One Funny Notion = a Experimental Story

I picked up an instruction book about scrapbooking and as I flipped through its pages I felt there was a story waiting for me. It would be non-linear in form - a departure from my normal writing. I took another book, one about death and the work a dying person might choose to undertake. Then I wrote Memories By Design, using chapter titles from the scrapbooking book and concepts imagined.

The completed story took a few detours in the publishing industry where the story was accepted by a market that then closed their doors. More submissions followed and Black Dog Review said yes but asked for revisions. I am always grateful for editorial perspective and guidance, this time was no different. The finished piece is one that I'm proud of. You can read it here. Memories By Design -at Black Dog Review

This story is the last of eleven publication credits for 2018. It was a good year. I'm looking forward to 2019 and what it might bring.

Every Day Fiction

It's a cool site, the Every Day Fiction home and now I join the ranks of authors published there. The Fire is a flash fiction piece - less than 500 words that explores something dark. I had fun writing it and the editors at Every Day Fiction gave me the opportunity to do some guided revisions. End result =The Fire

Black Mirrors at The Coachella Review

I don't have the records to count but I have been sending short stories to The Coachella Review for many years now. (They were always prompt with their rejections.) I kept on trying and here is the fruits of that labor - my first story published by them. Black Mirrors is another story that sat for a few years and then underwent  revisions before finding this home.

Revision Equals Publication

Seagulls from Vancouver Island

 

One of my stories contains scenery from our trip to Vancouver Island a couple of years ago. The amount of setting that I use varies a great deal from story, but I think that A Thing Spoilt wouldn't be a story without the setting.
Another thing that I find interesting about this story is during revision the title was revised. So the former Vice Versa became A Thing Spoilt. I was mid-revisions when the good folks at Ambrose University approached me about revising Vice Versa for inclusion in their Ambrosia - Ambrose University Literary Review. I carried on and this is the result. Ambrosia Page 23 is where you will find A Thing Spoilt.

Another short story that I revised this summer and found a publication home is Behind the Glass. Down in the Dirt. It takes a bit to find my work at this site but if you can locate the writer list and wade through it, you will find Liz Betz alphabetically in amongst the B's. All of my stories that Down in the Dirt has published are linked from my name. I have been featured in a number of issues and I appreciate their vote of confidence in my writing. 

The Tally. Oh!

In a short time, another story of mine will be online, published by The Coachella Review. It is titled Black Mirrors. The story is one that I successfully took through deep revisions this summer.

Do I often do revisions? No. But I happened on a file of my stories that had been marketed but weren’t accepted. I had retired but not discarded them. I certainly had fresh eyes when I came back to these stories; it had been five or six years since some were written. In the meantime, I had gained some skills and like a good editor, I was able to see the weaknesses and strengths of my stories.

This does take objectivity. I have a tendency to fall in love with my stories as I write them. My darlings are perfect, I think, until I have time enough to detach.

This does take time. My summer, busy as it was, did have little blocks of home time that I thought would suit my revision projects. I’m willing to add that it takes confidence. I believed could make these stories publishable.

When the acceptance email came through about Black Mirrors, I checked my records. This is the eighth story of mine accepted so far in 2018. Then a week or so later, I returned to the records to answer another question. There are four revised stories of this year among those accepted. The other four were new, recently written stories. Three of those are flash fiction, something that I dabbled in this year for the first time. A decent tally, but not to rest too long, it’s Oh. Onward!

 

A Newfoundland garden plot - a picture from my busy summer.

Theme Explored Twice.

The Sparrow is now online.  I started this story with a character that was very resistant to ‘letting go and letting God’.  A version of this was in the marketplace but wasn’t placed.  I did get some feedback from an editor or two, always encouraging.  During a revision I decided to use Yoga elements as the armature of the story and this is the result. 
It seems I may not again write of a rural wife with a brain-injured husband, but I have written of this once before, long ago (2003).  You might be curious about that story, which surprisingly is still online.  I do remember being in love with the long title which is The Last Hurrah of Shenandoah Tait. 

 

The Sparrow

The Sparrow is my most recent short story publication.  And as the count goes it is my 40th - that's a lifetime total.  I am pleased and proud of this publication.  Link to read The Sparrow. 

FYI I've finished the first draft of my novel and I plan to share a few writing posts here in the immediate future.  Thanks for reading. 

Novel Equals Writer Education

 

I finished the first draft of my novel shortly before Easter.  Writing a novel was a big leap for me and it required time and focus.  One of the first things about writing a novel that I want to share with you is this.

I began with a quote.  I do mean began, because the first thing I had to do was let my mind get used to the idea of writing a novel.  I’ve misplaced the quote but it was from a mountain climber that even mountain climbers hold in awe.  So paraphrased, as I remember the words, they are…I expanded my mind so that the unfeasible slowly became within the realm of possibilities.

Maybe I could write a novel.  I told myself that I had completed my apprenticeship in writing with the short stories I have written.  I told myself that my novel didn’t have to be ‘good’.  I told myself that each portion would be a small puzzle that I could solve.  The final expansion of my mind was to look about and see who had written novels.  If they could do it…

One of my winter visitors

So can I!  And I did.  

This is from Writing as a Sacred Path by Jill Jepson.  …about writers…”We turn every action we take, every thought we have, every moment we live, into an education about writing.”  Writing the novel was an education that I’m glad I took.  

 

 

Afterimage

My short story Afterimage has found a home.  Danforth Review is featuring this story and several others as of January 6th, 2018. The link to Afterimage will let read this rather dark short story.  I am quite proud of Afterimage because I certainly struggled to get it 'right'.

Flash Fiction Publication

It was a warmish February day last year that prompted this short piece of fiction.  Sprouting Something is the first story of mine to be published in 2018.  Check it out at Pif Magazine