Never Enough Time

Crazy busy right now doing a million things at once. It seems like the more I try to accomplish, the more behind I get. This weekend I'm reading submissions for an anthology, working on three different works in progress and trying to develop a new project or two.

All that and, for some reason, I can't seem to sleep. I've been up for most of the last week and I'm barely coherent which is making it even harder for me to get anything done. So I'm off to grab yet another cup of coffee and then I'm going to wrestle errant pages and an author or twelve.

The Art of Procrastination

We all do it...

When we're supposed to be writing that sexy new story...  When we're supposed to be reading the next round of submissions...  When we're supposed to be updating our blog...

Right now I'm in one of those moods and I'm easily distracted.  Caught between wanting to get something done and looking for any excuse to waste some time.  Instead of writing, I've been playing with photos and cleaning out boxes.  Because apparently decades-old paperwork is much more important than multiple looming deadlines.

What about you?  What do you like to do instead of whatever you are supposed to be doing?   

I'm going to force myself to get back to work....  But, first, I think I'll take the dog for a walk.  Or maybe I'll go bake a cake. 

Words from the Wise—A Never Say Never Guest Post by Alison Tyler

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Peeking In

Just taking a moment to peek in before I jump back into all the tasks at hand.  It seems like I always have a million things going on at once.  Here's what's I'm doing right exactly now:

• Editing, Lots of it!
• 3 Works in Progress (I am always rotating, swapping, juggling)
• Planning a new photo shoot (or two)

How about you?  What are you up to?

Special Delivery

I love getting packages so, as you might imagine, I was beyond excited to find this little treat in my P.O. Box today.

The absolutely amazing Alison Tyler is celebrating the release of her new guide with a blog tour, and I'll be playing along on May 31st.  I'm thrilled to have a little snippet from my latest WIP included in the chapter on Voyeurism, which is a theme I find sneaking into my work again and again.

Submit... To This Anthology

The folks over at Elektrik MilkBath Press are now taking submissions for a dark-erotic themed anthology.  Check out their guidelines below:

Call for Submissions:

We are excited to announce that we are open to submissions for an anthology of dark erotic (or is that darkly erotic?) stories. For this project, we are open to multiple genres (and even a little mixing and mashing) including but not limited to dark fantasy, horror, magic realism, literary, and even a little twist of noir. The key words here are dark and erotic—however you want to spin it.

While the stories for this book should have an erotic element, there is a lot of territory to cover there and we don’t want to limit you on subject or style. Whether you are just offering a hint of eroticism to a dark tale or writing something more explicit, the story should be enhanced by the eroticism, not written as an afterthought.  We’ve said it before… What’s most important to us is a good story; one that has believable characters and good dialogue, stories we want to read again. Have fun with this, get creative, and please send us your very best work. 

And just so you know, we have no problem with violence—not even a bit—the tone of the project is dark, after all. Still, any violence must be important to the tale. We aren’t a fan of the gross, however, and we don’t love gore for the sake of gore.  There really needs to be a point. Also, the standard no-nos apply—no underage characters, sex with animals, etc. 

How to Submit:

Please send your 1000-5000 word stories pasted into the body of the e-mail to darkeros (at) elektrikmilkbathpress (dot) com. Denote use of italics _like this_. The majority of the stories we choose tend to fall in the 2000-5000 word range but if you know us you know we’re pretty flexible with word count, as long as we enjoy the read. Preference will be given to original stories but we have been known to take a reprint or two… just query.

We will read up to 3 stories per author; however, send each one as an individual submission. 

Make sure you include all your contact details with your submission:  Name, pseudonym (if applicable), address and contact info. We would hate to fall in love with your story and not be able to tell you so.

Also, please let us know if the story is an original and include the approximate word count, as well as a short bio of about 50 words. We want to know all about you—we’re nosy like that.

Finally, please include the word “submission” in your subject line so that your lovely efforts aren’t eaten by our junk-monster. Much good work has been destroyed this way and we’d hate to see it happen to yours.

What happens next:

We hope to send responses within a 6-8 week period with August 25^th  targeted as our final response date. We ask that you not submit these stories elsewhere until you have heard from us.  We acknowledge that response times can grow longer as we receive more stories, but we do respond to every submission and we will try to update our Facebook page, Twitter, and the website as frequently as possible.  If you haven’t heard from us and it has been awhile, please feel free to query.

We are offering a one-time payment of $30 and a contributor copy in return for non-exclusive rights.  Authors who are selected will receive a contract.

Books will be available for purchase through multiple online venues including our website, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon.com and authors wishing to purchase additional copies will be able to do so at a discount.

Submissions will be accepted from May 1—June 30.

Any questions?  Something we forgot?  Feel free to query. 

Has It Really Been That Long?

I have issues with commitment.

I alternate between coffee and tea, I read multiple books at the same time, I am always going a million different ways at once and, to be honest, I don’t like to be pinned down.

And I get distracted.

I start things and then get busy with something else—until I abandon that project for the next. But I always find my way back home and I always finish what I start. Eventually.

This is one of those things.

I’m going to try it again. And I think I’ll do much better this time around.

Maybe.

We’ll see.