My short story has been submitted to Five on the Fifth’s contest! I read through Wolf’s Moon Night on Sunday night, making a few small changes, then again on Monday night. I finally worked up the courage to submit it on Tuesday, one day before the deadline. Submitting to a litmag — and particularly a contest — is daunting.

I was stressing more over the cover letter/bio statement than the actual story. I kept mine short and sweet — just four sentences — since they only asked for three to five. Here’s what I wrote:

Hello,

Based outside of Baltimore, Maryland, I am the co-founder and managing editor for RedStringPaperCuts.com, a website featuring poetry, short stories, essays, and blogs. Through this platform I explore storytelling as a creative medium, an art form, and an essential part of the human experience.

I plan to publish the first novel of a wider world-building project in 2017, entitled The Warden of Everfeld: Memento. The attached short story, Wolf’s Moon Night, is one small piece of this wider world.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Cheers,
Steven D’Adamo

Good? Awful? I don’t know.

Happily, however, the process is now out of my hands. That’s more comforting in a way. I did what I felt I could with the story, including eliciting some feedback from another writer. Now, all I can do is wait for a response. The worst possible response would be a flat “NO” with zero feedback, but I’m pretty sure the editorial team at FotF doesn’t operate that way.

If my story is rejected and I get even a little constructive criticism, I’ll keep submitting it to them. I’ll not be denied!

Revision Time!

With Wolf’s Moon Night sitting among a stack of other short story hopefuls for the time being, my attention is drawn elsewhere… to my novel!

Wednesday night I began the arduous revision process for The Warden of Everfeld: Memento. I’m expecting to receive at least three out of four manuscripts back from my alpha readers by the end of the month. My focus until that point will be poring over my own copy of the manuscript with notes, line edits, and ideas to go back through later. Eventually, I will compare my own notes with those of my readers and create a comprehensive revision plan.

The goal is to have my manuscript all scribbled upon before my wedding. Oh right, I’m getting married on September 25. Future Wife and I will then be flying down to New Orleans for a short mini-moon of day-drinking, listening to live music, and exploring. I’ll gladly take any recommendations you have.

Anyway, with a manuscript of 275 pages, I need to revise at least 12 pages per day to complete it by September 23 (since wedding weekend will be quite busy). I’m already slightly ahead of schedule, and I’d like to keep it that way.

Only 25 pages into my revisions, I am already thinking about how I can rearrange the first few chapters to give more equitable playing time between my two protagonists. I’ll need to resist the urge to actually make any changes until I’ve finished my entire read-through and compiled my alpha readers’ notes.

Also, I’m trying out various names for my Friday update posts. How’s Friday Write-Day sound? I’m leaning towards it, but further testing may be necessary. Happy writing!

Steve D