D
David Steele
Guest
You know how it is. Sunday morning arrives and there's a rejection letter from your favourite magazine thanking you for your interest but telling you that (after careful consideration) your short story hasn't made the grade.
When this happens, I generally
*You can tell how badly or how well writing is going by the amount of dandelions on the front yard.**
When I get to item four, it at least feels like I'm doing something positive if I can get a well-written submission away to a suitable agent. I don't overdo this, and like to spend a few hours getting to know an agent before bothering them. By the time I'm ready to press send, I've usually already committed something of myself. I've made my mind up that they might well be "the one" and that it's probably going to work out nicely.
It's pretty much like dating all over again, without the aftershave burn.
Anyway, one of the agents listed in TWAY seemed rather cryptic (Barbara Levy Literacy Agency) because it didn't have a website listed... I decided that there was no point in discounting anyone for not listing their url, so headed to the Googleplex to find out what I could dig up.
It's at times like this that you have to tip your hat to the gods of optimization, because I somehow found myself on the submissions page of Redhammer. For an orderly mind like mine, that's a worrying state of events, because I was only looking at "L" today. "R" isn't for another month at least.
But I read anyway, because advice is free and Peter Cox knows how to sell Litopia. Here I am. A most unexpected pleasure to meet you all!
I'm David, a British SF/Fantasy writer who grew up on Bradbury and Heinlein. Most of my reading is via audiobooks these days (I spend about fifteen hours a week on the road) although I do read "like a grown up" as well.
I'm currently trying to find a champion for my novel "Marris and Wade - Demon Bound", which is a Gothic fairytale story of magic and tall stories in which 19th century charlatans attempt to hoodwink their way to riches but find every ridiculous claim they makes ends up coming true.
That said, my current focus is to try to build some sort of credibility as a writer by getting short stories taken up, smashing a few competitions and single-handedly saving the world from invading darkness. Of these three options I think the latter might be more straight forward.
** There are currently no weeds on my front yard. This makes my wife happy. She doesn't understand.
When this happens, I generally
1) Make coffee
2) Sulk for twenty minutes
3) Do some weeding*
4) Grab the Writers and Artists Yearbook to look for a promising agent.
2) Sulk for twenty minutes
3) Do some weeding*
4) Grab the Writers and Artists Yearbook to look for a promising agent.
*You can tell how badly or how well writing is going by the amount of dandelions on the front yard.**
When I get to item four, it at least feels like I'm doing something positive if I can get a well-written submission away to a suitable agent. I don't overdo this, and like to spend a few hours getting to know an agent before bothering them. By the time I'm ready to press send, I've usually already committed something of myself. I've made my mind up that they might well be "the one" and that it's probably going to work out nicely.
It's pretty much like dating all over again, without the aftershave burn.
Anyway, one of the agents listed in TWAY seemed rather cryptic (Barbara Levy Literacy Agency) because it didn't have a website listed... I decided that there was no point in discounting anyone for not listing their url, so headed to the Googleplex to find out what I could dig up.
It's at times like this that you have to tip your hat to the gods of optimization, because I somehow found myself on the submissions page of Redhammer. For an orderly mind like mine, that's a worrying state of events, because I was only looking at "L" today. "R" isn't for another month at least.
But I read anyway, because advice is free and Peter Cox knows how to sell Litopia. Here I am. A most unexpected pleasure to meet you all!
I'm David, a British SF/Fantasy writer who grew up on Bradbury and Heinlein. Most of my reading is via audiobooks these days (I spend about fifteen hours a week on the road) although I do read "like a grown up" as well.
I'm currently trying to find a champion for my novel "Marris and Wade - Demon Bound", which is a Gothic fairytale story of magic and tall stories in which 19th century charlatans attempt to hoodwink their way to riches but find every ridiculous claim they makes ends up coming true.
That said, my current focus is to try to build some sort of credibility as a writer by getting short stories taken up, smashing a few competitions and single-handedly saving the world from invading darkness. Of these three options I think the latter might be more straight forward.
** There are currently no weeds on my front yard. This makes my wife happy. She doesn't understand.
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I'm sure you will feel right at home 
