Kelly Dwyer

My very first short story publication, for the very first story I ever wrote, to the very first magazine I submitted it to. I’m still pinching myself…

“Sunlight” will be published in Abyss and Apex magazine in their Q4 edition this year. I’ll post a link as soon as it’s available online.

And just to point out the incredibly small world that we all live in, Alan Smale (also listed in A&A’s recent acquisitions) and I used to sing catches and rounds as part of a wandering troupe at the MD Renaissance festival so many years ago. Check out his incredible work, reviews and upcoming stories online at http://www.alansmale.com/.

Among the things that will be banished from memory upon the falling temperatures and impending arrival of fall will be:

• Tree falling on roof and smashing large hole in said roof
• Rain entering attic through hole from tree and soaking into insulation
• Bedroom ceiling collapsing and spreading sopping wet insulation and fiberglass over bed, bedding, closet, etc.
• Tree impaling car with massive body damage
• Car taking 4 weeks to be fixed
• LARGE insurance deductibles
• 18 year old uninsured, unlicensed driver going through a red light and sideswiping my son and I in our rental car
• Illness
• Stress
• Virginia heat and humidity
• Stray cats who think my front garden is a litter box
• Missing Uncle Orson’s Boot Camp

And now, let us never speak of this summer again. Onwards to Fall! To school, to writing time, to chilly noses, to the aroma of cinnamon and apple, to pumpkin pies and scarves.

Sadly, my three weeks of buckle-down-and-write time came to an abrupt and unfortunate end at the hands (or infectious claws) of a rather nasty stomach virus contracted from my son’s preschool summer camp. Two weeks later and four pounds lighter, I found myself still playing catch up with all of the day-to-day things that got tossed to the side, like the contents of my stomach during that sad 3 day period, which we will never speak of again. Blech. I did make progress during that first week, but I have so much more work to do that the task of finishing this manuscript seems, yet again, to be monumental and wholly unattainable.

On the upside, I keep getting incredibly polite and personalized rejections for my short stories. And yes, I actually feel quite buoyed by personal notes from venerable editors at top 10 sci-fi magazines. It’s quite a complement. I’ve also been noticing a significant trend towards the same types of criticism. All of my rejections have said something along the lines of “great world building and atmosphere” but “not enough story to keep my attention.” Which really is understandable. I enjoy writing conceptual environments. How people interact with the world around them. What it feels like, sounds like, how it encompasses them.

So, I’ve decided to take a little time to myself and head on down to Uncle Orson’s Writing Class. I was too late to register for the Boot Camp this year, and frankly, I don’t have the luxury of dedicating a whole childless week to the workshop. But the writing class is only two days, hosted by Orson Scott Card, and dealing with a wealth of topics that I’m hoping will help me to expand my writing style and technique and learn a little more about the business. Should be a nice break to the endless summer without childcare or school for the little monkey. I can only set my sights on September and the start of playschool, which will bring a welcome return to a much needed and much longed-for writing routine.

In the painfully white but surprisingly dark glare of the tiny LED plug-in night light in the bathroom at 4:00 am this morning, the counter appeared straight out of some turn of the century chemist’s lab. Balancing the kiddo’s sleepy dead weight on one hip, I stirred dollops of honey into warm water with a long handled tea spoon, trying to get the cough drop stuck to the bottom of the glass to dissolve. The steam from the shower was causing his hair to stick to his forehead and the vapor rub to ooze off of his neck and onto my arm in long trails of sticky menthol. Various medicine droppers, liquid measures and industrial sized bottles of neon pink antihistamine were barely discernible underneath the littered collection of snotty tissues, amassed in less than 5 minutes.

It had been a long night.

As the common cold wreaked havoc on our nightly routine and the lil’ man’s ability to get any real sleep, I desperately searched for ways to get him to stop fidgeting and stay still for those critical 20 minutes of breathing hot, moisturizing steam to ease his chest and nasal congestion. Or stay still, laying upright on my chest against a heaping pile of pillows to drain his sinuses without kneeing me in the chest or flipping upside down every few seconds, in that unavoidable, incredibly kinesthetic way that little boys interact with the world.

All it took was a simple thing. A story.

Starting a few days ago, with the snuffling, oozing, squirming mass of perpetual motion cuddled to my chest, I’ve started telling “Diamond Age”-style Primer fairytales. Those messy, strange and all-together uncomfortable tales of quests and wishes, of encounters and battles. I usually let the kiddo fill in the first few blanks and take it from there (it seems to keep his attention longer and calm his twitching feet and tickling fingers if he’s invested in the topic from the start). All of yesterday’s stories were about a little fish. The day before, it was a little dinosaur.

From a writer’s perspective, I’m rather proud of myself for being able to weave a simple story into such a powerful tool of sedation and engagement. They all use the same tropes of repetition to ensure he’s following along the complicated parts, and the same structural elements to reinforce the messages and interactions. But from a mom’s perspective, I’m finding myself shying away from the big bad guys, the evil doers, the less than tidy endings. I can’t seem to bring myself to write things where something bad happens to the hero (because it’s always a little boy of some kind, of course) that isn’t resolved into a positive thing. I tell stories where a character has a problem to solve, or a journey to take, or something to do. And whatever he actions he takes will have consequences. And if his actions are positive, the consequences will be positive.

