Archive for the ‘Persistence’ Category
Elizabeth Edwards dies at 61
Elizabeth Edwards, a Democratic Party activist, a mother, a wife, a brilliant lawyer and much, much more, died today at the age of 61.
I never had a chance to meet Mrs. Edwards, though I read her book, RESILIENCE, and was impressed by it, and I’d heard her cogent political commentary during the 2004 and 2008 elections due to her husband John Edwards having run for the Democratic nomination for President in both election cycles (and having accepted a bid to be John Kerry’s Vice Presidential nominee for the Democratic Party in 2004). Mrs. Edwards was an advocate for health care for all, and for increased cancer screening and testing — this was partly due to the breast cancer which she’d had for years, and which took her life.
What I think with regards to Elizabeth Edwards is this: she was a fighter. She did not quit. She did not give up. And she did her level best to turn lemons, like her cancer diagnosis, or her teenage son Wade’s death in an automobile accident, or her husband John’s flagrant affair with Rielle Hunter during the 2008 Presidential campaign, into lemonade.
In other words, Elizabeth Edwards was the type of person who didn’t let anything throw her, anything shock her, or anything stop her for very long. She was a truly admirable woman, someone with a great strength of character.
She will be missed by many, including me.
WinningWriters.com Mentions My Blog in their end-of-the-year Newsletter
Folks, I was very pleased to see that WinningWriters.com had mentioned my blog in their recent end-of-the-year newsletter — though I knew in advance that they were at least thinking about it as I’d heard from WinningWriters.com editor Jendi Reiter (herself an excellent poet) that they appreciated what I’d written in my second blog about their War Poetry Contest.
I once again do not know how to properly give links to WinningWriters.com as this isn’t a page I found a way to see without actually logging in, but I can cut and paste what they said, first about my blog:
*******
BARB CAFFREY’S BLOG: “More on the War Poetry Contest at WinningWriters.com”
We appreciate Barb Caffrey’s recent comments about our War Poetry Contest on her blog. Here is an excerpt:“Those fighting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq deserve our support, and our understanding. And the first part of giving our support and our understanding is to listen, to read, and to understand—not to shut out the soldiers who’ve given everything of themselves in order to derail the al-Qaedas and Talibans of this world so perhaps fewer innocents will die than would’ve died had our soldiers not given everything they have in the attempt.
“The War Poetry contest is a good way to keep the conversation going, and to understand exactly what is going on with our returning soldiers and how hard it is to deal with what most of us see as ‘normality’ after dealing with things that no man, or woman, or child should ever have to see. It also is a way to affirm the sacrifices of our men and women in a positive, life-affirming way.”
****** End cut-and-paste from Newsletter.
The kind folks at WinningWriters.com also listed my publication credits — more of ’em than I’d expected, actually, though I was very pleased with the “shout-out” — in this bit from the newsletter, once again cut and pasted:
Barb Caffrey has placed four short stories with e-Quill Publishing, a new e-book publisher in Australia: her original tale “The Fair at South Farallon”, a science fiction satire about aliens, friendship, and unemployment; “Iron Falls”, a near-future military suspense tale co-authored with Piotr Mierzejewski; and two stories co-authored with her late husband Michael B. Caffrey, “Trouble with Elfs” and “A Dark and Stormy Night: A Joey Maverick Adventure”. Three of Mr. Caffrey’s stories about Princess Columba and her shapeshifting cat/husband have also been released by e-Quill as a special anthology. Her poem “A Love Eternal” will appear in e-Quill’s anthology of poems about mortality. Visit their author pages (at e-Quill Publishing — www.equillpublishing.com). Ms. Caffrey blogs at https://elfyverse.wordpress.com. In other news, her poem “No Rest” was accepted by Midwest Literary Magazine for inclusion in their November issue and their anthology Bearing North.
********* end cut-and-paste.
I really appreciate them mentioning Michael’s work — his “Columba” stories — and that they mentioned my blog, not once, but twice.
I’ve known about this for a few days, but wanted to wait to post until Sunday — as Sunday is, for many, a day of private reflection where we might, occasionally, remember to give thanks for the good things which happen to us (along with condemning the bad ones, which tends to go on every single day).
Anyway, I’m very pleased about this; I just wish I knew how to give some decent links. But since I don’t, please go look at WinningWriters.com for yourself and sign up for the basic newsletter as it’s free — and as I’ve said before, I’ve found it very helpful and interesting.
