Purple Pony Art Blog

For some reason, I thought I had already shared that one of my short stories was published this year! It's called Trapped on Tragodia and it's an exciting tale of friendship, adventure and journey into the unknown!

Odie is just a regular space trucker until a forced landing changes everything. I don't know how much to reveal about the story without spoiling it, LOL! I spotted the submission call from < a href="https://www.perennial-press.com/">Perennial Press in fall 2021, which seems forever ago. The anthology would contain stories and poems about arthropods--kind of a unique subject, IMHO. Now, this is why you always hang onto rejected ideas, because there could be a day when they fit perfectly. The idea I had hanging around was from a horror anthology submission call. I enjoy mild horror and tried my hardest, but liking something and creating something are two different things. I cannot write a horror story to save my life. However, I have a strong belief in the power of friendship and just let my authentic voice speak.

Inspired by childhood memories of movies like Mysterious Island, I changed the setting to a wild place where giant insects rule. If you know me, you'd be seriously surprised I wrote a story that doesn't contain birds or horses, but I was up for the creative challenge. Arthropoda was edited by JW Stebner, who also edits Hexagon, a speculative fiction magazine.

It was a long wait until I had a physical copy in my hands, but it was such a great moment to open the box and see my ideas made real, especially the gorgeous cover by Stephanie Lane Gage of Martian Press. Order your copy today--you won't be disappointed.

My adventures in publishing so far have been quite interesting! I saw the call for entries for Arthropoda by Perennial Press in summer 2021.

I was thrilled when it was accepted and it was a pleasure working with JW Stebner of Hexagon to edit the story and add the extra bit of polish.

Then came the waiting...the waiting...and wait no more! Pre-orders for this speculative fiction anthology are open right now!!.

Being a horse and bird lover, well, I just never imagined I would be writing about insects, but here we are! :-)

Just passing this along...I participated in this challenge last year and actually made the short list (although not the final list). It was pretty fun and exciting--write up to 15k words of coherent storytelling in just a week! The Zombie Pirate Publishing group is really friendly and encouraging.

Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/927322637728156

It's been almost two months since the last semester ended, but, when you defer life for eight months, there's a lot of catching up to do, like posting about this book!

About this time last year I was so hyped to participate in the 2nd Annual Zombie Pirate Publishing Writing Week. 168 hours, 101 participants, 15k words! It was an absolute creative marathon that I would love to do again!

Although my story made the long list and the short list, it didn't make the final list. Aw! However, you can buy the anthology, The Ringed Giant as an eBook or paperback through Amazon. Enjoy eight novelette length science fiction stories for one great price!

I wasn't sure I would have a submission for Zombie Pirate Publishing's next horror anthology. I don't consider myself a master of the macabre although I do enjoy a good scary movie or tale. I wasn't going to submit, but the publishers encouraged it and they always tell people not to self-reject. It's true that after reading something dozens of times that you feel like it's contrived and utter crap, but it will still feel fresh to someone else.

My first idea was a demented take on Cinderella. However, between writing my big English class essay and finishing up homework for Monday's class, the middle part had a hard time gelling. I went with another idea that I had worked on over the summer, which is a different kind of ghost story with vengeance as the primary goal. There were over 70 entries, so fingers crossed!

I submitted a short story for Zombie Pirate Publishing's next anthology, Pirates of the Empyrean. I had five ideas and only one panned out. Well, another idea also panned out, but then, horror of horrors, Evernote ate everything I wrote. I contacted tech support and they could not retrieve it for me because of a syncing issue between devices. It was a serious bummer! I tried to rewrite what was lost, but it just wasn't the same. I would like to develop the other ideas some day.

Basically my story is about two space pirates that have a business problem and a friendship problem. Things get resolved a little too quickly near the end, but perhaps the gentle optimism of the story will make it stand out. 7000 words is not a lot to work with sometimes. ZPP won't have another anthology until next year, so at least there's lots of time to plan for that.

Still waiting to hear about my story for The Ringed Giant. It's so hard to wait!

So a couple of months ago I participated in Zombie Pirate Publishing's Zombie Pirate Writing Week. Imagine nanowrimo but condensed down into a week and you have one heck of a time trying to cobble words, ideas and some editing into a cohesive novelette. There were 101 participants, 57 submissions annnnnnnd I'm amongst the 22 titles on the long list. The short list will be announced soon, so please wish me luck!

It was a real challenge to barf out almost 15,000 words in a week while working full-time, sniffles, screaming birds and other obstacles. If it's one thing that art college has taught me it's that you can do anything in a week! I accidentally wrote a YA story about some crime-solving young people on a spaceship. It's not as ridiculous as it sounds :-)