LEE HALLISON

2011 was a pretty good year for me!  I stayed focused on my writing, and made every single Liberty Hall flash challenge.  I also submitted a story for the Short Story contest there, as well as a story for the Halloween contest at Codex.  I also participated in two NYC midnight madness contests.

I critted stories every week, at Liberty Hall and a bit at Codex.  I read and studied writing, mostly through other writers’ articles and blog posts.  I participated in Codex as much as possible.

I submitted stories 24 times, got 19 rejections and have three outstanding (bites fingernails).  I sold three stories this year, one of which I saw published at Daily Science Fiction.  This qualified me to join SWFA as an associate member.

I wrote approximately 85,000 words of fiction (guessing – 52 flashes averaging 1K, several short stories, and almost finished two novellas) and revised/edited countless words.

I did not blog as much as I wished to, either here or at my cooking blog.

Professional goals for this coming year:

• Submit a story once a week.  (Gulp)
• Continue writing a story a week.
• Finish up the novella.
• Blog at least twice a month here.
• Upload a recipe on my cooking blog once a week.
• Submit reviews on Smashwords and Amazon on short story collections that I’ve read.
• Update this blog with better links.
• Add more goals to this as they occur to me!

I have been writing madly, wildly, constantly, and I managed to snare two more publication contracts.  My story “Guaranteed to Work” will be published at Daily Science Fiction (date TBA) and my story “How the Moon Got Its Cousin” will be published in Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine (November, 2011).

Currently I have an enormous stash of short, 90 minute flash pieces (see 52 Reasons to Brag below) so have lots to revise and edit.  My goal is to get more of them polished up and submitted.

I began writing longer pieces, and the current story is edging toward novelette length – it is nearly 13,000 words already.  I don’t think there is a market for YA novelettes, so I am thinking this is first draft of a future YA novel.

I also was re-hired to edit the newsletter I’ve done every fall for the past few years – so I’ll get to use the left side of my brain a bit this month.

Enjoying this!  I feel inspired and energized by all the writers I’ve connected with on Liberty Hall Writers Group, Codex Writers, and Google+.  Write On!