BTW, the links that the kind folks at Winning Writers put in didn’t work when I cut and pasted them into this e-mail — I had to take them out (as they all referred back to WordPress’s “types of blogs” thing, which wasn’t what they should’ve done) — including the link to the War Poetry Contest itself. My apologies in advance for that error . . . I’m not great with links, but this is the first time a simple cut-and-paste did not work.
My poem, “No Rest,” accepted at Midwest Literary Magazine
I found out a few days ago that my poem, “No Rest,” has been accepted at Midwest Literary Magazine and will be in an anthology from them called “Due North” along with their November issue. Here’s their press release, which only gives my name — but does prove my work was accepted so I’m printing it:
http://midwestliterarymagazine.com/2010/11/14/congratulations-november-authors/
I wrote “No Rest” two years ago, kept revising it (I have at least seven different versions, which isn’t uncommon for poets — Dylan Thomas used to work and re-work his poetry constantly, and so did Byron and so did many others like Coleridge and Keats), and finally placed it this year toward the end of 2010. This is my third poetry sale; the first was to the Written Word online magazine in 2006 with my poem “A Love Eternal,” then sold my poem “Break the Dark Lens” to Joyful! Online magazine in December of 2009.
The writing life is fraught with peril, financially, and is extremely difficult to deal with mentally as there’s far more rejections than acceptances involved for any writer — much less someone who’s not well-known like me. But days like this are good ones; I wrote a lot this morning (see my earlier blog of today’s date for details) and placing “No Rest” at the Midwest Literary Magazine helps give me encouragement. I’d badly needed it after having possibly the best story I’d ever collaborated on rejected by the Writers of the Future contest as I’d reported last Friday.
The best thing you can do as a writer is to persist, while the second best thing you can do is to keep your work out there as best you can. I believe submitting stuff is very important, but refusing to give in and continuing to work on your craft however you can is the absolute most important thing when it comes to writing, bar none. So don’t let the rejections stop you, my friends; keep on keepin’ on, as that’s literally the only way to succeed in this business at any level.
Writers of the Future bounces 3rd quarter story.
Folks, some nights are beyond frustrating, and this is one of them.
The story I sent to WotF in the 3rd quarter is a Joey Maverick tale set in my late husband’s universe, with mostly his characters — this is the second tale, and for this one I’d added a great deal of things (more plot layers, a few new characters, deepening of the characters already there, some internal monologue). And were Michael alive, it would’ve been Michael who’d sent this in (providing he wrote all this in, of course), and I’d have been the one checking the MSS — meaning I’d have caught stuff that apparently got by me this time.
All I was told was that my story (based on Michael’s “Maverick” universe) “didn’t go in double-spaced” (I thought it had; I know they want traditional MSS format, which is what I use constantly) and I noticed on the page they sent back (which indeed wasn’t double-spaced, though I haven’t a clue why at this remove) that it had the wrong header — which I know I fixed. I was on my Mom’s computer at that point, not mine (Mom has air conditioning, and I don’t), and I know Mom’s computer can do some odd things to formatting. That’s probably what happened to the headers (I checked, but probably saw what I wanted to see; this is a failing). But as for the double-spacing, I haven’t a clue. Because I do know better.
At any rate, this is probably the best story I have ever sent them, and because of these two things, the story itself wasn’t considered. I don’t blame them for this, because they get so many stories, they’re going to have to kick stuff out however they can — they once bounced “Trouble with Elfs” because they said the “protagonists’ ages (were) too young,” because they were teens, even though I’ve seen stories about teens in the WotF anthology before and probably will again. That one frustrated me even more than this one, because it was perfectly formatted; fortunately, the story eventually sold in 2007. (I sent it to WotF in 2004, long before Michael passed away.)
I sent them something for the September 30th ending quarter, but I have no hopes for that story (which means it’ll probably be the one that finally breaks through, right?) — this was the one I had the hopes for, not that one.
It frustrates me beyond belief to be thought of as someone who didn’t do her homework; I always double-space my manuscripts, from the start, and when I got the print-out off the printer, I looked at it — I’d checked. It printed out double-spaced fine, for me. I still have the copy I printed out, for comparison; it is double-spaced throughout.
Mind, I believe I will place “Joey Maverick: On Westmount Station” quickly, so all is not lost.
