{"id":2043,"date":"2022-01-26T03:51:45","date_gmt":"2022-01-26T03:51:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/?p=2043"},"modified":"2022-01-26T03:51:45","modified_gmt":"2022-01-26T03:51:45","slug":"2022-10-years-of-writing-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/?p=2043","title":{"rendered":"2022: 10 Years of Writing Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"boldgrid-section\">\n<div class=\"container\">\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col-md-12 col-xs-12 col-sm-12\">\n<p class=\"\">2022 marks ten years since I tried writing short stories. Technically, I wrote my first one&#8211;that I acknowledge&#8211;in 2010, but that was dabbling and na\u00efve ambition. 2011 was learning, and January 2012 brought my first short story acceptance: &#8220;The Food Acquisition Breakdown,&#8221; in wonderful but fledgling Canadian lit e-journal. There was no need to convert any payment currency.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Ten years later, I&#8217;ve done okay. Lots of folks deservedly enjoyed a more productive decade, but I&#8217;ll take going from not writing at all to having a body of work. More importantly, I&#8217;m still at it. This Whole Writing Thing can be brutal. Creative endurance, rewrite exasperation, inevitable rejections. Add in life stuff, and each day offers reasons not to write.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1423 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/robertmangeot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/AHMM-MarApr19-1.jpg?resize=229%2C335&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"229\" height=\"335\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/robertmangeot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/AHMM-MarApr19-1.jpg?resize=700%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 700w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/robertmangeot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/AHMM-MarApr19-1.jpg?resize=205%2C300&amp;ssl=1 205w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/robertmangeot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/AHMM-MarApr19-1.jpg?resize=768%2C1124&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/robertmangeot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/AHMM-MarApr19-1.jpg?w=1125&amp;ssl=1 1125w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 229px) 100vw, 229px\" \/>In 2022, I&#8217;ll be having a little fun with 10-year recollections. I recently wrote about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sleuthsayers.org\/2021\/12\/shelf-inspirations.html\">celebrating little milestones<\/a>, so why not celebrate a big one? 2022 is also a year to celebrate a 10th story for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.alfredhitchcockmysterymagazine.com\/\"><em>Alfred Hitchcock&#8217;s Mystery Magazine<\/em><\/a>. Not sure when it&#8217;ll run, but I&#8217;m working on a statistical recap&#8211;you read that correctly&#8211;of things those 10 stories have in common. Or don&#8217;t have in common. I&#8217;ve been known to changes things up. Still, ten is sample enough that other folks might see what story lengths and elements catch the eye of a revered market.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">It&#8217;s not about that, in the end. Not the markets, not the edits, not the attention to writing process. It&#8217;s about the journey, how writing can make you a better and more understanding human being. That&#8217;s my first planned essay, next month at <em>Sleuthsayers<\/em>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">As for my ten-year journey, a few fun numbers to get started:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"\">\n<li>Stories accepted: 38.<\/li>\n<li>Longest accepted story: 6,200 words, &#8220;The Cumberland Package,&#8221; <em>AHMM<\/em> (2016)<\/li>\n<li>Longest accepted story to a lit journal: 4,500 words, &#8220;The Carcassonne Dream,&#8221; <em>Swamp Biscuits &amp; Tea<\/em> (2013)<\/li>\n<li>Shortest story published: 700 words, &#8220;Over Before It Started,&#8221; Akashic Books&#8217; <em>Mondays Are Murder<\/em> series (2020)<\/li>\n<li>Stories accepted but the market folded before publishing: 2 (1 re-sold, 1 available)<\/li>\n<li>Most rejections before an acceptance: 11<\/li>\n<li>Most rejections, no acceptance: 11 (it got an honorable mention in a contest, so I got that going for me)<\/li>\n<li>Nations as settings in an accepted story, including international waters: 8 (U.S. 23 times, France 9, others 6)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"\">Okay, that&#8217;s trivia, but I&#8217;m celebrating. What I&#8217;m after most, though, is that any lessons learned help others improve their own stuff. If nothing else, to encourage staying in that writing chair. It&#8217;s worth it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2022 marks ten years since I tried writing short stories. Technically, I wrote my first one&#8211;that I acknowledge&#8211;in 2010, but that was dabbling and na\u00efve ambition. 