mariness

One of my favorite little zines, inkscrawl, is back, just in time for National Poetry Month. This issue contains a tiny poem from me, as well as work from Sonja Taaffe, Kendall Evans, Adrienne Odosso, and many more. A lovely little way to start off April.

Poet extraordinaire Amal El-Mohtar has been yelling at everyone to do this, so --

Writing is an odd thing: what you are actually doing, and what others see, is often far apart.

2013 was a classic example of this for me.

I know I've talked a lot about not writing as much as I should, but the first half of 2013 took this down to an all time low. I barely wrote at all; which made me feel even worse about my writing. In July, matters improved, but improved only in comparison to the first half of the year; it was worse than previous years. And all this while my fellow writers were happily totaling up booming word counts and publications on Twitter. Gulp.

But you might not guess any of that from my publications in 2013. As I noted earlier, I managed to publish nine full length short stories this year, five of them at "pro" rates, including one at Tor.com; three flash stories, including one over at McSweeney's; and five poems. That's rather fewer poems than in recent years, but I haven't been writing as much poetry, so the decline is to be expected.

Anyway, here's the rundown of the stories:

Probably the most widely read and popular (barring a couple of dissenters) was In the Greenwood, Tor.com, December, a folktale retelling, which has popped up in a couple of best of lists for 2013. Publishing being what it is, this is also the oldest (in terms of when I wrote it) story on this list.

Runner-up probably was The Princess and Her Tale, Daily Science Fiction, May, another folktale retelling.

Other retellings of folklore and fairy tales included The Gifts, Daily Science Fiction, September; and "Godmother," "Marmalette" and "Palatina" in Missing Links and Secret Histories, Aquaduct Press, July 2013, which more people should read, because the other stories in it are hilarious, and no, I'm not just saying that. I still pull out the book to cheer myself up.

Stepping away from the folklore retellings for a bit, we have the only story set in my "Stoneverse" setting, An Assault of Color, Apex, October 2013, which has started to appear, much to my surprise, in a few best of lists for the year. This surprising because no one seemed to notice it when it first came out. Remember that reality versus perception thing I was mentioning? Here's another example.

And something that was not a folktale retelling or tied to anything else I've written was The Dragon and the Bond, about, well, a dragon. And a Bond. But not James Bond, despite the obvious joke that several people picked up on after the story was published. I have to say I missed that entirely; then again, one of the hardest parts of writing for me remains coming up with a title. This story is called "The Dragon and The Bond" because, well, not to give too much of the story away, it has a dragon and it has a bond and after spending far, far too long trying to come up with a title I just went with two things that were in the story.

And there's the writing process in action, everyone!

Anyway, title issues aside, "The Dragon and the Bond" was one of my personal favorites from last year, along with Stronger Than the Wind, Stronger Than the Sea, Demeter's Spicebox, July 2013; a combination of science fiction and fairy tale.

And then the three pieces of flash fiction:

What to Expect When You're Expecting Cthulhu, McSweeneys, August 2013, humor, and the only piece this year that I cackled over as I wrote it.

Seaweed, Daily Science Fiction, August 2013, part of the fairy tale series that yes, I do plan to finish one of these days, along with the connecting bits.

A Winter's Love, Goldfish Grimm, December 2013.

And poems:

"Gleaming," Mythic Delirium, Issue 28, April 2013

"Walking Home," Dreams and Nightmares, Issue 95, June 2013

Iron Search, inkscrawl, August 2013

Mountain, Through the Gate, August 2013

The Loss, Strange Horizons, September 2013.

Along with this I also published one or two posts per week over at Tor.com, covering works by Mary Norton, Roald Dahl, Lloyd Alexander, Christopher Moore, and Georgette Heyer. That turned out to be a bit too much, so since the Georgette Heyer reread is over, this is going to drop back down to the usual one post per week plus very occasional extras -- yes, yes, I am looking forward to that upcoming Oz movie -- to let me breathe a little.

Now to see what 2014 brings. If the stars align, it should bring at least three short story publications, two flash fiction pieces, one novella, and one poem so far....but we'll see.

My little poem, The Loss, is up at Strange Horizons. Enjoy!

And if you are enjoying Strange Horizons, just a quick note that they are currently holding their annual fundraiser. The closer they get to their final goal, the more extra fiction and poetry readers get. Win-win situation :)

1. Today's mail brought something fun: my copy of One Sentence Stories, featuring -- spoiler -- 16 stories told in a single sentence, one by me. You can get the pdf for free at the link, but I have to say, this is a seriously cute little book in printed form. I have it up on my bookshelf of Things I Am In, pulled out from the other books before it gets lost.

2. Speaking of short little pieces, I also have a tiny poem in the latest issue of Dreams and Nightmares, which you can order for sample $5, pdf $1, paypal jopnquog [at] gmail [dot] com.

3. And speaking of tiny creatures, the latest Tor.com post, about the Borrowers again, is up at Tor.com.

So last week the latest issue of Mythic Delirum, containing my poem, "Gleaming," arrived in my mailbox, with its cover of a freaky snowman and an interior of marvelous poems. I've just started dipping into the words and am caught, as always, by the magic.

