Escape Artists

The Lounge at the End of the Universe => The Writing Forum => Progress Reports => Topic started by: jrderego on January 05, 2007, 06:44:56 AM

Title: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on January 05, 2007, 06:44:56 AM
Here's what's on the current slate for me.

In the can and ready for submission (or in active submission mode already)

Novel -

Tears of Amaterasu

Union Dues (shorts) -

Union Dues: A Handshake, A Gold Watch, A Candle
Union Dues: All That We Leave Behind
Union Dues: Send in the Clowns
Union Dues: All About the Sponsors (with special guest star Pat Boone!)

Hotel Nocturne (shorts) -


The Hunting Party
Employee of the Year

Burden of Bushido -

Ronin on the High Seas
The Five-Body Sword
Emerald Treasure of the Thuggee Assassins

Stories currently in production (i.e. second draft)

Union Dues (Shorts) -

Union Dues: Freedom's Burden
Union Dues: The Time of our Lives
Union Dues: She who Laughs Last

Other Shorts (Shorts) -

Tout Bagay Enfom
Citizen X
The Henchman Diaries
The Boy in the Well
Uthan

Union Dues: The Novel (Novel)

Stuff in first draft or currently incomplete first draft -

Doughboys (short novel)
Unnammed Zatoichi knockoff (short novel)




Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: Jim on January 05, 2007, 01:50:53 PM
Well, ain't you just the writing machine.

Looking forward to it, all of it!
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: Bdoomed on January 05, 2007, 03:23:00 PM
oooh send in a union dues story again, i LOVE those!
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: Russell Nash on January 06, 2007, 11:14:31 PM
More Union Dues!!!
More Union Dues!!!
More Union Dues!!!
More Union Dues!!!
More Union Dues!!!
More Union Dues!!!
More Union Dues!!!
More Union Dues!!!
More Union Dues!!!
More Union Dues!!!
More Union Dues!!!
More Union Dues!!!
More Union Dues!!!
More Union Dues!!!
More Union Dues!!!
More Union Dues!!!
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: Jim on January 10, 2007, 03:26:47 PM
There, see?

The mob, all three of us, has spoken.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: Russell Nash on January 10, 2007, 07:00:50 PM
Three moderators are cheering for more Union Dues. I hope Steve is reading this.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on January 10, 2007, 07:06:05 PM
Three moderators are cheering for more Union Dues. I hope Steve is reading this.

Nice to know I have the full measure of the Escape Pod forum admin at my back. LOL!

Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: madjo on January 11, 2007, 02:10:51 PM
I'd also like to hear more Union Dues. :)
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: VBurn on January 11, 2007, 04:30:11 PM
I really enjoyed the latest Union Dues and would love to hear more like that.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: Bdoomed on January 12, 2007, 02:27:06 AM
while i love union dues, i would also love to hear those other shorts, maybe Ronin on the High Seas, that sounds interesting.  Tho before you submitt any other shorts ya really should send out a little Union Dues.  They are very fun to listen to
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on January 12, 2007, 03:52:26 AM
while i love union dues, i would also love to hear those other shorts, maybe Ronin on the High Seas, that sounds interesting.  Tho before you submitt any other shorts ya really should send out a little Union Dues.  They are very fun to listen to

The problem with the Burden of Bushido series is that the market I'd written them for dried up. They are fun historical fiction action adventure stories with one toe in fantasy, sort of, I guess. The tales follow disgraced samurai Kintaro Koboyashi from task to deliver a priceless sword, through his exile into obscurity among Japan's fisherman, to his journeys through India. The stories are set right in the year following Commodore Perry's forced opening of Japan's ports to American vessels. But, since I don't do wizards, or dragons, or elves, orcs, gnoles, gnomes, or other fantasy mechanics, they will probably never find a home.

:(

 
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: SFEley on January 12, 2007, 04:15:55 AM
But, since I don't do wizards, or dragons, or elves, orcs, gnoles, gnomes, or other fantasy mechanics, they will probably never find a home.

Au contraire.  You're not familiar with Lian Hearn's "Tales of the Otori" series?  That's the first example I could think of off the top of my head,(*) but Asian-inspired fantasy is a big seller right now.

And hell, if you can't sell it in prose, adapt it to manga.  Dark Horse and other publishers are getting into American manga in a huge way.



(*Actually, the first example I thought of was Barry Hughart's "Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox," of which the first book, Bridge of Birds, is one of the best fantasy novels I've ever read.  But it's much older, and didn't sell well at all.  I suspect he was too far ahead of his time.)
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on January 12, 2007, 06:45:33 AM
But, since I don't do wizards, or dragons, or elves, orcs, gnoles, gnomes, or other fantasy mechanics, they will probably never find a home.

Au contraire.  You're not familiar with Lian Hearn's "Tales of the Otori" series?  That's the first example I could think of off the top of my head,(*) but Asian-inspired fantasy is a big seller right now.

And hell, if you can't sell it in prose, adapt it to manga.  Dark Horse and other publishers are getting into American manga in a huge way.



(*Actually, the first example I thought of was Barry Hughart's "Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox," of which the first book, Bridge of Birds, is one of the best fantasy novels I've ever read.  But it's much older, and didn't sell well at all.  I suspect he was too far ahead of his time.)