But for a writer who’s doing her damndest to be professional in all her dealings, stupid crap like this bugs me. It truly does. And the only good thing stuff like this does is to remind me to check the formatting four or five times in short stories, and perhaps wait on the story a day if I have that time; you can call this a hard-won insight if you’d like, though I’m still mad as Hell at myself for not seeing this when I sent it in.
Time to vote — also some reflections on Jon Stewart’s “Rally to Restore Sanity”
I have a simple message today: please, regardless of your political persuasion, be sure to vote. If there is no one to vote for, figure out who you like the least, then vote against that person even if you end up writing in your own name. Just go, make your case, and vote. Our system of representative democracy depends on it.
Voting is a way to say that we, the people of the United States of America, demand your notice, Mr. and Ms. Politician. And we’re tired of being blown off.
That’s why we must vote, and have our say. Keep them honest, or at least less dirty. And make your will be known. Please, please vote.
I would also like to suggest that all political ads be removed from the air two or three days before an election. Most people have made up their minds by this time, and the few that haven’t aren’t going to be swayed by political advertising. Maybe a non-partisan “please, vote” on voting day would be fine — but the plethora of political ads now is deafening and irresponsible.
In my home state, Wisconsin, I am subjected to ads over and over again, to the point where I can quote them. I’ve heard from Russ Feingold, incumbent Democrat, and I’ve heard from Ron Johnson, a very wealthy man who’s running for the Senate as a Republican. (This year, being very wealthy seems to equal being an incumbent; both are despised by the vast majority of voters. Don’t start on how irrational this is, because I am well aware.) I’ve heard from Tom Barrett, Democratic candidate for Governor (and current, sitting mayor of Milwaukee, the biggest city in Wisconsin), and I’ve heard from Scott Walker, the Republican candidate for Governor (and current, sitting county executive for Milwaukee County, the biggest county in Wisconsin). And I’ve heard all sorts of ads for just about any campaign imaginable in Southeastern Wisconsin.
All I can say is this: stop, please. There is no need for this. Voters are fed up, and all these ads do is make voters more and more upset that we haven’t a way to fast-forward to Voting Day (this year on November 2nd) and vote already in order to shut the various candidates’ voices up yesterday, by preference.
Finally, I think Jon Stewart’s “Rally for Sanity,” which was held this past Saturday, was on to something. As Stewart said, we all work together every day — it’s only in the hallowed halls of government that everything breaks down. If we are going underneath a tunnel, or are trying to merge into traffic, whether a person has a NRA sticker or an Obama sticker on the car is irrelevant — we’re going to let that person in, and most of the time won’t hit them with our car in the process.
Here’s a link to the full text of that speech:
And a relevant quote:
If we amplify everything we hear nothing. There are terrorists and racists and Stalinists and theocrats but those are titles that must be earned. You must have the resume. Not being able to distinguish between real racists and Tea Partiers or real bigots and Juan Williams and Rick Sanchez is an insult, not only to those people but to the racists themselves who have put in the exhausting effort it takes to hate–just as the inability to distinguish terrorists from Muslims makes us less safe not more. The press is our immune system. If we overreact to everything we actually get sicker–and perhaps eczema.
And yet, with that being said, I feel good—strangely, calmly good. Because the image of Americans that is reflected back to us by our political and media process is false. It is us through a fun house mirror, and not the good kind that makes you look slim in the waist and maybe taller, but the kind where you have a giant forehead and an ass shaped like a month old pumpkin and one eyeball.
Mr. Stewart is right on the money in his critique of the overreaction of the mainstream media. When everything is a crisis, how can anything be evaluated except as a crisis? Then whatever you say, whatever you do, is “amped up” to the point that it’s blown so far out of proportion that it can barely be recognized.
I don’t know what the answers are to the 24/7 cable news networks in this country. I don’t know what the answers are to why our own federal government works so improperly, and with so much more “heat” than “light.”
I do know that we need people in Congress to work together. Find a consensus. And go from there.
Our country deserves better from our politicians, and it’s time to stand up and demand they take notice. That’s what the “Rally for Sanity” was saying, and they were right; it’s what many of the Tea Partiers have been saying, and they, too, are right.
We, the people, are better than our representatives. And the imbalance is palpable.
This must be fixed. Which is why I say again, for the third (and last) time, please, please vote.
Loren Jones’s novel “All that Glitters” now available from e-Quill Publishing.
