In late 2003, J and Tyree at SamsDot accepted a couple of my stories. This was a great high, and I started writing down all the ideas that I had been saving up for 20 or more years. In February of 2004, according to my work-in-progress spreadsheet, I started 31 stories. I eventually sold about a dozen of these February stories. After that I slowed down and got back to programming and websites.

I no longer submit stories – too much trouble and stress, but I was going over those stories from 2004 looking for grist for the ScienceFictional.com mill. I found a complete story, but at the top were a list of changes that I needed to make, followed by the comment “send to Martian Wave”. I spent a couple of hours making the changes and then I sent it to Martian Wave – two and half years late. The story has the choppy style that characterized my writing then. I was having trouble with tenses and very complex sentences that don’t bother me so much today, but I didn’t want to totally rewrite it. There’s another story on the list that says I should send it to Fifth Di…, but it needs much more work and I am not that fond of it.

Anyway, I find myself, once again, worrying about a story. I don’t need the stress. I swear this is the last time – I never, never, never will submit a story again!

Publishing on ScienceFictional is so much easier. I just put up a Lovecraftian story with references to The Lurking Fear and other Lovecraft images. It’s much more fun to write, just write, without worrying about who will read it, and what they will think. I might even get back to work on the Fumets novel!