I will check out both titles. That said, the BOB stories are as much fantasy stories as The Hidden Fortress or The Seven Samurai are fantasy movies. I am intrigued by culture as Magic, for example, in the third story Emerald Treasure of the Thuggee Assassins, Kintaro finds himself paired with a Sikh for the vast majority of the story, and their different cosmologies (Kintaro is, by his own admission, antagonistic towards the gods but is willing to fight to the death to retreive a stolen emerald for the Untouchables who took him in after he washed ashore. Rajveer Singh is devout.) provide all of the mystical elements of the tale. But none of them are "fantasy" elements.

The different cultures, Hindu, Samurai, Sikh, British, Sepoy (Indian soldiers serving the British), and the evolving technology provide the "magic" in the story.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: SFEley on January 12, 2007, 06:57:11 AM
I will check out both titles. That said, the BOB stories are as much fantasy stories as The Hidden Fortress or The Seven Samurai are fantasy movies. I am intrigued by culture as Magic, for example, in the third story [...]

Ah, okay, I misunderstood.  So it's more historical adventure?  (Or what used to be called a "romance" before the term evolved to its present definition.)

I still say you could sell this, if the plots and characters are as good as your passion in summarizing them.  Heck, it still sounds to me like kickass comics or manga material.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: madjo on January 12, 2007, 10:17:06 AM
Quote from: jrderego
The problem with the Burden of Bushido series is that the market I'd written them for dried up.
What exactly do you mean with dried up?
Do you mean that it couldn't be published in an audio form?
Forgive me if these seem silly questions, I was just curious what you meant.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on January 12, 2007, 01:53:56 PM
Quote from: jrderego
The problem with the Burden of Bushido series is that the market I'd written them for dried up.
What exactly do you mean with dried up?
Do you mean that it couldn't be published in an audio form?
Forgive me if these seem silly questions, I was just curious what you meant.

There were three or four magazines, both print and online that bought historical/adventure fiction but over the last few months they have all either gone to a no-pay for fiction model, gone out of business, or realigned themselves to publish only traditional quest fantasy.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: Jim on January 12, 2007, 02:22:03 PM
Was Egon correct in his terse reply to Janine when she supposes out loud that he reads a lot?
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on January 12, 2007, 03:08:03 PM
Was Egon correct in his terse reply to Janine when she supposes out loud that he reads a lot?

While I don't agree that "Print is dead", it's much less expensive to set up and publish via the web than deal with the costs of print and layout and distribution. One of the reasons there are so many markets out there for Speculative Fiction is that the web has made publishing much less rigorous to get involved with. The web also allows for insane specialization of genre and subgenre... for example, I have the Hotel Nocturne stories which are sort of traditional vampire tales, all centered around a grand hotel built very high up in the Arctic Circle. Because of the six-months of darkness/semidarkness the hotel caters to vampires. So far so good, right? I go looking for markets for these stories and so many horror markets say "no traditional monsters, or no vampire stories", but I find one, a good one, it even pays, I get all ready to final edit and format one of the tales and start to pour over the guidelines again.

Oops, they only take stories about extraterrestrial vampires.

Hmmm... okay, I find another market, same routine, they only want lesbian vampires.

Darn it!

I find another market, same routine, they want vampire stories set in the far future only.

And the fleeting nature of web publishing is such that a market can be there today and gone tomorrow. I wrote a story specifically for the online magazine "Dead Letters", they took only Romero inspired zombie stories. I thought, how many times can someone read about people trapped in a mall/supermarket/farmhouse by legions of hungry undead? I thought about Voodoo, and zombies, and wrote Tout Bagay Enfom, a zombie story that uses Voodoo as a control mechanism for Romero-type undead and put the whole shebang on an asteroid based starship fuel mine in space. Or, as I like to type it "in space!"

As soon as I finished the third edit and formatted the thing, Dead Letters took the proverbial shot to the head and ceased to exist. Now I've got a story that doesn't really fit anywhere, and to make it fit I have to rework several of the angles to make it palatable to other markets, which in and of itself is fine, but there's no guarantee that market will be there when I get gone with this series of edits either...

Sometimes I think Sisyphus was a writer.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: madjo on January 12, 2007, 09:49:03 PM
Perhaps it's time for a less specialized storymarket? (No, sadly I don't have the time nor the money to set up such a thing)
I'm sure more writers encounter this problem?
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on January 19, 2007, 07:03:01 AM
Progress report -

The Ballad of Kitty Momoiro - second draft complete. 5200 words.

First paragraph -

Union Dues:
The Ballad of Kitty Momoiro


     So, we're like in this mall in Wisconsin or Michigan or some other place I can't find on a map, roped off and on a little stage. And, all I can concentrate on is how good an Orange Frosty from the food court would taste right now. Do I notice that a couple of hundred kids, mostly girls around between five and fifteen are screaming questions and snapping pictures? Sure, but that isn't anywhere near as interesting as how they mix orange juice, coconut milk, and soda water with a chopped banana.
     I don't focus real good without my ADD meds.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: Laieanna on January 24, 2007, 05:25:33 PM
Was Egon correct in his terse reply to Janine when she supposes out loud that he reads a lot?

