Hello, dreamers. It’s already been a busy week. And amid research into writing in general (as opposed to Aquarius 1 in particular), I’ve learned a few things that have helped me to narrow my focus and readjust my writing priorities for the next month. So, before I get to the latest on my current work-in-progress, a quick mid-week update:

Over the past three nights, I managed to edit the three short fiction pieces I’d completed recently. I even sent one of them, Distant Music, out on sub. My first target, as always, was Clarkesworld, which as expected rejected my story within twenty-four hours (their editor is notoriously exacting, but I appreciate the quick turnaround). As usual, my second target was Asimov’s, which typically takes around a week or so for a rejection. Over the past year, I’ve had several of my stories take roughly a month for them. But this was the second straight they’d rejected almost immediately.

Now, my first instinct was “well, this probably wasn’t the sort of thing they like”. It made sense; the last story I’d sent them to get bounced back so fast was about a telepathic serial killer. This one hid the speculative elements until the climax, which came right after a graphic depiction of suicide by an alien abductee (this was the first story where I felt inclined to offer a content warning in the cover letter). But something felt…wrong. If nothing else, I knew both stories were up to my current quality standards. And typically a well-written story will make it deep into the editorial process, regardless of story content.

So I did some quick market research. And as with the revelations regarding story length early this year, I realize I should’ve looked into this sooner. For the past few years, I felt I could see a pattern in my submissions: my stories tended to take a lot longer in the winter and spring (even Clarkesworld sometimes takes almost a week), which stories submitted during late spring and summer are rejected almost immediately. Turns out that, as with literary agents, for editors of literary mags this stretch of the year is a sort of “dead zone”. Editors are exhausted, going on vacation, and have often settled the content for most of the year’s remaining issues. While they remain open to subs, I’d probably have to basically write A Study in Scarlet in space for anyone to take an interest. And given the average length of my stories, even that might not be enough.

And that’s not the end of it, because amid my search for articles on good times to submit short fiction, I stumbled across a similar article regarding novel queries. Essentially, just because an agent is open to subs doesn’t mean they’re particularly interested. So even though most of my second-round targets remain open, I’m unlikely to get a fair hearing from agents who are exhausted and feeling like they’ve seen it all.

In short, there’s no need to rush. On anything. For the past year I’ve sensed that I’m close to publication. I’ve received personalized rejections from editors. Two of my stories have now received honorable mentions from Writers of the Future (Silver Honorable Mention in the latest case). I think it’s understandable for me to feel impatient at this point. But while it’s not impossible for me to secure publication or representation at the height of the summer, I’m placing myself at a disadvantage. More than likely I’m setting myself up for failure, potentially burning a raft of excellent stories in the process.

So, I’ve decided to back off. I still have a story on sub with Analog. As they’re notoriously ponderous, I’ll surely submit another to them shortly after I hear back (though I may wait until August). I have another story under consideration with Writers of the Future, and should hear back late next month or in early September. For now, that will be enough.

I think this was exactly the splash of cold water I needed. I’ve been chomping at the bit lately. I’d originally planned to wait until late this week to edit my most recent short pieces, but I just couldn’t bear to wait. Well, now it feels like waiting is my best bet. So I’m going to cool off a bit. I’ll refocus on my writing. I’ve already decided to push prep for my next round of queries to the end of next week, and may push it back even further. And much as I’m just dying to share my latest stories with the world (silicon-based viruses! aliens abducting musicians! space mummies!!!), for now I’m going to sit on them. Letting everything on the publication side slide for a while will give me more time to connect with beta readers and get more eyes on all of this.

As of this evening, I’m already hard at work on my next short story, and I feel really good about it. And of course I’m neck-deep in research for…

Aquarius 1

So after all that, thanks for continuing to read. I’ll keep this brief.

While my research continues apace, this week I indulged myself, and tried something different: a field trip. I live in Cincinnati, which is a hotbed for fossil hunting, particularly regarding the Ordovician Period. For those unfamiliar, the Ordovician was one of the earliest periods in the history of complex life on Earth, following shortly after the “Cambrian Explosion”. It was an era in Earth’s history where nearly all life remained confined to the oceans, and that life was dominated by invertebrates. During that period, what is now Cincinnati lay at the bottom of a shallow sea.

I do a lot of hiking with my family, and almost every creek we hike at is bursting with fossils. My kids love turning over rocks looking for trilobite fossils (my son actually found one, albeit a very small part of one). My daughter probably found the coolest one so far: a remarkable textured specimen I now believe represents a bryozoan. Just this year, the Cincinnati Museum Center opened the “Ordovician Experience”: a large new gallery featuring the kinds of fossils we’ve only dreamed of finding on our hikes.

After all the research I’ve done lately, I didn’t find a ton of new information. But that wasn’t the point. Rather, I found value in actually seeing some of the organisms I’d read about. The museum has some incredible trace fossils that capture the lives and habits of some of the earliest complex marine organisms on Earth. It was a fascinating experience, and helped to reignited my excitement for this project. – MK