Writerly Pursuits: A Progress Report

It's almost fall, and I thought it would be time for another progress report.

I wrote four new short stories during the summer and finally edited the two I had waiting.

I submitted a few stories, and one was accepted by Mothership Zeta, and another one by World Weaver Press for their Frozen Fairy Tales anthology. (And yes, I also got a few rejections, but I try not to dwell on those...)

One story I sent to a Finnish writing competition, and I've got another Finnish story waiting to be revised for the Portti competition, deadline in October.

In August I wanted to do revisions on a piece for a Lovecraft anthology and submit another batch of drabbles to SpeckLit. Both done.

The Lovecraft story proved quite challenging to write. How do you know how many of your own toys to bring when you're playing in somebody else's sandbox? I got a bunch of excellent critiques from Critters on this piece, and revised accordingly. We'll see how it pans out.

I've got my next two short stories ready for Crittering and one Finnish story for my Finnish critique group, so I'm set for a couple of months. (And I did brief outlines of a few more stories for when I have time to write them.)

The only thing that hasn't progressed is the book project. I keep getting distracted by short story ideas, and I'm not sure about my currently planned ending for the book, so I'm stalling. I recently got Scrivener, the writing program (more on that later), and I'm super excited about it, so I'm thinking of uploading what I've got to Scrivener and going from there.

I'm actually looking forward to fall, because I love the darkening nights and the chill in the air. (In Finland, the sun doesn't really set properly in the summer. It's hard to dream up creepy ghoulies when it's light out all the time.) Fall is the perfect season for curling up with the laptop, steaming cups of Earl Grey or hot chocolate within reach.  And Halloween is coming! Yay! Candy apples! Themed cupcakes! Tentacled earrings! Okay, better stop now, going off on a tangent...

What about you? Got any (writing) goals to share?