While I don't agree that "Print is dead", it's much less expensive to set up and publish via the web than deal with the costs of print and layout and distribution. One of the reasons there are so many markets out there for Speculative Fiction is that the web has made publishing much less rigorous to get involved with. The web also allows for insane specialization of genre and subgenre... for example, I have the Hotel Nocturne stories which are sort of traditional vampire tales, all centered around a grand hotel built very high up in the Arctic Circle. Because of the six-months of darkness/semidarkness the hotel caters to vampires. So far so good, right? I go looking for markets for these stories and so many horror markets say "no traditional monsters, or no vampire stories", but I find one, a good one, it even pays, I get all ready to final edit and format one of the tales and start to pour over the guidelines again.

Man, when is the golden Star Trek age going to come when we don't need money and everyone spends their days doing what they love, not what they need to survive.  Then we could all read/listen to the fascinating tales you and others have created because you can offer them up freely.  Will these works get lost and forgotten if you can't find a market for them? 

Err...did I get oddly poetic with that?  Sorry.

The vampire stories sound so interesting.  And I am also a Union Dues fan. 
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on January 24, 2007, 05:55:48 PM
Was Egon correct in his terse reply to Janine when she supposes out loud that he reads a lot?

While I don't agree that "Print is dead", it's much less expensive to set up and publish via the web than deal with the costs of print and layout and distribution. One of the reasons there are so many markets out there for Speculative Fiction is that the web has made publishing much less rigorous to get involved with. The web also allows for insane specialization of genre and subgenre... for example, I have the Hotel Nocturne stories which are sort of traditional vampire tales, all centered around a grand hotel built very high up in the Arctic Circle. Because of the six-months of darkness/semidarkness the hotel caters to vampires. So far so good, right? I go looking for markets for these stories and so many horror markets say "no traditional monsters, or no vampire stories", but I find one, a good one, it even pays, I get all ready to final edit and format one of the tales and start to pour over the guidelines again.

Man, when is the golden Star Trek age going to come when we don't need money and everyone spends their days doing what they love, not what they need to survive.  Then we could all read/listen to the fascinating tales you and others have created because you can offer them up freely.  Will these works get lost and forgotten if you can't find a market for them? 

Err...did I get oddly poetic with that?  Sorry.

The vampire stories sound so interesting.  And I am also a Union Dues fan. 


I like to think that if the Union Dues stories stay popular and Escape Pod continues to buy them, I will be able to interest other editors in these stories via name recognition/publishing history alone. My stories never die, I have them all right here. I am banking on the markets being cyclical and that the need for or love of traditional monster stories, or historical adventure fiction, prompts the market to respond.

Just for fun though, here are the opening scenes to "Hotel Nocturne: Employee of the Year"

1   

Marguerite dragged a sweat-dampened sleeve across her forehead before attacking the king-sized bed. She tore the ornate green quilt and top sheet off the gigantic mattress and flung them to the floor then stripped and fluffed the goose down pillows.

Redressing the room would take at least another half hour. She glanced at her silver pocket watch and grimaced. “Five more after this,” she mumbled. The mantle clock struck 2, its soft chimes died in the heavy red velvet drapes slung around the gigantic canopy bed.
   
Marguerite instinctively glanced at the window then silently cursed her inability to adjust to the perpetual darkness of the Arctic winter.
   
The room was complete now, she checked the small dish beside the basin and ewer, and retrieved two Hotel Coins. Smiling, she dropped them into a small leather bag slung at the hip. The coin sack offered a noticeable weight and pleasant jingle as she made a final check of the room. Satisfied that all waited in perfect order for the occupant she pushed the cart into the wide hallway and pulled the door closed while crossing the threshold.

2
   
Bright light escaped the staff building through heavy slotted shutters and flickered across the drifting snow beside the path to the door. Marguerite listened to the shallow ruckus from the other day-shifters settling in to their late evening routine of gossip and inquiry. She lingered at the door and braced for the cacophony inside.
   
It was then that the eyes made themselves visible in the otherwise impenetrable darkness.
   
Marguerite froze. The entire staff knew the dangers of the path between the rooming house and the hotel. Warned of the wolves prowling the night the rule was never to stray from the lamplight, and above all else, never linger. But, these were not wolf eyes, unless wolves somehow learned to walk upright. “Hello?” she called softly.
   
“Hello,” came the answer.
   
“You shouldn’t be in the darkness...” Marguerite saw the owner of the voice then, tall, impossibly skinny, and draped in a black muslin cloak that hung as if it were tied to a scarecrow. The owner’s visage lay hidden behind a red velvet scarf and wide-brimmed hat.
   
He stepped forward through the snow on nearly silent footsteps. “Room 317,” he said quietly. The words floated through the scarf garbled and nearly indecipherable, “you are the chambermaid?”
   
“I... I am,” she said as the figure stopped a few inches from her. The guest’s breath reeked of some otherworldly night soil and Marguerite struggled not to turn away from the fetid stench.
   
He extended a bony and long finger nailed hand wrapped around a clutch of Hotel Coins, “You do good work,” he slurred.
   
“Thank you sir,” she answered and accepted the heavy coins.
   
The man bowed slowly and backed into the darkness.
   
Marguerite shuddered and dropped the Hotel Coins into the sack before opening the door. She stamped the snow from her boots and rushed to the fireplace to warm as she stripped the parka, hood, and mittens that only kept the ambient cold at bay long enough to walk from the grounds to the dormitory.
   
“How did you do Margie?” Sarah Benevedez jiggled a swollen coin purse before Marguerite’s face.
   
