2017 February Progress Report and March Goals

Well I’ll start with the disclaimer that February has three fewer days than January, so if I missed a goal, that can be my excuse 🙂

Ha, but on a more serious note, this month has been super busy with non-writing stuff. Among other things, we took on the task putting new flooring down on the other side of the duplex. (Note to readers, if you buy a duplex you have twice the home “improvements” and repairs. Keep that in mind.)

The time spent put aside, it actually hasn’t been that bad doing the floor. It’s been a good learning experience, and we’re saving a ton of money doing it ourselves.

But anyhow, this doesn’t really have anything to do with writing, so let’s get on to my writing report card for the month.

Short Stories

So I immediately failed at reaching the goal I set last month of finishing and submitting one short story every month. (Yes, I am blaming the housework for that.) But it was a good month in another way. My first acceptance for the year came this month and it’s perhaps one of my most exciting. We’ll have more on that later this years.

I also finished outlining a kid’s story that could either work as a fairy tale(ish) short story, or a short picture book if I want to take it down that road. I’d like to get it cleaned up and submitted to either an appropriate anthology, or an agent if I want to try the book route with it.

Finally, here are my short story submissions stats:

Number of submissions: 4
Number of rejections: 3 (2 form letter, and 1 non-response)
Number of acceptances: 1 (Story scheduled for print in October)
Number still pending: 7

Theme of Absence

Theme of Absence is still going strong. Traffic was way up this month due to a couple of big listing sites adding us, and so were the number of submissions I received. I’m working through my backlog of stories, but as of right now, I’ve got 46 more stories to read. We’re still at a consistent acceptance rate of 26%, so if you’re looking for a good token paying market, don’t forget to consider us. Click here for the submission guidelines.

Novel(s) Progress

Let’s just revisit this in May, lol.

Goals for March

March will be a “fun” month. We’re hoping (dreaming, praying) to finish all of the home repairs before the baby (that’s # 4, for those of you counting at home) so things should get a little less hectic after that. But it’s like my wife said, we’re totally in survival mode until then. So I won’t be planning anything too ambitious this month, but I would like to clean up at least one more short story, possibly two since I have a few that are close.

But that’s about it. I want to keep my current blogging schedule and get caught back up on Theme of Absence, which I can do, but otherwise I need to spend a little more time preparing for all the things I have set up for April. And, of course, the baby.

Events

Finally, I’ll take a second to share any upcoming writing event I have scheduled. If you’re in the area, please stop by and say hi.

Red Path Art Gallery – I’ll be speaking about the business of writing fiction, signing signing books, and drinking wine. This is my first solo, so maybe lots of wine. April 23, 1:30-3:00 (Seward, NE)
Constellation 8 – I’ll be staffing the Nebraska Writers Guild table, and plan to participate in some table discussion on writing. April 28-30 (Lincoln, NE)
Six Corners Southeast – I’m one of the author scheduled for a reading and book signing at this event. May 7, 12:30-5:00 (Bellevue, NE)

And that is it. Another month down in 2017. Hope your year is good so far, and if you’re up for the challenge, go ahead and share a few of your success stories and goals in the comments section. We’d love to hear ’em!