"Gleaming" is the poem that I submitted completely by accident, not even realizing that I'd done so until weeks later. And by "completely by accident" I mean that I was so unaware that it was in the file I submitted that I didn't name it in the title of the file or on my cover letter, learning that I'd sent it along with three other poems (which I did list on the cover letter and in Excel) only weeks later on Twitter. From the editor. Oh well. The perils of copying and pasting and going through about five different combinations of poems to sell.

In related news, Mike Allen, the editor, rejected the three poems I so carefully picked out, assuming he would love, and grabbed this one instead. Which says something about my ability to figure out what editors will or won't love.

In unrelated to my incompetence news, Mythic Delirium is about to switch from print to ezine form, so you might want to grab one last print issue while you can.

I have other thoughts, but I don't seem to be caffeinated enough to express them, so, more blogging later.

The inaugural issue of Through the Gate has just been published, led off by my poem, Rahab. It also contains poems by several other marvelous poets, including Rose Lemberg, Sonya Taaffe, Michele Bannister, Adrienne Odasso and many more.

I'm extremely pleased to be part of the launch of this (and kinda stunned that my poem started things off...that I wasn't expecting.) If you need some myth and magic in your day today, given in words dripping with beauty, this would be where to start.

1. So while I was mostly out of it over the last few days, the goblins released the latest issue of Goblin Fruit, which contains my little poem Reversals But that's not important. What's actually important is that, as a special gift to me, the editors INCLUDED VILLANELLES. IN THE PLURAL. Here is C.S.E. Cooney's It Only Takes a Cauldron and a Dash of Thyme, AND ONE WITH A HURRICANE, Melissa Frederick's Hurricane Ophelia (no, really!). The issue has some other remarkable pieces in it as well, so go read it already.

(Mind you, I also sense that this means C.S.E. Cooney is about to outclass all of us again at the next poetry reading, but she just does that sort of thing.)

2. Also while I was out of it Freddy the Pig reread trotted on with chatter about Freddy the Cowboy. I think the next Heyer post should be up tomorrow -- there's been some hiccups in that process, mostly involving me, but I'm hoping we'll be back on an iffy schedule for that one soon.

3. Finally, not about me, but I'm very pleased to announce that the Kickstarter for Clockwork Phoenix 4 managed to get fully funded. Which means that the goals just got a little loftier. If it gets just a bit more money -- say, hitting the $8000 mark -- editor Mike Allen will be able to pay professional rates. So, if you were considering this (and bear in mind that backers get ebooks and particularly generous backers get ebooks AND JEWELRY), consider harder!

(Course, this means I should probably think of actually writing something for this anthology, Hmm. Hmm. Hmm.)

First, the very good news: Issue 7 of Bull Spec is finally here, featuring the usual mix of excellent short fiction and fascinating interviews, along with a small poem, "Laurels," by yours truly. You can pick up either a print (directly from Bull Spec) or online (through Weightless Books or Wizard's Tower Books) edition.

Second, for those of you heading to Wiscon, I'm pleased to note that you'll be able to find my little poem "Encantada" in Stone Telling's Here, We Cross chapbook, which will be available at the con. Also available at the con, a book I'm not in, but which is also edited by the same person who brought us Stone Telling in the first place, Rose Lemberg: The Moment of Change. Rumor has it that if you go to the launch party for that particular book you will get cookies. Excellent poetry AND cookies, yay!

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In hopefully untrue news, Twitter is reporting the death of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. His work has had a pretty profound influence on me, and this is sad news. ETA: Internet hoax.

What with various things going on this week, including yesterday's and today's addition of major (and needed) public utility work just across and down the street and about to be just outside the house, I completely missed that my poem Tongueless just went up at Strange Horizons a couple of days ago.

I had more to say about this, but the drilling is making poetic thoughts kinda difficult, so I'll just leave you with: Enjoy!

1. As I announced in a couple places elsewhere, my poem Snowmelt was nominated for a Rhysling Award.

I don't often have favorites among my poems, but "Snowmelt" was one of the rare poems that entirely satisfied me, and hands down the poem I was proudest of last year. I have, you see, a slight – very slight – obsession with structured poetry, but I can only rarely make it work. "Snowmelt," which mingles a triolet, rondeau, pantoum and a sonnet in with other mirrored and structured works, takes that obsession to new levels, and I'm delighted that someone else has decided to indulge my obsession with a nice nod of recognition.

Assuming the goblins cooperate, I believe we'll have a bit more news about Goblin Fruit, where this poem initially appeared, in the next few days....although you never quite know with goblins. Tricksy creatures, they be.

2. And since it's Thursday, it must be time for another Tor.com post, this one about A Wind in the Door. I'll also note that people have already started chattering about A Severed Wasp in the comments on earlier posts, which suggests that we'll be having some interesting comments once we get to that book (not for a few more weeks.)

3. A few other good and interesting things are happening on the publishing front that I can't blog about quite yet, but, well, as they say, watch this space. Nothing good is happening on the writing front, where my work in progress can be best compared to that of a turtle who has decided that, you know, even this crawling thing is Too. Much. I've just been too tired to think clearly.

....why is the Batman theme song playing outside?

Anyway. Off to try to trick out a few more words.