“I always thought it impolite to brag Sarah, or didn’t you learn that as a child?” Marguerite hung her parka and mittens beside the fireplace and dropped to a long wooden bench beside the coal stove.
   
“Ha! I knew she was lacking.”
   
Marguerite slid her boots beneath the bench. “I don’t see what the big deal is anyway. No one even knows what the prize is.”
   
“You don’t think the guests giving us these gold coins means anything? I think the employee of the year prize is a fortune, and I want it.” Sarah dropped to the bench. “I have thirty three coins, and we still have a few weeks before the final counting.” Sarah again rattled the coins in their pouch.
   
Marguerite rolled her eyes.
   
“Come on Margie... Lay yours out. We all did before you got here and I lead the rest of the girls by at least eight.”
   
“I just want to sleep Sarah.” Marguerite padded past the fireplace to her bunk within the long racks of sleeping spaces. The other girls crowded around and refused to let Marguerite relax. “Go away,” she sighed.
   
“Come on Margie. Everyone else did...”

Marguerite rubbed her eyes and sat up. “Fine,” she said then dumped her pouch across the quilt and slowly counted out twenty-seven coins.

Sarah’s face lit up with the delighted smugness that Marguerite found especially annoying. “I knew it!”

“Now please, everyone, let me sleep.” Marguerite scooped the coins back into the pouch and tied it lightly around her wrist. The other girls dissipated quickly and Marguerite rolled over and dropped into an exhausted slumber.

And here is the opening scene from:

Burden of Bushido: The Emerald Treasure of the Thuggee Assassins


Amid the great I have traveled
And amid the refuse and forgotten
Many a year and month and day
From the shores of Edo Harbor to the pirate temples of Ankor
Now I lay a stranger in India
Untouchable
With vengeance as my protector
And the Gods as my foe
I rise


Kintaro Koboyashi - 1859

1
   
Senajit peered out of the new moon darkness at the small groups of pilgrims spread out around the bonfire. He knew better than to sleep on Pilgrimage Road during the darkest of nights of the month. The tales of The Thuggee were not mere stories told to frighten unruly children, but sinister men who strangled and robbed unwary pilgrims to please the goddess Kali. Even though the British hung four thousand Thuggee and drove them from all but the darkest recesses of the countryside their legacy had not died.

Senjit knew the assassins were nearby because that day he had robbed them.
   
He scrambled up the low hill to the base of a great mango tree and dug a deep and narrow hole into which he placed the fist-sized emerald, wrapped in sheepskin and tied with a length of silver chain, before covering the hole with the soft earth.
   
Senajit then strung his remaining meager valuables, a single gold chain and a small purse of rupees, around his waist beneath the folds of his white shirt before slipping back down the hillside to side of Pilgrimage Road.
   
He stayed in the shadows on the periphery of the bonfire and lay back. He struggled to remain alert to every sound in the deep forest that protected Srisailam Temple. But, the relentless heat of the coming Monsoon season sapped his strength more than the long walk from his village outside Pondicherri.

Senajit's eyes soon fluttered and the sound of distant prayers faded into ghostly echoes.

He awoke breathless; a garrote twisted tight around his neck and strange, cold hands tearing through his clothes.

Senajit struggled for a second then slumped dead.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: Jonathan C. Gillespie on January 24, 2007, 11:53:10 PM
JR, do you intend to do all the Union Dues tales in first-person POV?  (not that I mind)
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on January 25, 2007, 03:11:01 AM
JR, do you intend to do all the Union Dues tales in first-person POV?  (not that I mind)

I didn't actually intend to, but it seems to have worked out that way :)

All 10 of the stories are first person POV.

Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on January 29, 2007, 01:44:11 PM
Progress report -

Complete
The Henchman Diaries: Project Giant Arachnid (5600 words) finished and submitted.
Union Dues: All That We Leave Behind (5600 words) Final draft complete.

First draft Work
Union Dues: Freedom's Burden (5000 words) First Draft torn down and rewrite started.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on March 19, 2007, 07:18:25 PM
Just completed first complete draft of "Union Dues: A Noose with Jade Accents"

5400 words.

This is the bridge story between the original 10 Union Dues stories and the five Team Shikaragaki Stories that follow it.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on April 04, 2007, 04:30:49 PM
Rewrite of Union Dues: Send in the Clowns.

14 hours.

Fingers are like bloody stumps.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on April 05, 2007, 07:47:01 PM
Isn't it rich?
Are we a pair?
Me here at last on the ground,
You in mid-air.
Send in the clowns.

Isn't it bliss?
Don't you approve?
One who keeps tearing around,
One who can't move.
Where are the clowns?
Send in the clowns.

Just when I'd stopped opening doors,
Finally knowing the one that I wanted was yours,
Making my entrance again with my usual flair,
Sure of my lines,
No one is there.

Don't you love farce?
My fault I fear.
I thought that you'd want what I want.
Sorry, my dear.
But where are the clowns?
Quick, send in the clowns.
Don't bother, they're here.

Isn't it rich?
Isn't it queer,
Losing my timing this late
In my career?
And where are the clowns?
There ought to be clowns.
Well, maybe next year.