Maybe it’s the Mom in me looking at the toddler who is locked in the epic age-appropriate struggle to understand the idea of cause and effect. Or maybe it’s the fact that most of these stories are told in the dark of night, with a sad, tired boy who just needs that escape from feeling sick, an escape from the discipline and battles that pepper his day, an escape from just how tiring it is to be almost three. I know children need those strange and messy stories, the Grims, the fables. But for now, I just want to preserve for him the idea that the world is uncomplicated, beautiful and fulfilling. That friends are there to help you, problems are there to be solved, and Mothers are there to love you unconditionally. No matter how many times you kick me in the nose.

Today’s stories are all about a little bear, who has red hair and likes to eat cupcakes.

I’ve spent most of this relaxing (and thankfully) quiet Mother’s Day preparing for what I’ve dubbed “Novel Boot Camp.” I will have three mostly uninterrupted weeks of writing time coming up in the middle of June while the kiddo is in daycamp from 10:00 until 2:00 each day, and then a few extra hours while he’s asleep for nap time if I’m lucky.

I started writing this novel in 2007 and got a significant way into it (about 65,000 words) before putting it aside to write short fiction. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy working on the book – it was just that with the very short amount of time that I get to write each day or week, I wasn’t making much progress with the broader structural/plot issues that needed to be resolved before I could proceed. Those short little blips during naps or just after bedtime when I could sit down for just a few minutes and write were far more conducive to writing short stories or flash fiction. And far more satisfying at that point as well. Up until then, I hadn’t ever really seen my work through to an end point – polished, edited, submitted, rejected, submitted again…etc. The novel was too big, too overwhelming, and not at all close to completion, In other words, rather depressing.

But I’ve cycled back to it, out of sheer determination to make it WORK. I’ll be taking those entire three weeks to whip it into shape. Tackle the major issues, timeline, plot outline, flesh out characters and structure the entire end of the novel. My goal for the end of the Boot Camp is to have divided out scenes that I can easily sit down and write in one of those short sittings that I get during my average day of chasing around an almost-three-year-old. I’ve taken down the pictures in the dining room in preparation for the post-it tape timeline, colorful sticky notes, photos and sketches that I plan on adhering to every available surface. I shall dub it my War Room.

But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favour’d rage;
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;
–Henry V

From Tom Gauld.

I’ve been submitting a brief short story to several magazines over the past few months without a sale. It’s been a good learning experience for me on several levels. I am proud to say that I have not at any point been particularly hurt by a rejection (although I do coincidentally seem to have a bit of a grumpy day after getting one), and that I’ve received several rather valuable and complimentary reviews and pieces of feedback from very generous magazine editors.

The story, Freedom, was written as an atmospheric piece, something that captured a mood and environment. All of my editors (the wonderful and amazing family members who read my stories!) mentioned that they wanted more from the piece. More story, more plot, more details, just more. So I’m faced with the idea that it might be worth it to reinvigorate the piece with, I guess, “more.”

The thing is, that I have a really difficult time doing rewrites. I hear the piece in my head, I type it out on the computer and that’s it. I very rarely totally restructure any story, because then it wouldn’t be the story that I set out to write. In fact, I’ve got at least 4 other short stories sitting in limbo right now because I know they need to be reworked, but I just can’t figure out how to bring myself to do it.

So I’m going to use Freedom as a learning experience for this as well. I’m going to try to dissect the piece down to it’s elements, and then do a little day dreaming about the environment and the characters. I know there’s another great story in there somewhere. I just need to find it, I suppose…

A insightful look into the publication process from start to finish from Charles Stross. Check out his CMAP #1, and CMAP #2 posts as well. Helpful and sarcastic – just the way I like my data dumps.

Common Misconceptions about Publishing #2: How Books Are Made

I have several times contemplated joining Twitter just so I could ask William Gibson (profile: GreatDismal) the very same question (his answer is in brackets, and no, I am not enygma9890). It’s an appropriately timed exchange though, since I am taking a short break from preparing my third short story for submission this evening. A pristine printed 9×12″ envelope stands ready to ferry my 27 page manuscript, accompanied by a self-addressed stamped envelope, of course, to the halls of a venerable and highly reputed SF magazine. Wish me luck!

GreatDismal: RT @enygma9890: @GreatDismal: Any advice for the novice author whose found significant inspiration in your work? [Write. Finish. Submit.]

GreatDismal: @enygma9890 Resubmit, on rejection, while writing and finishing next piece. Rinse. repeat.

GreatDismal: Unless all 3 of WriteFinishSubmit are practiced, there is 0 chance of anythingthing happening.

I will officially be a published author as of Q4 2010! It’s surreal to think that the very first short story that I ever wrote was accepted by the very first magazine I ever submitted it to. I’ll update the bibliography section and post more details once I’m under contract with the fantastically amazing speculative fiction online magazine that will be hosting the story.