NOTE: This is a post from 2010. Things have changed. See the update at the end, and see this post immediately if you wish to buy Loren’s novel INADVERTENT ADVENTURES.
Second note: Loren’s ALL THAT GLITTERS is back out via Twilight Times Books as of July, 2016. Please go here to buy Loren’s novel as an e-book at Amazon.
*** Back to post from 2010, already in progress ***
My friend Loren K. Jones now has two novels available, the first being All that Glitters at e-Quill Publishing. All that Glitters is a fantasy novel/coming of age story about Stavin kel’Aniston, once the smallest and least-regarded of all the warrior-candidates in his village. Because of this, he feels he has nothing to lose in attempting to beard a dragon in its den, and ends up with a quasi-friend in the dragon along with dragonscale armor, something no one else in his village has or has ever had.
But this is just the start of Stavin’s problems; he still must learn how to work within the system in order to show his worth. If he can do so, fame and fortune will be his, but more importantly, he’ll be able to marry the woman of his dreams (a slightly older, and nearly blind, scholar).
All that Glitters is just under 100K words, and is an excellent read. I urge everyone who loves fantasy, coming of age tales, or simply something fun to read to check out Loren K. Jones’s fine novel. And better yet, it is the first in a four-book series . . . more reading pleasure awaits, if you only will accept the challenge of buying — and reading — the first book in Stavin’s journey.
Go here to purchase Loren’s novel All that Glitters:
http://www.equillpublishing.com/all-that-glitters.html
Loren also has available another very strong novel, this one through Amazon Kindle’s wireless e-book program. This novel is called Inadvertent Adventures and is also right around the 100K mark. Inadvertent Adventures is space opera/humor; Sterling Silver is a veteran who’s been cashiered from his job due to spurious reasons, and now must make shift for himself. He finds space on a tramp freighter and learns the ropes, all while missing his ex-wife, Ann . . . in the process, this middle-aged man re-learns how to enjoy his life, and that no matter how boxed in he might feel himself to be at the start, there are more options and opportunities available than he’d ever dreamed. This novel, too, is highly recommended; please follow this link in order to buy Inadvertent Adventures:
A bit about how I know Loren: my late husband and Loren were very strong Internet friends and writing critique partners, and after Michael died, I continued working with Loren (and Loren returned the favor with my stuff). Loren is a good man and a very fine writer; his writing has been compared to David Eddings and L.E. Modesitt, Jr., as it has freshness, authenticity, and the ability to effortlessly carry the reader into another place. If the science fiction and fantasy community were not so difficult to break into with all the closed book markets, requiring agents to help you find a way in for the most part, and the few “opens” like Tor, Baen, DAW, etc., being overloaded with manuscripts on the one hand and being understaffed on the other (meaning no disrespect to anyone — it’s simply a fact of life), Loren would’ve broken in years ago. And so, no doubt, would’ve my late husband, Michael, me, Jason Cordova, and many other good writers without major publisher book contracts I have the privilege to know.
Please do not let the fact that Loren does not have a major book publishing contract fool you, in short. This man can write. Give him a chance, and you will enjoy your reading experience. Thus ends today’s public service announcement.
*** UPDATE FOLLOWS ***
As stated earlier, things have changed.
Since 2010, E-Quill Publishing has folded. Most of Loren’s novels are now out-of-print, though he’s working to change this as I understand it.
But INADVERTENT ADVENTURES is again available as of February 5, 2016, and is even better than before.
Why? Well, Twilight Times Books liked INADVERTENT ADVENTURES, bought it, and it’s now out in e-book form. It has been comprehensively edited, it has a great cover, and the formatting is pristine…it is a thoroughly professional edition, and readers should enjoy it immensely.
Please see this post about how you can get INADVERTENT ADVENTURES right now…then meditate on the virtues of persistence in this business.
As you see, I’m not the only author out there who refuses to give up.
Jason Cordova’s “Corruptor” now available in “sneak preview” PDF format from Twilight Times Books
My friend Jason Cordova’s excellent Corruptor is finally available — albeit in PDF only and as a “sneak preview” — from Twilight Times Books.
A bit about Corruptor: it’s a near-future thriller that has everything — action, adventure, intrigue, corporate politics, games theory, and even some romance. It features a teenage girl as its main character, and the main problem she has is getting trapped in a computer game — but don’t let that fool you, as the game she’s trapped inside has multiple ways of losing, and only a few ways of winning, especially due to some in-game and out-of-the-game bad guys.
