I’m especially pleased that this story has been published, because it’s set in a forest world I’ve been developing for a while. As I think I mentioned here before, my poem “Boat-husk” in Through the Gate is also set in that world. As is my (terrible zero draft of a) 2014 Nanowrimo novel.
“The Ruin” was one of the pieces inspired by the abandoned places pictures that I wrote a post about. In particular, this picture (i.e. the picture above). Sometimes writing exercises become something more!
First sale of 2015 – my poem “Betweening” will appear in issue 8 of the lovely magazine inkscrawl. Yay!
I’ve loved the concept and content of inkscrawl for ages, so it’s fantastic to be a contributer too.
On 1 January I made a post about my writing in 2013 and my hopes for 2014. I like looking back on the past year at its end, so here we go again.
My writing goals for 2014 were (slightly abridged):
So, how did I do?
1) I exceeded my goal of getting one story published – I now have three stories out and two forthcoming. I am really proud and happy about this.
2) I got more poems published – nine of them. And to some highly awesome magazines, too. Yay!
3) I haven’t got the poetry collection into a submittable shape yet, but it exists! and it’s looking pretty good. Finishing it up and submitting to potential publishers is one of my goals for (early) 2015.
4) I haven’t managed to write fiction or poetry every day (except during Nanowrimo), but I have increased my writing output, I think. But this is something to work on – writing something creative every day even if it’s just an exercise.
5) Haven’t had the energy to start reworking Dim Vanities or do anything too much with it. However, a couple of weeks ago I got a flash of feeling that made me decide something: DV needs a radical rewrite. It might still not be publishable even after that rewrite, but I’ve got to give this novel one more chance. I still love so many aspects of it – I just need to rewrite the plot and give the characters higher stakes and more emotion. This is, therefore, a project for 2015. (Camp Nanowrimo, perhaps?)
6) I haven’t worked systematically on improving my plotting skills. I’ve been writing more stories, which I think helps, but plotting is definitely still something that I need to work on.
7) I have been trying to finish more things that I start! And I’ve managed to edit at least some first drafts of stories into a submittable point (and sold a couple of them, too – “Chrysopoeia” and “The Ruin”).
***
As for more concrete evidence of my writing in 2014, here’s a list of my publications this year:
POETRY (9 poems)
02/14 “Ninety-Eight” and “City of Stones” in Issue #33 of Chantarelle’s Notebook.
02/14 “Helsinki Love Song” in Wild Violet Magazine.
05/14 “The Alchemist’s Lover” in the “Alchemies” issue of CSHS.
06/14 “Looking-Glass Lover” in Issue #28 of Niteblade, “Looking-Glass Lover” (after my poem).
06/14 “Shrug Charm” in the Spring 2014 issue of Goblin Fruit.
11/14 “Kuura (extract from a Finnish-English dictionary)” in Issue 11 of Stone Telling.
11/14 “Sorrow-stone” in the “Summer Is Dead” issue of Goblin Fruit.
12/14 “Raw Honey” in Strange Horizons. Listen to me reading the poem in the SH December Poetry Podcast.
PROSE (3 stories)
07/14 “Wind Chimes” in 365 tomorrows. Flash fiction.
10/14 “Chrysopoeia” in Issue 9 (Fall 2014) of Quantum Fairy Tales. Short story.
12/14 “Munankuorikehto” (‘Egg-Shell Cradle’) in issue 3/2014 of Spin, the quarterly magazine of the Turku Science Fiction Society (TSFS). The magazine can be ordered from the TSFS webpage. Flash fiction. (in Finnish)
Oh, and rejections? There were many. It’s especially heartening to see some poem or story published that has previously been rejected (many times, even). I don’t really post about my rejections, but of course they happen. A lot. Way more than acceptances. I’ve learned how to deal with them pretty well – I usually don’t take them too personally any more, although getting a rejection is always a disappointment of course.
In addition to this published stuff, I also wrote oodles of poem drafts (I really can’t be bothered to count, there’s so many), several writing exercises with potential for more, one Nanowrimo novel (crapola zero draft, but with definite potential), and some short stories. Oh, and I edited two 10k+ novelettes. NOT BAD.
***
Now, what about the coming year? Here are some writing goals for 2015 (many of them, as you can see, carrying over from last year):
In general, I’m really pleased with how much I’ve written this year and how I’ve improved as a writer. So far it’s been easy for my PhD work to coexist with my writing life – I really hope that state of affairs will continue! And I think it will, if I just make good use of my time.
***
In conclusion: Dear readers, I wish all of you joy and fun writing times in this coming year!
