Time to Write July 31, 2011
Posted by Tom Wells in Tom's Posts.add a comment
I have a wife and two kids and a full-time job. So the obvious question becomes, when do I find times to write?
Getting to work by 8 am means dropping the kids off by 7 am which means getting the kids up by 6 am. I started getting up at 5 am so I could shower and have ½ hour to 45 minutes of distraction free writing. While everyone else is asleep in the house, I write. No one is asking for desert 2 hours before dinner. There’s no homework to help with, no honey-dos, no TV shows to suck me into. It’s just the quiet, me, and my imagination.
Then there are airports. Most people dread hearing that a flight is delayed, I love it usually. I pop out the old netbook and escape into my imagination. The days of the leather bench seats seem to be a part of the past. Now there are computer counters with stools and outlets. Unfortunately, I have to lose precious time to shutting down the computer and then booting it back up after I get 10,000 feet in the air.
I just wish that the FAA would stop C Y’ing their A’s and let people use their electronic devices during take-offs and landings. Are we really flying in machines so delicate this is a problem? Up in the sky can be a great place to write when the plane isn’t too crowded. But again, just as my writing hits its stride, the Captain will invariably come on the PA announcing that it’s time to land and again the FAA makes us turn off our electronic devices. I sometimes wonder if the government support of Amtrak doesn’t have something to do with this.
Some weekends are golden. I can find the right balance to spending time with my family, doing chores and still find an hour or two of quality writing time. Then again, what happens more is a backed up toilet, or a broken sprinkler head, or relatives come to visit and a whole 48 hours goes by without a chance to write. Those are weekends I have come to regret.
I have to tell myself it won’t always be like this. It has already become easier to find writing time as my youngest has grown out of diapers and can make a lunch for himself. I have hopes that I may get some short stories published and a readership built. I have also been trying to format my novel, Red Sands of Revolution, for e-publication. I want it to look as ready as I can make it first though. Perhaps if I do things right, I can start to build an income from my writing. I do have an employer who would let me cut my time back (with a corresponding cut in pay), and I would jump at the chance to have more time for writing.
If not, if my stories remain only for me and my handful of readers, and the stories will keep coming. They have for over twenty years now, though at times I have confined them to my mind for longer stretches then I would prefer. Eventually, I always come back to the keyboard and let them out. I am confident that like the millions of painters who put brush to canvas for no other reason than the joy of doing so, I will always continue to write. Someday I will be retired from my other career, and then I will have hours a day to write. What a joy that would be.
Next Step of Development July 24, 2011
Posted by Tom Wells in Introductions.add a comment
The next step in the development of my site has started. I am building my Encyclopedia of the Future. This will be where I start to make my stories more interactive. The stories from the Encyclopedia of the Future have many references to technology not available on Earth today. The stories themselves will explain these technologies briefly as necessary to advance the story, but the story’s pace and interest will seldom allow a longer explanation of the future technology referenced. This is the place where the technology can be listed and explained in further detail.
I will place links in stories, and hopefully publishers of my stories will be willing too to keep these links as an added element of interest for readers. It is part of my attempt to be a participating part of the expansion of the rapidly changing publishing world.
List of 2nd Quarter Winners at WOTF July 19, 2011
Posted by Tom Wells in Story Awards.add a comment
The official list is out now on the Finalists, Semi-Finalists, Silver Honorable Mentions and Honorable mentions.
There were 8 Finalists (that is a set number for this contest), 11 Semi-Finalists, 18 Silver Honorable Mentions (I’m listed there), and 94 Honorable Mentions. That puts my story, Mother in the top 37 stories for Quarter 2 this year. Now I hope to have the story published for all to see.
The 8 finalists are now being judged by established authors with the top 3 being selected as the winners for this quarter and those stories will be published in the Volume 28 Writers of the Future yearly anthology book.
Mother Sent To The Market July 12, 2011
Posted by Tom Wells in Submissions.add a comment
I have begun submitting my recent WOTF story, Mother, for publication.
The first place I chose to market my story to is, Darwin’s Evolutions
This publication has a very straight-forward approach and dialog for their stories and submissions that appeals to me. Hopefully this story will find a home here.
Writers of the Future Quarter 2, Volume 28 Results July 6, 2011
Posted by Tom Wells in Story Awards.add a comment
I just received the news today that my Quarter 2 entry in the Writers of the Future contest made it to the Silver Honorable Mention level. Of the 1000 plus entries, the top 10% are selected as Honorable Mention (HM) and the top 5% of the HM stories are deemed Silver Honorable Mention. “Mother” is a story about a NASA space probe that accidentally achieves artificial intelligence on its way to Alpha Centauri. The story will now be sent out for consideration at other publications. My WOTF entry before this one, Fall of the Faithful, gained an Honorable Mention and can be read here on my website. My next story has already been submitted for the 3rd quarter of this contest and hopefully it will show as well or better than my previous two stories.
