Employee Reviews: Because I am psychotic!!

Conversation with the husband;

Me: So, JM has finished her NaNoWriMo project....

Him: Uh-huh....

Me: And Sommer has published something like 11 novels and short stories this year.

Him: Are we making a list of people you feel inferior to, today?

Me: Um... yeah.

Him: I thought that's what it sounded like.

I apparently have a huge gap between what I think is going on in my life and what is actually going on in my life. Also, I have like the worst time-sense in the world. God help me if I ever have to testify on my own behalf or anything. I don't remember what I did last week, much less what happened years ago.

So, I know I have had 21 stories, novels, novellas, round-robin chapters, etc, published - or accepted for publication, pending - total, in the last 30 months (give or take a day or two on either side).

But what I could not remember is when these things happened. Within the last 3 years is a pretty wide stretch of time, after all. I sort of vaguely remembered that 2011, I had three stories accepted. But that was it. So when had I done the bulk of my work?

Mostly, I guess, the problem I had was I couldn't remember if I was doing "better" this year than last year, or if 2012 had been a better year. (No, I don't know what better means. I have no real metrics to measure performance evaluations on myself.)

But I did go through and make up a little timeline. This is mostly what information I could find that was available and easy to process; when I got acceptances in my inbox. I'm not in control of when the stories actually hit shelves, and publishers all have hugely wonky different timelines. I'll get an acceptance from Cleis, for instance, and that book can not hit shelves for 6 months to 18 months later. I can get an acceptance from Hot Ink and only a month or so later, I'm looking at the sell-date. So... since I can't measure that as a predictive model... and I am apparently a lousy record-keeper as far as when I started work on a short story versus when I turned it in, and then there's a HUGE gap between turn in and acceptance (sometimes... I've had turn arounds as quick as less than 24 hours between submission and acceptance!) I decided I'd track my "accomplishments" by when I got the acceptance email.

So, here's my timeline, for your (and my) edification:

• 2011
• May, Golden Moment accepted into Steamlust
• August, Shadow of Kenfig accepted into Shifting Steam
• October, Garden Variety accepted into Lustfully Ever After
• 2012
• January, On the Fly accepted into ReadErotica Vol 3
• February, Blister Effect accepted as standalone by Torquere Press
• April, Snake Dance accepted into Duty & Desire
• July, Deep Breath accepted into Ladies of Steampunk Magazine
• August, Big Trucks accepted into Smokin' Hot Firemen
• September, Dead in the Water accepted into Coming Together: Hungry for Love
• October, W.O.L. accepted into He Loves Me For My Brainsss
• November, Holiday Hours accepted into MILF & Cookies
• 2013
• January, Return of the Kings collaborative novel
• January, Half the World Away, accepted into Cupid's Chokehold
• June, Synchronous Rotations accepted as standalone story with Torquere Press
• June, Every Second of It accepted into Couples' Erotic Romance
• August, Roll, accepted by Torquere Press
• August, Blood Cries Up, accepted for Lights Out short story line
• September, Full Frontal Neighbor, accepted for Sexy Librarian's Big Book of Erotica
• October, Blood Sight, accepted by Vamptasy Publishing
• October, Pistols & Guns accepted as stand alone short story by Hot Ink Press
• November, Tanked (tentatively) accepted for anthology to be named later

So... That's what it looks like. I have one short story still floating around, waiting for a yay or nay, a fantasy novel still searching for a home, a collection of short stories awaiting final edits and then to be submitted (One short story written, PER WEEK for January through July) and half-completed novel...

3 acceptances in 2011 (wrote a novel, not submitted until 2013, tho)

8 acceptances in 2012

10 acceptances in 2013 (of which 2 are novel-length)

So, yes, stupid brain, I am doing better this year. Take your exceeds expectations and go away, all right? All right.