Over on his site, Charles Payseur reviewed the stories included in the "Clowns" anthology. I was glad to see he not only had reviewed my story in the collection, but had kind words to say about it. Thanks, Charles!...
The day has come at last. This was my second-most rejected story, all about dichotomous keys, xenobiology and bad choices. You can read it here....
During my end-of-month assessment, I noticed I had completed three different stories during the month of March. Two of them were written from scratch between the 20th and the 31st of the month. The third had been submitted to a writing contest from one of the SFWA-recognized markets, didn't proceed to a second round, and I was able to revise and add to it. I ended up feeling pleased with myself at getting these three new stories done and submitted. I still have one of my current favorites to revise and get back out into submission. However, since it's a longer piece (more than 7,500 words) I would rather not run out of markets for it just yet. I'd like to see if I can't complete two new stories for the month of April....
I read through all of the personal essays written for Lightspeed Magazine's People of Colo(u)r Destroy Science Fiction, edited by the enthusiastic and all-around good human being Sunil Patel. Each one of the essays offers a window into why the writer finds the field of science fiction is important to them. Full disclosure: I submitted several times during the open call, and as of this writing still have something under consideration. That said, after reading the essays, I was inspired to write one, too. "But you're not really Puerto Rican. . ." I was born and raised in Puerto Rico. My mom was Puerto Rican, and my dad was from Philly. Both of them were teachers for the local U.S. Army military base, Fort Buchanan. As a result, I was able to write and read in both English and Spanish by the time I started in Kindergarten. My parents weren't big into science fiction, but...
I realized I might have accepted too many obligations this month. At times like these, however, I channel my energies towards certain projects which require day-to-day maintenance first. Then, I try to make incremental progress on other projects, while letting myself have time off to let some of the story ideas ripen. I'm sure I'll spend some time near the end of the month scrambling to finish, but I hope to keep it to a minimum....