for each market that are combined and shared for all to see.

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But what about the stories that you hate? Was the time you spent reading or listening to those stories just a complete waste? I’ve been thinking about this lately, and about one story in particular. I’ve decide that, maybe, if you approach it with the right state of mind, you can learn something from the experience. Even if what you learn isn’t what the author was aiming for. Even if what you learn is about yourself.

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Cat Rambo’s new collection officially appears today, and this blog is part of the giveaway. Post a comment or question about the book below and you’ll be entered to win one of the pieces of jewelry based on the Near + Far interior art by Mark W. Tripp that Cat’s been making.

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This is the first big SF convention that I’ve ever been to, and the only one where I came with a large number of friends I’d known ahead of time. The only convention I’ve been to besides this has been MiniCon in the Twin Cities, which is a few hundred people, and although I’ve made some friends there, I didn’t know any of them ahead of time. Here at WorldCon there are literally dozens of people whom I have met in some respect, varying from casual acquaintances from forums, to editors who have considered my stories for their magazines, to close friends who I’ve been in continuous contact with for years.

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This is the first year that I’ve chosen to pay for a supporting membership to Worldcon. This is where the Hugo awards, the fan-based major award of the science fiction community, are presented. Paying for a supporting membership not only gives you the right to nominate and to vote, but also gives you the Hugo packet, a package containing most of the individual Hugo nominated works and examples of work from Hugo nominated individuals and magazines. That’s a load of bargain-priced brand-new fiction at $50.

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Hey everybody, just a quick post to talk about voting eligibility for my work for the Hugo (and John W. Campbell). Now, I am not crazy enough to think I have any real chance at either, but I figure there’s even less chance if I don’t tell people what I’m eligible for. So, here’s a quick breakdown of everything that I might be eligible for. If anyone feels inclined to nominate me, you are my personal hero!

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