Coming soon to Escape Pod :)
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: Jim on April 05, 2007, 08:22:46 PM
To quote Peter Griffin, freakin' sweet.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on April 26, 2007, 01:22:56 PM
Completed final draft of Union Dues: All the we Leave Behind

Completed final draft of Union Dues: The Saga of Tam Suji

Reworking present day segments and plot of Union Dues: All About the Sponsors (Who knew researching Pat Boone's 1950's TV appearances would take a day and a half?)

Reworking Burden of Bushido: Ronin on the High Seas to alter fantasy elements and bring actual closure to the story. FYI, I hate fantasy, but this story has picked up more than a couple of REALLY encouraging comments from pro mag editors so I refuse to put it on haitus.

Beginning first drafts of Union Dues: The Epic of Johnny Turoko and Union Dues: The Opus of Taizen Kiiro.

Next slate - Reworks of Burden of Bushido: The Five-Body Sword and Burden of Bushido: Emerald Treasure of the Thuggee Assassins to incorporated much-hated fantasy elements as established in Ronin on the High Seas. This will easily take me until Christmas 07 to complete.

Stories in idea stage that are refusing to stop fermentation and thus will be written probably in a coffee fueled fury over a free weekend:

The Blinkers

Stories in which development is on indefinite hiatus:

Tout Bagay Enfom
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on May 15, 2007, 07:56:14 PM
Just finished my interview with Paula B of The Writing Show podcast.

Aye carumba... I think I sounded like an escaped mental patient with a bad case of the "they're coming to get meeeeees".

Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on May 23, 2007, 10:05:05 PM
If I ever even suggest that I am writing a zombie story, please send someone to break my computer and slap me around until I come to my senses.

Lady of Mercy - Second draft of first version, finished. 7000 words.
Lady of Mercy - First draft of second version, incomplete. 5000 words.

I am writing these for a specific anthology, History is Dead (Zombie stories set in pre-1900). Submission closes on Friday. Why I do this to myself I don't know, but I like historical fiction and I like zombies... what I don't like is them being combined.

And it only took me 12,000 words to figure that out.

Blech... let's hope it was worth it and the tale gets bought. Wish me luck.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on May 29, 2007, 01:37:56 PM
Lady of Mercy, complete - submitted - rejected (form letter). 7600 words. I still like this story but I don't know if there will ever be a market for it.

Today's lesson - never write for a specific market especially if it has a really tight focus, say, pre-1900 zombie fiction set outside the United States, if you can avoid it. The stories are harder to write, they take longer to edit, and if they don't get accepted you end up with multiple thousand words of story that don't fit into other more general markets without a tremendous edit.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on June 28, 2007, 07:10:45 PM
First draft completed -

Union Dues: The Sojourn of Taizen Kiiro

6100 words.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on July 09, 2007, 03:16:14 AM
My first commentary written specifically for The Writing Show (www.writingshow.com) is live following this week's interview with Karen Anderson.

Enjoy.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on July 18, 2007, 02:52:43 AM
Completed the first draft of "Lilies for Donald". 4600 words. Horror. Zombies. Sent drafts to my first readers. One already told me I made her physically ill.

I guess that's a good start.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: Russell Nash on July 18, 2007, 10:54:00 AM
Completed the first draft of "Lilies for Donald". 4600 words. Horror. Zombies. Sent drafts to my first readers. One already told me I made her physically ill.

I guess that's a good start.

Sounds like a sucess to me.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on July 23, 2007, 04:49:17 AM
Had an editor request for first 5 chapters and synopsis following my query for my novel "Tears of Amaterasu".

Sent requested materials out today.

Submitted "Flowers for Donald", short zombie story.

Working on edit to Union Dues: All About the Sponsors.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: Listener on July 25, 2007, 12:39:47 PM
Had an editor request for first 5 chapters and synopsis following my query for my novel "Tears of Amaterasu".

Sent requested materials out today.


Congratulations!  Hope you get it published!
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on July 25, 2007, 02:21:20 PM
Coming soon to Escape Pod -

Union Dues: All That We Leave Behind
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on August 12, 2007, 01:18:39 AM
Submitted "Burden of Bushido: Emerald Treasure of the Thuggee Assassins" to Paradox magazine (who will reject it in about 3 weeks).

Resurrected "Union Dues: Tabula Rasa". Let's see if I can get this one to a satisfactory end.

Recorded 4 commentaries for The Writing Show.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: Mr. Tweedy on August 13, 2007, 09:07:39 PM
How do you find time to write so much?  Are you just really fast?

Between the job, the family, and looking for a better job, I have a hard time snatching an hour here and there, and a productive writing session usually requires at least two hours: Got to get in the groove, you know?
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on August 13, 2007, 09:14:52 PM
How do you find time to write so much?  Are you just really fast?

Between the job, the family, and looking for a better job, I have a hard time snatching an hour here and there, and a productive writing session usually requires at least two hours: Got to get in the groove, you know?


I am a telecommuter so I write during my lunch hours, sometimes a little longer than that (if I am in the groove). I write after Cindy and the kids go to bed, sometimes I write before they get up. I have a writer's job, I create and edit telecommunications training materials, so I am always working on the "craft" of writing even if I am not writing fiction for 45 hours a week. Plus, I have a stunningly tenacious work ethic.

I schedule writing time (usually 3 hours) on Saturday, though with Cindy working weekends it's been hard to do that and I've moved it mostly to late nights.

I spend a very long time thinking about what I am writing so that when I sit down to work on it I am already in the groove.

