About that submission

While it might look like I’m sitting at my desk, staring out the window at the snow, I’m actually working.  I’m going that writing in my head thing that I do all the time.  I don’t know if it’s something I can turn off or not.  Most of the time, it just doesn’t get written down.

But because of that, and being tired to the point of not being able to focus, I figured I’d write this in an attempt to get my mind to the point I can get more than a few short paragraphs of worldbuilding done.

So, that submission I posted about.  I did submit it; it was going to get done, no matter how I waffled about it, but it took me a while.  It was around 2 a.m. when I pushed the submit button.

Now, I wait.  The submission guidelines said the response time is 45 days, so I’m going to guess that to be 45 days from the submission deadline of February 14.  I could be wrong, and if so, then I’ll find out sooner.

I expect a rejection.  Not because I don’t think the story is good, or because I did anything stupid enough to warrant a rejection.  I expect it because I’m pretty sure this issue will get a lot of interest and a lot of submissions.  That’s part of the reason I submitted a flash fiction piece.  I figured I might have a better chance at selling it.  Short stories are hard for some people to write–they’re definitely difficult for me–and some people have even more trouble with flash fiction.

It’s not easy telling a coherent story with a beginning, middle, and an end in less than 1499 words.  That’s one of the things I took away from my high school writing class, though–the knowledge that I can write a pretty good story in under 2000 words.  It’s when I try to go longer that it doesn’t like to stop.

The downside is that because it’s under 1500 words, it won’t be considered for a regular issue of Lightspeed.  But Analog and Asimov don’t have a minimum word count, at least nothing listed on their website, so I can submit to one of them if it’s rejected.  Then if they reject it, well, I can always figure out something else.

And there’s always the option of playing around in the world and expanding the story.

I think I can focus on my other world, now.