Reflections on the Pagan Writing Life

Reflections on the Pagan Writing Life May 23, 2017

The writing life can be crazy!  I know you haven’t seen much of me lately.  I’m sorry.  But the truth is, I’ve been pursuing another dream.  I’m trying to make it as a speculative fiction writer.  I have wanted to do that since I was ten years old.

You would think that having a published non-fiction book would make a difference; but it doesn’t.  It’s a whole different market and nobody cares about what you’ve done in a different field or genre.

"Computer" by George Hodan. Public domain image courtesy of Publicdomainpictures.net
“Computer” by George Hodan. Public domain image courtesy of Publicdomainpictures.net

The markets don’t cross over either.  You would think that some of the people who bought my book on witchcraft would want to give my fiction a try.  Not so much, I am finding.  I suppose part of that could be because I’m using my legal name to write my fiction and my pen name for the non-fiction, but my friends know better, and my Goodreads and Twitter accounts remain under Sable Aradia, so that’s not entirely it either.

So once again I’m starting from zero and pushing uphill.  I’m discovering new tricks of marketing and a whole community out there that I didn’t know existed.  It’s time consuming but I’m having fun with it!

More than that, however, is the May feeding frenzy.  That is, apparently, when all the magazines want their story submissions.  So there I was on the 19th of May, waiting for my corrections to clear in my latest publication on Amazon, which was due to release the following day, and literally uploading my story, sans a good edit, six minutes before deadline.  I think I’ve written and edited about 50,000 words in the past three weeks!

Courtesy Publicdomainpictures.net
Courtesy Publicdomainpictures.net

GAH!

So I’m frazzled and exhausted now, and my family haven’t seen me for about three weeks either, and I think I’ve worn the same T-shirt for two and suddenly all my pants don’t fit because I’ve forgotten to eat.

Life of a writer, I guess . . .

But!  This gives me a chance to tell you guys about the next deadline I’m trying to make, which is Philipp Kessler’s Pagan Fiction Anthology.  You may know him from the Pagan Musings Podcast.  He’s got a small print label going now called Saturn Returns Publishing (ha!) and you can find his call for submissions here.  Minimum length: 1500 words, maximum 7500, and the deadline is August 1.

Want to join the insanity with me?  I look forward to reading your stories!


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