Plus, I type well over 60 words per minute.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: Mr. Tweedy on August 13, 2007, 09:18:40 PM
How do you find time to write so much?  Are you just really fast?

Between the job, the family, and looking for a better job, I have a hard time snatching an hour here and there, and a productive writing session usually requires at least two hours: Got to get in the groove, you know?


I am a telecommuter so I write during my lunch hours, sometimes a little longer than that (if I am in the groove). I write after Cindy and the kids go to bed, sometimes I write before they get up. I have a writer's job, I create and edit telecommunications training materials, so I am always working on the "craft" of writing even if I am not writing fiction for 45 hours a week. Plus, I have a stunningly tenacious work ethic.

I schedule writing time (usually 3 hours) on Saturday, though with Cindy working weekends it's been hard to do that and I've moved it mostly to late nights.

I spend a very long time thinking about what I am writing so that when I sit down to work on it I am already in the groove.

Plus, I type well over 60 words per minute.

I don't even think at 60 wpm, and I have a hard time pinning down my vague ideas unless I'm actually drawing or typing them out.

Sounds like superior brain power.   :-[  Anybody know of a genemod clinic I could visit?
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on August 30, 2007, 07:53:09 PM
Completed 4th draft rewrite of "Union Dues: All About the Sponsors"
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on September 17, 2007, 03:46:30 PM
Good couple of weeks...

Sold -

Saferty First - 2000 words at $.15 a word - paid
The 40% Solution - 2000 words at $.15 a word - paid

Can't tell you where I sold them yet, but when I can I will.

Got an agent request for the first 50 pages of Tears of Amaterasu from William Clark Agency :)

Got paid for All That We Leave Behind :)

Added another 4000 words to the ersatz Zatoichi novel this weekend. ''

Wrote a new commentary for The Writing Show.

Rejections -

"Lilies for Donald" rejected by both Pseudopod and Apex Digest. In one case too graphic, in another "we don't buy zombie stories". Meh.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: Russell Nash on September 17, 2007, 06:28:36 PM
Being laid off works for you.

Are you telling us Pseudopod turned down a zombie story, because it was too graphic??  I could really stand a little more graphic detail in my pseudopod.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on September 17, 2007, 06:33:42 PM
Being laid off works for you.

Are you telling us Pseudopod turned down a zombie story, because it was too graphic??  I could really stand a little more graphic detail in my pseudopod.

It's working for me at the moment :)

I hope the request for partial turns into a request for the whole novel.

And yeah, that's what I'm saying... pity.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on September 19, 2007, 04:26:07 PM
"Lilies for Donald" now available at Tales of the Zombie War -

Comments at the site welcome!

http://talesofworldwarz.com/stories/2007/09/19/lilies-for-donald-by-jeffrey-derego/
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on October 01, 2007, 07:39:50 PM
Sold "Requiem for the Fat Man" and "The Matter of Negativity", 2000 words each @ $.15 a word :)

Lilies for Donald won the bi-annual fiction contest at Tales of the Zombie War.

And I have a second job interview on Wednesday. WOOHOO!!!
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on October 23, 2007, 07:49:12 PM
Submitted "Union Dues: Freedom with a Small F" to Escape Pod.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on January 19, 2008, 10:18:00 PM
Completed "The Marionette" (the next Pleasant Hollow Story).
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on January 27, 2008, 05:11:40 PM
Queries for status on "Emerald Treasure of the Thuggee Assassins" - 8900 words - at Paradox (submitted in August). Fully expected "we rejected that months ago the letter must've been lost..." instead I got "I read that and really liked it. It's in the short pile for the April issue, I'll get back to you very soon with a final decision!"

Reworked and submitted "Tout Bagay Enfom" - 5000 words - to Weird Tales

Completed and submitted "The Marionette" - 5000 words - to Tales of World War Z

Completed and submitted "Uthan and the Child of the Snow" -5000 words - to Brutarian
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on March 08, 2008, 04:02:33 AM
Sold "The Ballad of Kitty Momoiro" to Clonepod. They are interested in the whole Team Shikaragaki series. I will post when it goes live. It's a good podcast, sort of just like Escape Pod.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: Russell Nash on March 10, 2008, 07:16:16 PM
Sold "The Ballad of Kitty Momoiro" to Clonepod. They are interested in the whole Team Shikaragaki series. I will post when it goes live. It's a good podcast, sort of just like Escape Pod.

Does EP still get all of the UD stories first?  Did they turn this one down?
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on March 10, 2008, 09:09:54 PM
Sold "The Ballad of Kitty Momoiro" to Clonepod. They are interested in the whole Team Shikaragaki series. I will post when it goes live. It's a good podcast, sort of just like Escape Pod.

Does EP still get all of the UD stories first?  Did they turn this one down?

EP still gets the first series of UD stories first, yes. But when I heard the kids, Abby, Forrest, and Zack introduce Clonepod I immediately heard the voices of the characters in the Team Shikaragaki stories. They are also a brand new podcast and BIG fans of Escape Pod. I figured, like Steve did with my stories and helped me get established maybe I could help them draw a larger audience in less time and there would be another first class market for podcast fiction.

Don't worry though, more Union Dues are on the way here. "All That We Leave Behind" has already been accepted and I have at least two more in the wings.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on April 07, 2008, 05:57:41 PM
Completed "The Ballad of Old 666", 5500 words. Space opera this time, based on the real exploits of WW2 B17 pilots on a mapping mission over Bougainville.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on April 10, 2008, 04:38:56 PM
Final draft rewrite of "The Ballad of Old 666" is complete. 6500 words.