I read Corruptor a year ago and enjoyed it immensely; please go check out the PDF “sneak preview” at Twilight Times books.
Here’s the quote from their Web site:
Twilight Times Books is offering a sneak preview of several upcoming releases: Corruptor, SF/F by Jason Cordova
(rest snipped out, BC)
The above titles are available for purchase now as pdf arcs.
And here’s the link to the page you need so you can order Jason Cordova’s magnum opus:
http://twilighttimesbooks.com/ttb_arc_order.html
The link to Corruptor is about halfway down the page.
So what are you waiting for? Check it out already!
“The Fair at South Farallon” up at e-Quill Publishing.
Well, Lawrence got that story up in less than two days; he wrote the blurb himself, which I might have to tweak but am not going to worry about just yet . . . the story is a satire, and is about aliens, an odd contest that says it’s all about “story-telling” under a vague machine, but isn’t, and is most of all about friendship in the oddest of senses.
Betty and Karen are good friends, the type who’ve seemingly known each other forever. Yet Karen’s behaving out of character, and nothing at the Fair occurring on South Farallon Island out in San Francisco Bay is as it seems . . . will Betty figure out what’s going on before it’s too late?
At any rate, it’s fantasy/satire, mostly on the subject of unemployment and how many people are out there who are able to do much more than life gives ’em a chance to do. Note that I write a lot of satire, though this is the first piece I’ve written that has anything to do with the employment issue in this country.
This story isn’t as humorous as “Trouble with Elfs” or most of my stories, to be frank, but it’s definitely a satire — maybe that’s why I had so much trouble getting this sold. I tried at least 75 publications over the years, with two — two! — holding the story for a month or two, then releasing it when there was “no room” for it or they changed their mind about the story.
Here’s the link to “The Fair at South Farallon,” and I hope that you’ll give it a chance. If you do, I believe you’ll enjoy it.
http://www.equillpublishing.com/the-fair-at-south-farallon.html
Whatever you think, please come back and drop me a line, here, or at my Yahoo e-mail address which is barbcaffrey (all one word) AT Yahoo DOT com. I’d love to know people are reading my stories!
Updates on Past Blogs: Kratz out, Capuano finishes season.
Today I wanted to write a quick update about what’s going on with some of those who’ve been featured in my past blog entries.
First and best, Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz is now the former DA of Calumet County as he has resigned. As I’d previously written — and hoped would happen — Governor Jim Doyle (D-WI), who used to be the Attorney General of the state of Wisconsin before he was elected as Governor, had started the process to formally remove Kratz from office, which put an enormous amount of pressure on Kratz to resign. Doyle had said in this article from 9/21/2010 (http://www.htrnews.com/article/20100921/MAN0101/309220021/Wisconsin-Gov-Jim-Doyle-sees-Calumet-County-DA-Ken-Kratz-sexting-case-as-very-serious-issue-), which was widely covered by Wisconsin newspapers:
An outraged Doyle said Monday he would start the process to consider removing Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz and that he hopes to make a decision in a month. At a news conference five days after The Associated Press broke the story, Doyle said any prosecutor who would have behaved that way on his watch would have faced repercussions.
“I consider this to be a very, very, very serious issue,” said Doyle, a former district attorney and attorney general who leaves the governor’s office in January.
“It’s one that personally strikes to a lot of things I have worked very hard on in my career: crime victims’ rights and domestic violence. It troubles me deeply that somebody turns to the criminal justice system for help and receives the kinds of texts we have seen.”
And Gov. Doyle delivered, as Kratz, as of today, has resigned his position as DA. Kratz’s resignation was covered widely as well; one account of it is here at this link:
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20101004/GPG0101/101004091/1207&located=rss
Kratz’s resignation was quiet and done via press release, which stated:
“It is with deep sadness and regret that I announce my resignation as Calumet County district attorney, effective immediately,” Kratz wrote in a statement. “I have lost the confidence of the people I represent due primarily to personal issues which have now affected my professional career.”
I am very happy that Kratz is gone, and hope the people of Calumet County will now rest a bit easier with Kratz’s resignation.
