I started this on another board but then I left the board. My motivation suffers without my club buddies! Thought I'd see if anyone here wants to play. The game is to get 100 publishing credits. But, NO credits are needed to join or participate. Everyone is welcome. The rules:
- It's not a contest against anyone else. It is just a game for motivation and, mostly, because it's fun.
- The thread is for posting your credits and sharing tips, congratulations, support, and of course, whining!
- Obviously, the longer your stories are and the pickier you are about markets, the longer it will take you to reach 100. But, that's fine because it's only fun when you do the type of writing you like and go for the markets you want. We aren't competing against each other, so everyone plays the game their own way.
- Post your acceptances when you get them. At the beginning of every month, post your count for the month. Other details and chit chat are welcome!
You can do it!
Who wants to play? :)
I want to play! (haha). I have 56 credits so far. They are mostly flash fiction and mostly from 2012. I guess I should make a website one of these days.
Who else wants to play?
Boo, I have 3 credits. All this year. Since I have so few, I'll list them:
Petra, First Stop Fiction
Forecasting, Mused Literary Review
The Black Spot, Los Angeles Review Of Los Angeles
Hoping to have added two more by next month :)
I'm up to 13, 12 of them this year (thanks entirely to Lit Reactor and Richard getting me off my ass when it comes to submitting). All of the links and whatnot can be found at my website.
100 credits? That'll take me another 9 years.
@carly - godaddy has simple website templates that don't look too bad and are simple to update.
Thanks, Bryan. I'll definitely check out godaddy.
Sound, three credits is not bad at all!
It seems like so many writers feel like getting published is an impossible hurdle, I think a lot of them don't even want to try. It's fun to see it when they go for it and get an acceptance.
I only have so many because I tend to write very short stories (short attention span, I guess). :)
Truth is, I didn't start submitting until a few months ago. What you just described was me six months ago. I was unexperienced and sent my first completed short story to The New Yorker, and when I got the rejection letter six months later I just stopped. I still laugh at myself for making that my first attempt. :)
Okay, make that 14. Tiger, Tiger.
Woo hoo, congrats, Bryan! I think just talking about getting credits brings good luck!
Ooh, Sound, I know those rejections are hard to get used to. Hold on, let me check my Duotrope tracker- okay, on Duotrope I have 346 rejections. LOL!
I just went on a submission binge with my two WAR stories. I"m not confident I'll even get many rejections before Christmas time, so fingers crossed for the new year.
Good luck, Jess! I have nothing out at all now. I usually try to have six out at a time but I have lost my mojo! Maybe I'll get one done today. :)
Thanks, Carly. You're making a good case for writing flash. I just wish I was good at it. I'm not sure what it is, but it's like my brain freezes with ending flash.
Sounds like a fun idea to me, I'm totally in. I always need help keeping my motivation up. I've only got 2 credits right now, having just preceded Bryan at Solarcide, with another coming up at Downer Magazine for the January issue (world better not end before then, or I'll be pissed). The fiction page at my website is looking a little lonely, and all I've got out right now is a couple long shots. I've been meaning for the last two days to really get down to it and resubmit some stuff, but I still find the process so arduous.
I'm impressed with all you guys, having just started in earnest not so long ago and already having so many credits. I definitely need to be in this club so my envy can propel me to work harder, haha. And Carly, 56 credits mostly from 2012... that blows my mind.
I currently have 12 pending submissions, no credits, and I continue to pound away at Clarkesworld.
I will probably die before I publish one hundred stories in magazines.
I don't even have 100 stories written. So far, I have zero credits. Though I plan on getting a few credits in 2013.
We have to start somewhere. I'm in.
I'm in the same boat as Otis.I'll aim for 5 next year. Is that low? Hopefully ten. I'll send out flash and poetry as well.
the magic of three's...Hey Otis & Butch Coolidge, let's attack 2013 and all of us get in the win column!
I don't like this game... Can someone else submit for me? I'm overwhelmed with how many stories I still want to polish before submitting, and overwhelmed with the idea of searching for places to submit again.
I haven't counted mine though. And do you count all publications in your life, or lately? Do translations count? Do essays? Except I'm not playing. But I'm glad to see how many things people got published.
One credit for everything that gets published? I think I am getting depressed. I Ned to get things ready for submission. Nothing seems good enough yet.
I think I'm at 12
Good to see you over here. ;)
One. I have one.
I'm in. I have three.
Answers at Thunderdome Magazine
Everything's Easy for a Hangman at Surreal. Grotesque. (I think Howie was in that issue, too.)
and Incidentals at The Dying Goose.
I'm really quite terrible at submitting. I submit to three, maybe four places before thinking "Ah, that'll be enough for now." I just went on a submitting binge and sent my current WAR piece (obviously can't discuss details or names) thirteen times. Other pieces are weirder, or longer, or crazy-specific genres that are difficult to place. Plus, I always think that I need to polish, polish, polish the fuck out of my pieces and never get around to sending them out.
(Also, just realized polish and Polish are spelled the same way. Fuck, I'm stupid.)
I have twelve college credits, though! Does that count? Kidding. I just wanted to feel special and have more credits than Howie.
A game within a game- Try to get (no, just GET- yup, we must think positive, yes?) a story accepted by a zine or anthology starting with every letter of the alphabet. I still need H, I, J, K, and Y, which makes my submission process rather strange.