2011 was learning, and January 2012 brought my first short story acceptance: &#8220;The Food Acquisition Breakdown,&#8221; in wonderful but fledgling Canadian lit e-journal. There was no need to convert&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/?p=2043\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">2022: 10 Years of Writing Stories<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[92,6],"tags":[182,3],"class_list":["post-2043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-short-stories","category-this-whole-writing-thing","tag-celebrate","tag-short-stories","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3CG0W-wX","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":635,"url":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/?p=635","url_meta":{"origin":2043,"position":0},"title":"Caught on Podcast! Methodically Musing","author":"rtmcontrol","date":"June 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"It was my great honor last night to talk fiction with the wonderful Sherry Welton Wilds as she debuts her new show The Method and the Muse. What a great (and short!) session, and I hope those who listen get value for their time. If I remember correctly, and this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Appearances&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Appearances","link":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/?cat=78"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":652,"url":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/?p=652","url_meta":{"origin":2043,"position":1},"title":"First Two Pages + Two Bad Hamiltons = Too Good a Time!","author":"rtmcontrol","date":"July 30, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm delighted to have a guest post over at The First Two Pages, a blog run by writer extraordinaire B.K. Stevens. Every week a novelist or story writer takes apart an opening they find instructive: the fits and starts of crafting it, how the hook became sharp, etc. In my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Short Stories&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Short Stories","link":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/?cat=92"},"img":{"alt_text":"AHM515-finalcover","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/robertmangeot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/ah-may2015-207x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2322,"url":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/?p=2322","url_meta":{"origin":2043,"position":2},"title":"Didion&#8217;s Ghost and 7 Other Tests Before Submitting a Story","author":"rtmcontrol","date":"August 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Every manuscript tells two stories. One, how strong the writing is. Two, how professional the writer is. Not sure about the pro part? The story isn\u2019t ready. \u00a0 \u00a0 If your piece isn\u2019t even in manuscript format, or there\u2019s your personal format but not what the market specifies, the story\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Short Stories&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Short Stories","link":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/?cat=92"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/robertmangeot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/The-End.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/robertmangeot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/The-End.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/robertmangeot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/The-End.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/robertmangeot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/The-End.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":36,"url":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/?p=36","url_meta":{"origin":2043,"position":3},"title":"Behind the Short Story: &#8220;First of a Fine Spectacle&#8221;","author":"rtmcontrol","date":"October 8, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm honored\u00a0that my\u00a0short story\u00a0\/ high farce\u00a0\"First of a Fine Spectacle\" was selected for Pure Slush No. 7, Catherine refracted. I'm a history buff. But I've not had much interest writing historical fiction. Or flash fiction. So\u00a0historical flash? What drew me was the collection's theme: Catherine the Great. A canvas rife\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Humor&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Humor","link":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":94,"url":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/?p=94","url_meta":{"origin":2043,"position":4},"title":"The Fall and Rise of Draft One","author":"rtmcontrol","date":"October 8, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Day One \u201cWe\u2019re putting together an anthology,\u201d they say. They have an email to prove it. Very few combinations\u00a0of five words so excite The Short Story Guy. Maybe \u201cshort stories turn me on,\u201d or \u201csure, we\u2019re a paying market.\u201d It is not\u00a0a literary style I\u2019ve written in. Despite that, perhaps\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Humor&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Humor","link":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":968,"url":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/?p=968","url_meta":{"origin":2043,"position":5},"title":"Derringer-ered!","author":"rtmcontrol","date":"April 13, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm incredibly proud\u00a0 that last year's\u00a0\"The Cumberland Package\"\u00a0(AHMM, May 2016) has been named a finalist for the Short Mystery Fiction Society's Derringer Awards.\u00a0 I mean, like busting-at-seams proud. Of being named, because the crime\u00a0space these days is terrific in\u00a0its voice\u00a0and depth. The\u00a0stuff that leaves me vibrating explores\u00a0in stark terms\u00a0human nature\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Crime, Mystery &amp; Suspense&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Crime, Mystery &amp; Suspense","link":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/?cat=10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2043"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2050,"href":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2043\/revisions\/2050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertmangeot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}