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Only reason I get anywhere near 100 is with novel queries. 40 for story rejections is a great goal.

I’ve had 100 rejections per year as my goal since 2018. I should be close again this year. I think I only hit 80 last year.

Yeah they're a silvery white now.

Sometimes a hard deadline is hugely motivating! I’m always happy to take a look if you’d like.

Thanks Wulf! I had a phrase about her feet slipping in mud, but I couldn’t make it work and still flow smoothly. It was hard to hit all the beats! Appreciate it!

Subbed September 6.

I’m happy to take a look if you’d like.

I forgot that used to happen!

1. The Trade, by C. Winspear "It was the best view humanity had to offer, but I still felt unfulfilled." We've got character, setting, a hint of the problem and heart's desire, and genre implications--all in 14 words. Best view and the character isn't into it? That's a hook and tells us t...

My goals remain the same: submit every quarter, consistently improve my results, hopefully get closer to winning. Keep my stories on the market until they sell or have to be trunked, write more books and work toward getting an agent. Keep on keepin’ on!

Weird. I have results Sept 1 2017, Sept 9 2018, and Sept 27 2019. I wonder what happened that you have October there? One day I would blame on the date line but a whole month and I’m starting to worry about time machines or black holes.

No - there was a sign up window at the beginning of the contest year. DisgruntledPeony created a separate thread where people who didn’t sign up can participate and get feedback.

Probably 2+ weeks yet. It’s been later in September every year since I started entering. Hang in there!

I'm in for Q4. Last chance for the double gala!

I'm in for Q4. I worked through multiple crits on this one, deepest thanks to everyone who helped me polish up my story! Special thanks to Wulf for taking time out of his busy schedule to take a look. I'm proud of the story I submitted. Best of luck to everyone getting theirs in over the next three ...

wotf001 Courier or times new Roman are the industry standards. I use courier for WotF because that’s Dave’s preference. I despised the way courier looked so much I would draft in TNR and then change it right before subbing, but I’ve gotten used to it. At least, haven’t noticed any blood seeping from...

HMs are rejections, yeah. It’s a nice spot of encouragement for us, but don’t put it in the cover letter.

Check the submissions grinder! You can search by pay, length, lots of metrics.

Usually they’re titled by the volume number - this is Volume 36. The stories being written and winning this year will go into volume 37. Where did you see it called the 2020 anthology?

The books are published the year after the contest runs - so the 12 winners from this year will be published in the 2021 anthology. That's all.

My favorite short story ever is "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" by Hemingway. I've probably posted about this story before because I love it with all my being. The first sentence really does most of the work, and is followed quickly by dialogue that isn't terribly revealing - un...

Congratulations! That’s such a beautiful feeling!

Check out the idea of free indirect speech. I use it in third person a lot.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/52 ... -anthology

I’m delighted to announce I have a story forthcoming in this gorgeous anthology. The Kickstarter is to allow more authors to be included in the anthology! I love this cover! Check it out.

I chose "Dirt Road Magic" by Carrie Callahan from Volume 35. I adore this story. This is a trickier opening, but I still think the author does a lot of work in just a few words. The title sets the stage. This isn't going to be about dragons and enchanted forests, but there will be magic, s...

September at the earliest.

The title is the first hook. By the end of the first paragraph we know the characters name, age, personality, appearance, and a critical detail - tubes. More, we know something about her mom and dad from their preferences. Some of these are not just informative, they're further hooks. Why is she wea...

I finally got 800 words down yesterday after wrestling with it for a week. So, I’m feeling good! Should have a first draft by Friday.

It’s a horror story subreddit.

Putting it online takes first rights away but it’s fuzzy. If you posted on destructivereaders it would probably be fine because that’s like critters and is a crit group. Posting on nosleep would disqualify you. I’d just avoid it to be safe.