Anybody want to play?
Another topic, of course, is milestones. First acceptance, let's face it, calls for dinner out. 25, 50, and 75 are biggies, too, and call for some kind of celebration. I'm not sure why. More like, why not? :P
I'm busy sending two stories out (preferably to six places at a time) and trying to find my missing letters. Of course, I will make an exception for my current crush, Smokelong Quarterly.
What's up with youse?
Working on finishing touches of Jellyfish for Shotgun Honey. Finishing touches on This is What Living Like This Does for Courtney's new zine Parable Press. And have a whole host of shorts to tighten up and get out.
I've actually been pretty productive this last month. Have a break between quarters, so that helps. I have Facefull Of Asphalt to Shotgun, Things Fell Apart out to InfectiveInk (neither take simultaneous submissions, so I hope they both get accepted.), Three Steps To Finding Jesus to about ten places, and The Symmetry Of Things to another eight or nine. I'm also working on editing Little Gods some more so I can start sending that out.
Of course, it helps when I get great reviews that help me identify areas of improvement, so thank you all for your amazing feedback.
Flash is much easier for me to submit than longer pieces -- so my flash for this round is out at about thirteen places. I have seven other stories out, three to no-sims (one of which is a reprint, only submitted because it's perfect for the subject).
Oh! Yeah! If anyone needs a P for their alphabet, Parable Press is accepting submissions (; We have a great one from Moon, Matt's letting us run Traces of Josh (I think -- haven't heard from him since he said yes) and we take submissions of any length, genre (as long as it's set in our current reality, current world, no fantasy or sci-fi) and style, including art, non-fiction, fiction, and poetry.
I've gotta whore myself somewhere. Sorry.
You're running Traces of Josh? Fucking awesome story!
Cool, Courtney. I'll be sure to submit when I have something ready.
I think so. Emphasis on think. Matt said yes, but I lost contact with him/never got the email of his story (which he said he may revise, so that technically means nothing), and I keep getting drunk/my parents keep getting drunk and need me to take care of them/can't stop taking naps, so I keep forgetting to PM him.
Submissions are always open, Sound. No themes or anything, just good work.
EDIT: The internet ate his email. I'm running it. The preview will be up within the hour, actually.
"Everyone Wants to Steal My Man" was accepted by Yellow Mama. Thanks to everyone who helped me polish it.
A game within a game- Try to get (no, just GET- yup, we must think positive, yes?) a story accepted by a zine or anthology starting with every letter of the alphabet. I still need H, I, J, K, and Y, which makes my submission process rather strange.
I have my "Y" now. H, I, J, K and then I will... um, well, then I will be finished with that. Anyone else want to play? (Come on now, y'all know 26 is easier to reach than 100!)
I'm up to 5 credits, and have: F, M, L, & P. Two M's dammit.
Woo hoo, Sound!
X was the worst!
Sorry, double post.
Well, I have 65 acceptances at Duotrope, but I don't think that's everything. 11 this year. Places that aren't on Duotrope and novels/collections account for another 8. So I think I'm at 73. No idea on the alphabet game though!
That's great, Richard!
I have nine. Eight this year. If I can get a credit each for the two columns I've had at difference places, I could be at eleven.
I was Sound's letter P! That makes me really excited!
Maybe my goal should be to publish one hundred stories or to publish a last name of every letter of the alphabet. That would be incredibly interesting. I'm afraid the second one might influence my acceptance choices, though, so maybe I should go with the first. Seven down! I'm going to make the standards "one hundred fantastic pieces," though.
I now have two. Both P's. One poem that's in print from a long time ago and the short over at Court's site. Feel like I'm part of the club now! Haha! Hoping to have 'S' added soon. And, probably another 'P' in a few months.
Monthly Shout Out- January 1, 2013
Me: 57 acceptances total, 4 for December.
You?
Gah, I wish this was a section with separate threads within. It is kind of hard to organize like this. :(
6 credits.
Got my A!
^ nice. Congrats man!
Big congrats on your "A," Sound! :)
I just got an acceptance from Here Comes Everyone, a newish zine (I believe it's online only for now but might be put out in print as well, depending on demand) of Sillhouette Press.
Which also means I've got my "H." So now I just need I, J, and K.
If anyone wants to play, this is a fun one. The next issue is called "Colours" (they're in Great Britain, but they didn't seem to mind my American spellings). It's a flash story, nonfiction essay, or poem about a particular color. If you make it under 200 words, you can enter it into their contest. I think it said there will be five winners. The prize is a t-shirt with your chosen color on it and your words printed on the back. You can enter as many times as you want, with both the regular entries (which is for bragging rights only) and for the contest. It closes on January 15.
I just realized that I have as many tattoos as I do acceptances. Coincidence?
I need more tattoos. I'm gonna have to start a kickstarter for getting me covered in ink.
Woohooo got my S. VERY happy about this one.
^ Where at?
Shotgun honey. Took a month but they accepted ” face full of asphalt”
Nice. I just got rejected for Jellyfish.
Really? Wow I thought that one was a shoo in.
Woo hoo, two in one day here. :)
Boston Literary Magazine. I like this magazine a lot, this is my second time around with them. The stories are very short and snappy:
http://www.bostonliterarymagazine.com/
Nothing over 250 words. They do drabbles (100 words) and dribbles (50 words) too. :)