Union Dues story "Union Dues: The Ballad of Kitty Momoiro" should appear at Clonepod this week or next.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on May 01, 2008, 04:45:55 AM
Hey! Check out my interview at SciFi Dig! www.scifidig.com. Aaron and I talk about Giant Monster Movies, Chambara films, crazy TV shows, and writing!
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: Heradel on May 01, 2008, 05:19:13 AM
Union Dues story "Union Dues: The Ballad of Kitty Momoiro" should appear at Clonepod this week or next.

It hasn't.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on May 01, 2008, 05:25:44 AM
Union Dues story "Union Dues: The Ballad of Kitty Momoiro" should appear at Clonepod this week or next.

It hasn't.

They are still sussing out the illustration. It will air soon, they promoed it on this weeks episode.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on May 29, 2008, 02:56:12 AM
The Ballad of Kitty Momoiro is live at clonepod.org

:)
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on June 05, 2008, 04:20:12 PM
Completed - Union Dues: Tabula Rasa (ugh... after a dozen drafts, six POV changes, and innumerable endings...)
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on June 18, 2008, 08:11:44 PM
Complete first draft - Sweet Like Maple Sugar (6400 words)
Sold - Team Shikaragaki: The Saga of Tam Suji (6200 words) to Clonepod
Sold - Perchance to Fail (1400 words at $.15 a word)
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: Listener on June 18, 2008, 08:28:56 PM
Sold - Perchance to Fail (1400 words at $.15 a word)

$210? 

1400 * 0.15 = 210

Is my math wrong?  'Cause that's a nice sale right there.  That's... well, that's four tanks of gas in your average car, but still, good stuff.

Is PtF a Union Dues, or something independent?  SLMS doesn't look like a Union Dues title, IMO, but maybe it is too?
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: DKT on June 18, 2008, 08:32:17 PM
Yeah, I was wondering *who* bought that one :)

Congrats, man.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on June 19, 2008, 01:09:57 AM
Sold - Perchance to Fail (1400 words at $.15 a word)

$210? 

1400 * 0.15 = 210

Is my math wrong?  'Cause that's a nice sale right there.  That's... well, that's four tanks of gas in your average car, but still, good stuff.

Is PtF a Union Dues, or something independent?  SLMS doesn't look like a Union Dues title, IMO, but maybe it is too?

I can't say much other than, Perchance to Fail will appear in someone else's non-fiction book along with 6-10 other 1000/2000 word stories by me all illustrating specific themes and ideas. I wish I could say more, but I can't until the book is complete and in print.

Fun with Non Disclosure Agreements :)

Sweet Like Maple Sugar, on the other hand I can talk about!

It's the third story set in Pleasant Hollow following the zombie apocalypse. The first two were Lilies for Donald and The Marionette, both available to read free at Tales of the Zombie War (www.talezofworldwarz.com).

The Saga of Tam Suji is the second Team Shikaragaki story, it's also the happiest of all the Union Dues tales.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: Schreiber on June 19, 2008, 06:13:46 PM
So according to Heinlein, it will be the sleepiest of all the Union Dues stories.

Seriously though, can't wait for more Union Dues.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on June 19, 2008, 06:16:45 PM
So according to Heinlein, it will be the sleepiest of all the Union Dues stories.

LOL, yep!
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on June 27, 2008, 05:07:12 AM
Wrote, recorded, edited new commentary - "Feeling uncreative? Write Porn!" for The Writing Show.

Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: Russell Nash on June 27, 2008, 10:09:57 AM
Wrote, recorded, edited new commentary - "Feeling uncreative? Write Porn!" for The Writing Show.



Is that a commentary on the quality of porn or a suggection to help clear the mind?
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on June 27, 2008, 12:04:02 PM
Wrote, recorded, edited new commentary - "Feeling uncreative? Write Porn!" for The Writing Show.



Is that a commentary on the quality of porn or a suggection to help clear the mind?

Clear the mind and as an exercise to be more descriptive and daring with your writing.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: Listener on June 30, 2008, 06:38:19 PM
I've always found writing erotica to be enjoyable.  I also think fanfic can be a good exercise in getting your writing juices flowing, plus it gets you new readers when you post it on fanfic sites.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on August 04, 2008, 06:51:39 PM
Got book deal.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: DKT on August 04, 2008, 06:56:12 PM
Wooo-Hooooo!!!!  Congratulations!!!!

 ;D ;D ;D ;D

(Can I ask if it was with Swarm?)
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on August 04, 2008, 07:09:26 PM
Wooo-Hooooo!!!!  Congratulations!!!!

 ;D ;D ;D ;D

(Can I ask if it was with Swarm?)

Swarm got scooped.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: Talia on August 04, 2008, 07:28:07 PM
Got book deal.

That's great news. Congrats.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: DKT on August 04, 2008, 08:16:14 PM
Wooo-Hooooo!!!!  Congratulations!!!!

 ;D ;D ;D ;D

(Can I ask if it was with Swarm?)

Swarm got scooped.

Gah!  Details...? :)
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on August 04, 2008, 08:26:05 PM
Wooo-Hooooo!!!!  Congratulations!!!!

