Yay for Editing!

No, it's not that I'm ecstatic about editing all of a sudden. After spending all of October editing a short story, "Worlds Apart," I had grown so sick of it that I never wanted to see it again. With the help of my trusted beta readers (@dreamrock and @spacecrazed on twitter) I had scoured every line, second guessed every word, and in such a flurry that I had also killed any confidence and joy I'd had in the piece. If it had been on paper instead of in the computer, I might have crumpled it up and thrown it away.

So, you know, at that point I figured it was done. And just in time, too, since the point of doing all that editing was to submit it to the Dead Robots' Society podcast's 3rd annual short story contest. The story had come out of a sort of prompt they had in one of their episodes, so when they announced the contest, it seemed appropriate to submit it there. For one thing, it was motivation to, er, edit it. ;)

And then... I won! This has got to be the first contest of any sort that I've won :O It's also the first short story that's gotten recognition anywhere. They are going to record the story and release it in their podcast feed. WOOT^3!

One last note on editing -- I completed NaNoWriMo (51k in 17 days) and kept a file for planned changes, but there's no way I'm launching into that right now, because of a bunch of holiday plans coming up. It felt surprisingly natural to write a 51k story even though I'm usually writing short stories and flash fiction. That was encouraging! I didn't even write from an outline, which I usually do. Go me!

Not a Real Update

I know it's been awhile since I posted in my blog, but that's because there's not much to say. Lame!

- I've written, edited, and recorded some flash fiction for a future project
- I've connected my blog to facebook, so that all my facebook friends are currently seeing this note and wondering "what the heck"?
- I've done some editing on a story, but it's slow going and I'm STILL not finished. Arg!
- Trying to keep Dear Editor up-to-date. Jonathan helped with that!
- Got stuff to Beta Read, which I will no doubt enjoy!

Beta Reading

I've been having a lot of fun beta reading. It's always satisfying when the other writer is, you know, good-- excellent is even better-- because then you feel like you're privy to something, and that you're helping with something important. And of course, getting your stuff read in return is awesome. I suppose it's a little nerve wracking when you know the other writer is a good writer, and you hope they think the same of you. But the important thing is to improve, and getting your stuff read and commented on is essential, as long as you find beta readers with some sense.

It's also a great way to connect with other writers, because they need and want it as badly as you. I had been a little afraid that other writers, especially strangers, might react poorly to my critiques, but so far that hasn't happened.

Also? Bonus if the other writer(s) are old friends from High School.

20% is a big Number

20% may not get you a passing grade in school, but it's gloating material when we're talking publishing rate. 20% of the work I've submitted - short stories, novellas, and flash fiction - have been accepted for publishing to wherever I submitted them. That's counting each submission as a separate entity, not each story. This may be a temporary percent, but I'll gloat while it lasts. It's worth noting that most of my work that has been accepted has been twitter fiction. Check out my sidebar to see what has been or will be published.

Little Bit Here, Little Bit There

A personal note: My son Corwin was born July 9th!
So then how am I posting to say any thing about writing? Well, sometimes he just wants to be held, and sometimes that is when I can write. Flash fiction, of course. If you want to ask me more about how I'm accomplishing this, email me at mr.mulington.the.3rd (at) gmail (dot) com

New acceptance: Nanoism will publish a twitter fiction of mine November 2nd.

I wrote a few nonfiction articles to try my hand at it, but ultimately I still love fiction the best.
eHow articles: http://www.ehow.com/members/mristuccia.html

I've been catching up on podcast fiction (EscapePod, Podcastle, and Murder at Avedon Hill) and ran across yet another story by Ian Creasey that I love at EscapePod. I emailed him and he responded. Pretty cool, that.

One thing that has had to wait though is podcasting. Oh well!