Most concurrent submission for my works July 5, 2011
Posted by Tom Wells in Submissions.2 comments
July 5th:
I have put out the most concurrent story submissions of my writing career. As of today I have:
- Mother: A story about a deep space NASA probe which has gained artificial intelligence; is still in the hunt for recognition in the Writers of the Future contest. (Update, this story was a Silver Honorable Mention Winner)(Now submitted to Darwin’s Evolution) Still Pending
- Firstfather: When humans have achieved immortality, will they still behave like humans? This story was sent to the Temporarily closed Sci-Fi Short Story Magazine, I have now submitted it to Asimov’s in the hope that the latter will accept the story for the personal tale that just happens to have a Sci-Fi setting. Form Rejection for Asimov’s. Sent to Daily Science Fiction for consideration.
- Twilight on Planet Z is my second submission to the Daily Science Fiction website. It is another Flash story and I believe this one is stronger than my first submission to this market. Form Rejection. Started a longer version of this story.
- Marooned: I wrote this short story before finishing my novel length manuscript called, The Frontier Express. The novel is really a prequel to this short story, but of course, you don’t need to have read the novel to get the point of my short. Marooned has been submitted to the Science Fiction Anthology. The Science Fiction Anthology I submitted this to closed to submission as pre-planned on July 31st. No reply yet but I am assuming they are now going through the submissions they received before their deadline to decide which ones will make their E-Market publication.
I have more stories than this to submit as I research the markets I think the stories will have the warmest reception. I’m hoping that I get some of the feedback I wrote about below, even if I don’t have acceptances with these submissions .
Feedback July 4, 2011
Posted by Tom Wells in Introductions.add a comment
Feedback
In most professions, like that of my day job as an architect, your client is an active participant in your work. If you flip burgers for a living, the customer is often all to ready to give you feedback. In architecture, my clients are involved in the evolving design that will be their building. As a doctor, your patients have to give you feedback for you to help them. In writing short stories though, things are different. Some would say that the readers are your client, but to me, they are like the users of a building. They didn’t have a direct involvement in the building’s construction in the way readers of short stories don’t have a direct say in choosing the stories the editor of a publication selects from the hundreds of submittals they receive.
Your client therefore is the editor/publisher of the venue you submit your short story to. But unlike my other examples, there is often no interaction between the client and the writer during the development process. This is good in the way that a writer is free to develop a story they way their imagination is leading them. However this is also a formula for a great deal of rejection, especially early on in a carrier. A writer now has to shop their stories cold.
Each time I bring my building designs to the client, I get to put the pictures up on a wall and explain all of the inspirations for my design. I can guide the client to see why I have located rooms where they are and how the corridors provide movement and I can explain why the look of the façade is designed the way it is. The client listens and often gives great feedback on what they like and what they need changed to fit their needs.
When I send a story for consideration at an anthology, I can’t put it up on a wall and explain what motivates my characters and I can’t listen to the editor’s thoughts on my story and how it could possibly be made to fit what they are looking to publish. They get too many submissions to personally respond to every story on a level that could help the writer know if they are close to what they are looking for, or how the story failed to spark their interest.
This leaves you feeling out of step as the rejections keep growing. The only remedy is perseverance and the belief that you are writing stories that someone wants to read. The trick is, finding that publisher who sees something in your story that they feel their readers will want to read. I have not found that fit with a publisher yet, but I still keep trying.
2nd Quarter Entry Still Alive June 19, 2011
Posted by Tom Wells in Submissions.add a comment
**Update – #3**
This story has been recognized as a Silver Honorable Mention! One step up from my previous entry.
**Update – #2**
As of the first of July, my story is still in contention for the 2nd Quarter! I have confirmation that my story is still in consideration and that it has not been rejected. The Honorable Mention notice reports from the contest have apparently been sent. It is possible that my story has made it to a higher level than my last entry. I can only wait and hope as we go into a long holiday weekend that next week will bring big news.
Original Post
My entry into the second quarter of the Writers of the Future ongoing contest has survived the first round of rejections. It remains to be seen if the story, Mother, set in the not so far future where a NASA space probe gains artificial intelligence, can hold on to reach the Honorable Mention round and beyond. With over 1,000 submissions per quarter, the competition is strong.
**Update**
As of 6-22-2011, more rejections are being reported. I continue to have a dread/hopeful relationship with my e-mail in-box. Hopefully reports will come soon that Honorable Mention notification e-mails have started going out (marking the end of the rejection phase). Honorable Mention indicates that a story was of the top 10% of that quarter’s submissions. My Fourth Quarter entry to this contest in 2010 achieved this recognition. So the waiting continues,,,
New Flash Fiction Submitted June 19, 2011
Posted by Tom Wells in Submissions.add a comment
Update: This submission was not accepted.
I have submitted a flash fiction story (a story with less than 1000 words) to the Daily Science Fiction Website. 
It was a challenge to write a story with a plot and character development in so few words. These elements exist subtly so it will remain to be seen if the story captures the website’s interest.
1st Novel June 15, 2011
Posted by Tom Wells in Introductions.add a comment
I have posted the first two chapters of my first novel length manuscript called The Red Sands of Revolution. The first draft was written ten years ago (its astounding that it has been that long). I have read through it and picked up on some editing points over the years. Now I would like to see if there is interest in this story. Please read the posted chapters and if you want more, you can e-mail me at wellsdesigned@msn.com to request a full pdf or kindle version of the story to read.
This is the story of the first real independence movement beyond Earth. The setting is on Mars, and follows the reluctant leader of the movement to remove the United Nation’s control of the planet by the third generation residents who now consider themselves to be natives of Mars.
wellswriting 