Well, all right! “The Sun is Real” got accepted into the first annual Mirror Shards anthology!
And there’s a story behind the story too. Jonathan Shipley told us about this anthology, and we’d talked about it in writing group for a month or so before the cutoff date of July 8th. Jonathan brought a story to group the two times we met–it’s a good one too, but dammit, it didn’t get in–and he sent his revisions for us to look at on July 7th.
I had a few ideas, glimpses of a setting, but no story. And with no story, I had no plans to submit. However, a couple hours on the 7th after I had sent back suggestions to Shipley, I was at a Starbucks and inspiration struck! I had a character in a setting with a rough idea of a story.
So I started writing, and by closing time, (8pm), there were about 1500 words on the page–with a minimum of 3000 needed–and a rough idea of the whole plot. I went home, took care of the dogs, ate, and added another thousand words.
The next day–deadline day–I went to another Starbucks after work and finished the story, adding another 1000 words. Then came editing, reading and correcting over and over. A chance call from a friend turned into me forcing him to read and critique. This turned out to be a godsend because he came back with, “It’s pretty good” as a review.
“Pretty good” was not what I was shooting for.
Through questions–and a few threats–we drilled down to what the hang-up was. Amazingly, all it took was to add one sentence that filled in a quasi-plot hole, and “pretty good” turned to “very good”! Thank you, David Byrd!
Rereads and edits followed until the clock said 1030pm–on the deadline day. The first though I had was I had another hour and a half for edits. The next thought was a terrified, “What time zone are the editors in?!” I quickly finished my read through, typed a quick cover email, and sent it off.
The submissions post on the publisher’s website said they would let everyone know by the 20th, so I figured I had a week before I would hear back. I went to bed, work up late–it was a Saturday, back off–and checked my email out of habit.
Sitting there in black and white was a short message from Black Moon Press: loved your story, you’re in the anthology!
The turnaround on this one is pretty quick. Look for “The Sun is Real” in the Mirror Shards 2011 anthology at the end of September!
