The Scribe Files: On Freelancing and Fiction


It's been a minute since I've given an update on my writing activities so here it goes. On the freelance side, I've been writing political and entertainment blog posts for Butlerway, as if the numerous links I've posted here aren't proof enough (BTW, check out my latest piece about Russia's horrendous new legislation that if passed, could allow children to be taken from the custody of their gay parents. Plug, plug, plug:).  I've also been writing music reviews and artist profiles for an indie music promoter.

On the fiction side of things, it's been a tough road submitting short stories to literary mags. So far I've only gotten one story, "The Payback," published, while the others have been met with 'declined' statuses or "it's just not for us' type e-mails *wrings hands in frustration.* Thankfully, a chat with an insider in the publishing/literary world last week helped me back away from the ledge and realize I'll have to endure a lot of no's before being blessed with a "yes."

That said, I plan to keep submitting stories to magazines, but regardless of whether or not they're accepted I'll compile all of them, along with some poems, for a collection. Being that most, if not all the stories and poems have gay main characters or deal with gay-related subject matter, I'm tentatively titling it Fairy Tales (get into the double meaning lol). I can already envision the cover in my head:).

As for my novel, I finished editing the third draft of it last week, and am currently putting it through the beta reader ringer. I've also started to dabble in writing its sequel, which I think will get easier once the first one is finally put to bed. Then it's on to querying, querying and more querying to see if there's any interest. The Omega Squad, the fantasy novel/novella I was tinkering with, is on the back burner at the moment; to be honest I'm not sure when I'll go back to writing it. I do have some ideas for it, along with other fantasy/horror fiction, that I feel are just too intriguing to let rot. I'll keep you posted.

Feel free to share any creative projects you're working on in the comments.

Comments

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Jake said…
Thanks for the post! You've reminded me I shouldn't let my personal projects slip just because I'm killing myself working an awesome day job. How do you find the time to balance the two? Best Wishes, Jake
K. Clark said…
@Jake: The truth is, I don't always balance the two that well lol. The biggest hurdle for me is just to make up my mind to focus on a personal project, and to make time for it. It's definitely easy to just say "I'll get to it tomorrow."