A huge thanks goes out to Red Cape Publishing and their team for picking up a story of mine called ‘Eyes in the Water!” It will appear into their A-Z Anthology under G is for Genies–so you get an idea of what you’re in for.
This is the second time Red Cape has published one of my stories, which is really awesome! I can’t say enough for their support.
It’s been a really good year for me on the short story front–better than I ever would have guessed and imagined.
So, what if you’re not having a great year on the publishing front? I’ve been there and you’re probably not all that excited about hearing from other people who are. I get it. It’s not fun when you’re busting your rear, turning out the best stories you can and can’t seem to land that “yes.”
So what you do is keep your head down, keep tapping at the keyboard and continue to write. Edit, keep sending out stories, and keep moving forward.
Split your time on reading too–I firmly believe we get better at writing when we’re reading. You might be enjoying a story, but your mind is also working on your craft while you’re reading. Your assessing the prose on the page: you feel it when an author gets the rhythm down, or throws a combination of details together which makes it real for you.
You see how well an author gets the story across, and you also get to see when it doesn’t work. You latch onto prose which takes you places, but you pick up phrases and sentences which pull you out of the story or bog you down.
Either way, reading is a mental workout for your writing. If the stories quit coming or you get stuck, take a break and read. Or listen to stories on podcasts, or whatever your favorite medium is.
Enough preaching. Thanks Red Cape!
Have a good one,
Craig