My Finnish-language flash fiction piece about fairies, “Munankuorikehto” (‘Egg-Shell Cradle’), is out in the Turku Science Fiction Society’s magazine Spin! Huzzah! Here is the link to the issue itself (in Finnish).
It came out a couple of weeks ago already, but I was unaware of the fact because I haven’t received my contributor’s copy yet. However, I’m planning to go and check out the magazine in the Academic Bookstore today. I’ve never had my name featured on the front cover of a magazine before, so I think I’m permitted some squee!
Sorry all you non-Finnish-speakers: this story is doubly locked from you due to being a) in Finnish and b) in print only. It’s one of those stories that just came to me in Finnish from the start. I’m so pleased this got published – my first publication ever in Finnish!
Merry Christmas/Winter Holiday of Your Choice, all! I’ve had a lovely two days of delicious food and family hangout, and am now nudging myself into the writing groove again. I have a first draft of a story to write…
While I was engaged in Christmas preparations, Strange Horizons released the podcast of December’s poetry. Listen to it here at SH!
In addition to my poem “Raw Honey”, the podcast includes “Rust” by Kythryne Aisling; “Warriors” by Thato Angela Chuma; and “Letters to S. From Poet-Build Beta-3” by A.E. Ash. Great poems all – I’m happy to be amongst such lovely work.
My poem “Raw Honey” is up in the latest issue of Strange Horizons. Yay! I’m so happy to be part of such a wonderful magazine, and for the second time too.
Read the poem here!
I’m well pleased with this poem. In my mind it’s set in the same world as my previous SH poem (“Wolf Daughter”) – a magical forested land inspired by Finnish mythology but not drawing directly from it. This wasn’t planned, but happened organically – when I wrote “Raw Honey”, only later did I realise that there might be a connection with the previous poem. There may be more where these two come from, too.
My short story “The Ruin” will be appearing in the next issue of Luna Station Quarterly, on 1 March 2015. LSQ is dedicated to showcasing women writing speculative fiction, and I’m looking forward to being part of this lovely project. Huzzah!
Pleasingly, this story is set in the same world as my Nanowrimo novel for this year. So, even though the novel is a festering heap of incoherence right now, at least some prose from that world will be out! (Some poetry is already out in the form of Boat-husk over at Through the Gate.)
I’m delighted to announce that my story ‘The City Beneath the Sea’ will be appearing in the anthology An Alphabet of Embers, edited by Rose Lemberg and published by Stone Bird Press.
I am so happy to be involved with something this awesome. An Alphabet of Embers sounds like it’s going to be utterly beautiful:
“An Alphabet of Embers would live in that space between poetry and prose, between darkness and sound, between roads and breaths, its pages taut with starlight; between its covers, words would talk to each other, and have an occasional cup of tea.”
– Rose Lemberg (from the Kickstarter page)
Huzzah! New Goblin Fruit!
The newest issue, “Summer Is Dead”, is now available for your reading pleasure.
In it – amongst the other poems which I can’t wait to read (including work by Shweta Narayan, Mari Ness and C.S.E. Cooney!) – is my poem ‘Sorrow-stone’.
This poem has a clear source of inspiration, for once. Sometime in 2013, I was listening to the song Manan unia by the Finnish folk music band Suo. (I’ve translated/language checked the lyrics for their past few albums, for the CD covers.) I was also experiencing strong feelings of frustration on behalf of loved ones who were in pain, and me not being able to help. So, the poem came out.
If you’re interested, here are the lyrics for the song (trad., transl. by me):
*
Through the earth, through Manala,
through all six star-pricked layers of Heaven.
I dream the dreams of Mana:
earth-dreams, tree-dreams.
I am on a dangerous journey, an unknown road,
making my way to the hill of pain.
Pain-mittens on my hands,
pain-shoes on my feet.
I walk on needle-points,
on the blades of swords.
There is a rock on top of the hill of pain,
a hole in the middle of the rock
that collects all our pain.
The rock won’t weep for its pains, its pains.
[Mana, Manala – Kingdom of Death]
*
Stone Telling 11 is up – and it looks utterly awesome. I am so excited to get to read the other poems in the issue!
And I’m very pleased that my poem ‘Kuura (extract from a Finnish-English dictionary)’ is in such good company and in such a wonderful magazine. I’ve been following ST for quite a while now, and dared barely dream that my own poetry might be in it some day. But I dared to send out the poem, and the lovely editors Shweta and Rose wanted it. Happiness! And they’ve chosen a beautiful picture to go with the poem, too.
‘Kuura’ is the first of a series of poems that seek to “explain” certain hard-to-translate Finnish words and moods through poetry. I haven’t been working on them for a while, but should totally continue with it.