Just a wee update. As you all know if you’ve been reading my blog over the past month, three of my short stories have been accepted for publication. You can find out all about them on my Publications page.

You also know that I haven’t been writing as much fiction here as in months past and have been, more or less, ignoring most of the writing challenge communities I enjoy so much. That isn’t an intentional snub. I’ve just been busy.

For instance, in the month of January, not only were three of my stories accepted, but I submitted 5 stories to various publishers. I can’t tell you anything about them because, after all, submitting is not being accepted, and I’ve fallen flat on my face plenty of times before, so there are no guarantees.

I’ve also got a total of 7 stories in various stages of development, although 2 of them are “iffy” because of lack of time and the amount of effort it would take to make them “publishing ready” before the deadlines roll around.

Some of you may recall that during the month of November, I took an online writing course for “Guinea Pigs.” The instructor, L. Jagi Lamplighter Wright, called the class that because she had never taught such a course before and we were her guinea pigs AKA lab rats.

As part of the class, once we were given an assignment, we were to write the required response and then put it in front of our workgroup (mine consisted of five other authors). In our case, we used Google Docs to share our work, make comments and corrections, and then send Jagi the final product.

Once the class ended, I suggested to my group that we stick together and continue the process, so whenever one of us puts up a story we want reviewed and edited, we share it on Google Docs, and as the rest of us have the bandwidth, we comment.

I’ve got several of my stories before the group now, and they’ve been terrifically helpful. I don’t doubt that my submitted tales are infinitely better because of their help.

That’s pretty much where I am right now. Oh, I have discovered that when I work at home in the evenings and get into “the zone,” some external “influence” tends to distract me or want a piece of my time. Okay, I’ve got a life, but I’ve also got only a few hours of useful brain activity after dinner before I start getting mentally tired and become unable to adequately do my craft.

Oy.

As things develop, I’ll post them here, and as much as I am thrilled to have three of my stories accepted in a row, I have to fight the expectation that I’ll never be rejected again. The odds are against me in that respect.

Oh, and it’s darned cold outside.