Apparently, it’s been November for awhile as well.

Not that much to report, though, except that in the middle of this month I reached my goal of one hundred manuscript submissions for the year. That’s more than I’ve done any year ever! My previous record was sixty-nine submissions in the year 2017. Here are my stats for the year:

Submissions: 100

Acceptances: 1

Withdrawals: 2

Form rejections: 74

Personal rejections: 10

Outstanding submissions: 13

One story I withdrew from a market because it had apparently died but no one knew. No confirmation from the market that I had withdrawn it, but that’s irrelevant. I withdrew another story because I had a crisis of confidence and wanted to rework it. I did, submitted it to another market, and it was promptly rejected.

I had one story accepted, but until the contracts are signed by both parties, I can’t reveal the details. That’s annoying, but standard practice.

To be honest I was hoping for more acceptances, especially to pro markets, but I guess my skill isn’t there yet. Or those markets are not ready for me yet. Who knows.

Anyway, now that I’ve reached one hundred submissions, what’s next? I’m going to take a break from submitting until 2022 and work on some new stories. I have a couple that I’m revising, and a solid idea for a third.

But what of National Novel Writing Month? I hear you cry.

Well, I sort of participated this year. For a bit. I worked on The Afghan Code, but got (at this point) no farther than 3,471 words. Which is a bummer, but it is what it is. Work, school, and life got in the way. I’ll continue to work on this one, though, because it’s a fun story and I hope to share it with all of you when it’s done. And after that (or while I’m working on it) I plan to dive back into And the Devil Will Drag You Under.

I’m also going to try to commit to Holidailies, a month of daily blogging starting December 1. Why don’t you sign up for it as well? Ought to be fun.

That’s it for now. Be excellent to each other. And party on!