 ;D ;D ;D ;D

(Can I ask if it was with Swarm?)

Swarm got scooped.

Gah!  Details...? :)

When I've got a contract in front of me I will divulge all... but to head off some potential questions -

It will be released as two volumes of Union Dues stories
They have a physical distribution network as well as online space (amazon, etc...)
They want the books available in major bookstore chains
They are about to release their first novella
They want to release both paperback and e-book versions (possibly Kindle as well)
I should see a contract in a month
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: Listener on August 05, 2008, 02:02:22 PM
Wooo-Hooooo!!!!  Congratulations!!!!

 ;D ;D ;D ;D

(Can I ask if it was with Swarm?)

Swarm got scooped.

Gah!  Details...? :)

When I've got a contract in front of me I will divulge all... but to head off some potential questions -

It will be released as two volumes of Union Dues stories
They have a physical distribution network as well as online space (amazon, etc...)
They want the books available in major bookstore chains
They are about to release their first novella
They want to release both paperback and e-book versions (possibly Kindle as well)
I should see a contract in a month

AWESOMENESS.  Now I will be able to read U.D. at my own pace, and get them all in one place.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: Russell Nash on August 06, 2008, 12:54:41 PM
Is there going to be any artwork?  More than just the cover I mean.  I'd really like to see how you see the characters.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on August 06, 2008, 02:19:11 PM
Is there going to be any artwork?  More than just the cover I mean.  I'd really like to see how you see the characters.

Just a cover.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on August 17, 2008, 05:23:59 PM
Coming soon to Escape Pod -

Union Dues: Tabula Rasa
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: Russell Nash on August 17, 2008, 07:23:48 PM
Coming soon to Escape Pod -

Union Dues: Tabula Rasa

Ooh, I thought we had reached the end of UD on EP.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: Listener on August 19, 2008, 09:08:36 PM
Coming soon to Escape Pod -

Union Dues: Tabula Rasa

Ooh, I thought we had reached the end of UD on EP.

How?  I haven't heard any Big Sweeping Ending stories.  Did I miss one?
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: Russell Nash on August 20, 2008, 07:55:35 AM
Coming soon to Escape Pod -

Union Dues: Tabula Rasa

Ooh, I thought we had reached the end of UD on EP.

How?  I haven't heard any Big Sweeping Ending stories.  Did I miss one?

I was recalling the sold stories mentioned here against the stories heard on the podcast.  It just seemed to me that Jeff was marketing his "Kiddie UD" on Clonepod and with his book deal that was it for UD on EP.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on October 09, 2008, 03:59:36 PM
Text interview with me up at geekvox.com if anyone is interested.

http://www.candestine.com/wordpress/?p=189
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on October 30, 2008, 12:59:38 PM
Completed/Submitted - Union Dues: All About the Sponsors.

Whew... 3 years in the making.


Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: Thaurismunths on October 30, 2008, 09:11:11 PM
Completed/Submitted - Union Dues: All About the Sponsors.

Whew... 3 years in the making.



Woo-hoo!
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on October 31, 2008, 01:37:50 PM
Completed/Submitted - Union Dues: All About the Sponsors.

Whew... 3 years in the making.



Woo-hoo!

Coming soon to Escape Pod!
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on November 05, 2008, 04:27:07 PM
Two things -

Commentary - "ImNoFanO NaNoWriMo" available at www.writingshow.com

Story - "Union Dues: The Sojourn of Taizen Kiiro" available at www.clonepod.org.

Enjoy.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on February 11, 2009, 05:59:01 PM
Completed - Union Dues: The Threnody of Johnny Toruko.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on April 08, 2009, 09:29:40 PM
Sweet Like Maple Sugar was just awarded first prize in the first 2009 contest at Tales of the Zombie War.

Enjoy

http://www.talesofworldwarz.com/stories/2009/03/24/sweet-like-maple-sugar-by-jeffrey-derego/
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on September 26, 2009, 03:50:13 PM
Coming soon to Escape Pod: Union Dues - The Threnody of Johnny Toruko.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on October 01, 2009, 08:29:36 PM
Completed "Bees Do It" the next Pleasant Hollow story. 5100 words.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on October 15, 2009, 06:23:13 PM
procrastination by submission -

Sent Burden of Bushido - Ronin on the High Seas to Heroic Fantasy Quarterly
send Lady of Mercy - to Weird Tales

Completed first drafts of "Bees Do it" and "If the Taj Mahal was a Dairy Barn"
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on December 01, 2009, 08:17:57 PM
New short samples online from "Bees Do It" and "Nicotine Kisses and Muddy Soles" in audio, on this week's Sci Fi Dig. The samples start at about an hour and twenty minutes into the podcast.

Enjoy, and as always, comments welcome.

http://www.scifidig.com/?p=864
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on December 02, 2009, 12:21:25 AM
Bees Do It was accepted at Tales of the Zombie War and will be available as a free read tomorrow morning.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on July 05, 2010, 11:48:42 PM
Sold a reprint of "Lilies for Donald" to the anthology "Live Free or Undead" due out in October this year.
Title: Re: Progress sometimes means walking backwards
Post by: jrderego on March 02, 2012, 05:36:22 AM
Available for pre-order, and shipping in June.

Escape Clause: A Union Dues Novel from ENC Press

http://www.encpress.com/EC.html