Imaginary Word

My story "It's a Living" made this month's recommended list at Imaginary Word. Sarah Wagner, a writer and literary magazine editor, describes the site:

The Imaginary Word is meant to be a list of prose, poetry, and art online that I think others might enjoy reading.

For those who haven't read it yet, "It's a Living" is up still at Byzarium. Go check it out!
And thanks, Sarah!

This is posted everywhere, but it pays to remind me, at least, that this is a good idea:

HEINLEIN'S RULES FOR WRITING ---
1. You must write.
2. You must finish what you write.
3. You must refrain from rewriting, except to editorial order.
4. You must put the work on the market.
5. You must keep the work on the market until it is sold.

I was reminded of this yesterday when I received a re-write request on one of my stories out for submission. It got worked over at the crit group, but I refrained from making changes because it was out at the time. All of the suggested changes would make the story stronger, but the editor is the buyer. I will have the revised story to him in about a week.
One of the advantages of having been a reporter is that a lot of the emotional attachment that many writers have to their work gets dulled a little. If the editor says he wants to see the story with xyz changes, unless I think he completely missed the point of the story, xyz changes get made. If he did miss the point, then perhaps it is better to send the story to someone else.
So I will be doing some re-writing this week, and cheerfully, as I tend to agree with the editor, I would love to break into the market, and shoot, I get to bypass the slush with this one. What's not to like?

In spite of doing far less writing this week than I had hoped, I did manage to get a story turned around to Carnifex's "Vermin" anthology. Politics, food bank, and tech conferences have all managed to get in the way of productivity. I fully intend to have either the next servant of the Manthycor story, or another chapter in the novel ready for crit group.

Coming up against a December 1st deadline, I managed to get a story out to deathlings.com for their "Impaired" contest. In my haste, it being nearly 9PM on the deadline day, I, in a total cementhead episode, sent it as a word doc, instead of their requested rtf.
Some editors are tolerant about this--- I am hoping these folks are, too. Of course, the best course is to always read and carefully follow the guidelines. After all, that is why they bothered to write them.
Still, the story is a fun one, and a very good match for their publication, so I hope I get away with it!