Next, Brewers pitcher Chris Capuano completed his comeback season; as previous blogs have reported, left-hander Capuano came back this year from his second “Tommy John” ligament replacement surgery in his left arm and pitched effectively, going 4-4 with a 3.95 ERA in 66 innings, starting nine games and appearing in 24. The rest of his statistics are available many places, but I prefer FanGraphs.com, an excellent baseball resource site for the serious fan; here’s that link:
http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=1701&position=P
Capuano started his final game last Saturday and struggled against the Cincinnati Reds, giving up three runs, ten hits and a walk in 3 2/3 innings. After the game, a 7-4 loss (Capuano did not lose the game due to the Brewers offense tying the game at 4-4 in the seventh inning), Capuano said:
“It was a battle,” said Capuano. “It was one of those games when even when I had them hitting my pitch, they found holes. They hit a couple of balls hard.
“They never took the pressure off me, never really allowed me to settle into a groove. As a pitcher, you’re aware of the pace of the game (3 hours, 39 minutes). I was saying, ‘Let me have a clean inning. Let me move this game along a little bit.’ ”
But as Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reporter Tom Haudricourt said at this article (http://www.jsonline.com/sports/brewers/104209094.html):
Capuano wasn’t going to let the shaky outing tarnish the comeback season he enjoyed after sitting out two years following a second Tommy John elbow surgery.
He quoted Capuano, who said:
“Physically, I’m feeling great,” said Capuano, who is eligible for free agency. “That’s everything that I hoped for out of this year. I had an uphill battle today. They’re a good team; they have a good offense.
“I don’t know what to expect (on the market). I’m glad now I can take a rest from throwing. I really haven’t stopped throwing since this rehab program began.”
I’m very, very proud of Chris Capuano, and I’m glad the Brewers re-signed him to a minor league deal last year. Capuano is an outstanding example of patience, resilience and endurance, and I truly hope the Brewers re-sign him for next season as he’s shown he can still be an effective major league pitcher.
Furiously trying to finish a story for WotF
My blog once again has been suffering this week, partly because I’m doing my best to finish a story in time for the 9/30/10 deadline for the Writers of the Future contest. I have done a great deal, but I still have at least three or four more solid hours of work to go, providing the story continues to hold together — only then can I send it off with a clear conscience.
I don’t know how much longer I’ll be eligible for WotF, as once a novel (not a novella, a full-fledged novel, something over 60 K words) is published with my name on it, I will be ineligible. This could happen soon; I am holding a positive thought. Which is why this particular quarter might be the very last time I am definitely eligible for the contest . . . and it’s why I am working as hard as I can to bring a story together, so I can say I entered every quarter I had something ready until I was declared ineligible.
I suppose I should give some context here. My first entry into the Writers of the Future contest was the Winter quarter of 2002 — which is their first quarter, the end of December deadline. And I have entered more often than not ever since, mostly entering stories I’ve written alone, but sometimes entering co-written stories. I’ve never received an honorable mention, much less semi-finalist or finalist status, yet thousands of people enter the WotF contest every quarter, and I know the only way to win a prize (they give three) is to enter. Which is why despite how frustrating it’s been over the years to never get any recognition at all, I have kept at it.
Basically, to be eligible for WotF, you have to have three stories or fewer published — full credit stories in magazines that have circulations of over 5,000 people, or at an online publication where your story has received 5,000 hits. The places that are known to meet this criteria are those that are Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America-eligible also — some of those include the Grantville Gazette, the Intergalactic Medicine Show, Strange Horizons, Apex, Fantasy magazine, the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Asimov’s, and Analog. As I have only one-half a story credit by that measure (I’ve sold three stories, all co-written with my late husband Michael; two of them do not count by WotF standards as they do not meet SFWA guidelines of 5,000 circulation or 5,000 hits), I would only become ineligible when I either sold three stories on my own (or six more co-written stories with Michael or anyone else), or if I published more than one novella (so far I haven’t any novellas), or more than one novelette (only one of my stories, co-written with Michael, is even close to that), all with a full credit. But a novel, whether it’s co-written or not, will immediately disqualify me no matter what — and something I’m working on now may go over the 60K word count and be published sooner rather than later.
At any rate, that’s what I’ve been up to, along with researching two different, disparate stories (one being the fourth “Columba” tale, which I discussed last week); that leaves very little time available for my blog.
But as soon as I have something that interests me after I’ve completed the story for WotF, I’ll be blogging away again — no worries about that. So watch this space, as I might just surprise myself.
Barb Caffrey's Blog 