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Category: Announcements

The passive-aggressive breakup, part 2

The passive-aggressive breakup, part 2

Published by Kelly on April 8, 2013

Some time ago I mentioned that I had two publishers who were interested in my forthcoming novel, Portrait of Woman in Ink: A Tattoo Storybook. I also mentioned that both of them mysteriously stopped answering emails or returning phone calls for a little while. Frustrated out of my mind (hey – I don’t take kindly to being ignored), I contacted them both to have the DTR talk (defining the relationship, for those of you who’ve never had one… I mean, heard this term :D). Essentially, “Hey, are you still interested in me, or did that new girl from Valley steal you away from me?”

Okay, so I didn’t say it like that, and I don’t have anything against new girls (though we didn’t have many of them where I grew up), but I did ask if they were still interested in a very straightforward manner. To my surprise, both of them came back into the fold, saying they were still interested, and would be sending along contracts shortly. “Shortly” is a relative term in the publishing industry, I’ve found, as one of them sent their book deal contract along within a couple months. The other one however…

I kept talking with them, making sure they were still interested. They assured me that I was still very much on their radar and that my hair still looked good (metaphorically speaking). They strung me along for a bit, and even when I played the “I have another offer” card, they assured me that no other publisher could do for me what they could do for me, and that they’d have a deal over to me by the end of the month. That month, for your reference, was January.

In case you don’t own a calendar, it’s April, and they just told me TUH-DAY that they’ve decided to go in a new direction. I could be a little miffed at them, but how can I be, really? After all, I’m the one who let them string me along for 4 months, and didn’t just flat out say “Where’s my book deal, already?!” But I also can’t be angry with myself too much because I knew better than to let the door close on the first publisher who was interested, the ones who actually *did* have the consideration to send me the book deal they said they would, because I signed with them.

… But more on that in a post to come!

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In which I appear in a print anthology

Published by Kelly on March 18, 2013

In case you missed it, I had a poem published in Foliate Oak Literary Magazine back in May, my poem “Culley’s Pub: An Elegy“.

This same publisher is putting out a print anthology soon, and they’ve accepted Culley’s Pub to be part of this anthology. Yay! As per traditional publishing standards, I get a free copy of the anthology as payment for my work. Not complaining, just stating a fact.

As a little background, Culley’s Pub was my bar in college. Not by choice – my ex-husband always wanted to go there so we always went. Their signature drink was Mickey’s malt liquor, if that tells you anything. I’m told even the building Culley’s isn’t there anymore, so I suppose this is my way of immortalizing this seedy-ass dive bar.

In other news, I am starting a new job today so wish me luck.

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Guest posting over at L.M. Stull’s place

Published by Kelly on January 28, 2013

Oh hello,

You came to find me but today I am over at my good buddy L.M. Stull’s blog with a story that equal parts hilarious and full of life lessons, called “Good Things Come To Those Who Wait.” The lesson? Be good to your waiters, waitresses, and other people you’re supposed to tip, especially if you’re the kind of person who’s supposed to be generous to the poor. The other lesson? Poor treatment by someone does not give you license to treat them poorly right back.

And did I mention it’s funny? I did, didn’t I. Okay, so go check it out: http://lmstull.com/blog/

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“Manifesto of a Neglected Chipmunk” Featured in Anthology Work

“Manifesto of a Neglected Chipmunk” Featured in Anthology Work

Published by Kelly on January 14, 2013

FYI – this is what the number one Google image result for the phrase “Neglected Chipmunk” looks like… pretty much sums up my story.

Quite some time ago, a flash fiction story of mine, Manifesto of a Neglected Chipmunk, was featured on the Rose City Sisters’ flash fiction anthology blog. Happily enough, the kind sisters of the Rose City thought this story was good enough to warrant inclusion in their forthcoming print anthology, Pasadena Flash, which is going to be a best-of collection of the many stories they’ve published over the years.

I’m not sure when the book is going to drop, but it’ll probably be before next Christmas, so if one of your New Year’s resolutions was to get your Christmas shopping done before December 24 this year, you’re probably in luck 🙂

Like the website, the book will be perfect for people who love to read but don’t have a boatload of time to fritter away doing so. (Some of us aren’t so lucky.)

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New poem up!

