lj-mood: doggedly determined

To balance out the two rejections I received today, I’ve submitted not two but three stories tonight.

<Working title>, the Halloween story with the secret title*, is at my online writer’s group Codex, waiting to be judged by a jury of my peers. The good part is: for the Codex Halloween contest members judge each other’s stories, so in a little while I’ll get to read and judge a pile of brand new stories from some of the newest and most exciting talent in the field. (I’m not bragging; I don’t actually read and judge my own submission… :-D) The other good part is that I’m actually happy with the story I wrote. After the contest, I’ll definitely submit it somewhere good.

Prisoner of war bounced right back from its rejection at Asimov’s to its fifth submission, this time at Weird Tales. I hope it’s dark and weird enough for them, though I think bloodthirsty children should be plenty dark.

And Queen of diamonds celebrates a kind of anniversary: it’s now out on its tenth submission. Baen’s Universe has it, and they have one of the coolest and clearest slush pile management systems I’ve seen. I can track the story’s status like it’s a UPC parcel, and I should have a rejection within a few weeks – though acceptance might take up to a year.

Fingers crossed! (Thuohg taht dosne’t hlep ym tiypgn ayn…)

* The stories are blind-judged, and I can’t exclude the remote possibility that one or more of my fellow Codexians actually read this blog.