Published by Kelly on November 1, 2012

The poetry is back! And I have a new one for your verse-loving pleasure. I’ve been pretty well entrenched in wedding planning stuff for the past month or so, so naturally it was on my brain when I was thinking of writing a new poem.

And this is what came out of it! Check out Shotgun and let me know what you think 🙂

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Meanwhile, in the traditional publishing world…

Published by Kelly on September 3, 2012

Despite my literary fame and bestseller rankings exceeding 50 copies sold, I still make time to submit my shorter works to literary journals the old-fashioned way, including my poetry and short stories. Well, to a certain extent. There are still some journals that are SO old-fashioned with the way they do business I won’t even bother. This includes:

  • Ones that don’t accept simultaneous submissions. If you don’t want my work to ever be under consideration with another journal, but you won’t respond to me unless you accept my work, and it’ll be at least six months before that might happen, have fun.
  • Ones that don’t accept electronic submissions. You want me to print my work? On paper? Then send it… in the mailbox? Okay sure. But first, let me fly on back to 1989.

Last week I had a poem get accepted by a literary journal. I’m always excited and thankful when a journal accepts my work, despite the fact that none of them pay anymore, but I always lament having to withdraw my work from consideration from every other publication I sent it to. For this particular poem, I only had five other journals to inform, and this was how it all played out.

  • The publication that accepted my work received it back in May.
  • Two of the publications I submitted to required that withdrawing one of my poems meant withdrawing them all.
  • Three of the publications I submitted to just earlier this month.
  • One of the submissions I actually had to pay for, just like a contest with an entry fee.
  • The publication that accepted the poem has published my work before.

Compared to the last time I had to inform a bunch of journals that a work of mine was accepted elsewhere, this was much easier. Why? For one, I only submitted electronically, so there was a digital paper trail I could follow just by searching my email and logging in to my submission manager. For another, most of my submissions were done through an electronic submission manager (the costs of which some journals are defraying by passing the cost on to their submitters – see above) so withdrawing from submission was as easy as clicking a button.

Oh, and the number of times I submitted this poem to other journals before it was accepted? 19, as best as I can tell.

Keep your eyes peeled for my poem Culley’s Pub: An Elegy to appear in the next issue of Foliate Oak Literary Journal – whenever that may be.

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The Versatile Blogger Award – Thanks!

Published by Kelly on July 16, 2012

Versatile Blogger AwardThanks to my lovely author pal Denise DeSio for nominating me for this award. According to the rules, I must now tell you 7 things about myself:

  1. I’ve just finished writing and editing my second novel-length work, a collection of short stories about women and their tattoos. It’s called Portrait of Woman in Ink: A Tattoo Storybook.
  2. My first book, The Redheaded Stepchild, is a self-published collection of disjointed short stories about Cady, a young woman dealing with the presence of a difficult stepmother. No zombies or vampires.
  3. The Redheaded Stepchild has been chosen as a semi-finalist in Literary Fiction by 2012 Kindle Book Reviews. Finalists will be chosen on September 1, 2012 and winners will be chosen on October 1, 2012.
  4. I finally, after four years, sold the house I owned with my ex. Stupid recession.
  5. I love all kinds of cheese, especially provel, which is apparently not a substance recognized by the state of Texas. Case in point: favorite meal = grilled cheese and tomato soup. Also not Texas appropriate, especially in July.
  6. I am a ridiculously skilled seamstress. Why buy a new summer wardrobe when you can be a glutton for punishment like myself, spend hours making it yourself, and spend just as much money?
  7. I’m a total geek. I drool at HTML5, can write specialized subsets of XML, and I love Battlestar Galactica.

I’d like to nominate the following people for this award:

Congratulations! If I didn’t send you the award by email, please feel free to grab the award image and post it on your site, and don’t forget to pass it on.

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Semi-finally, a best indie book of 2012

Published by Kelly on July 2, 2012

Some time ago I entered The Redheaded Stepchild in The Kindle Book Review‘s “Best Indie Fiction of 2012” contest, in their literary category.

I have to admit it made my July when I looked at their list of semi-finalists this morning and found my name. They’ll announce finalists in September – but for now, I can smile knowing I have a nice gold sunburst to add to my very short list of accolades.

Happy July, everyone 🙂

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