December 2020 Repost: Working On My Short-Comings (See what I did there?)

This year I tried my hand at short story writing again! After having it reviewed by a few of my trusty beta-readers, I've submitted the resulting story to a few publications. It hasn't been accepted so far but I'm working my way down my list of options. 

If anyone knows of a fantasy or fantasy/scifi publication looking for submissions, let me know!

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Original post date: 31 March 2020

Over the weekend, I wrote my first short story in three years.

Writing short has never been my strong suit. (As I'm sure many of my English teachers could confirm.) Even though my first professional publication was a short piece, it's one of the only stories I've been able to plot, complete, and stick under a certain word length without venturing into novella territory.

In other words, writing short is something I've wanted to work on.

Source: Pixabay.com

Many of you know, I work from home for my day-job as well as my writing and blog projects. It's one of the only changes I haven't had to adapt to as much as others in recent weeks. Still, I do have some extra time right now, when I would normally be out running errands or seeing friends, and I've decided to take that time to flex my short story muscles.

I've been so focused the last few years on finishing Apparition, the book I currently have out on submission to agents, that it actually felt great to sit down and churn out a short story over the course of an afternoon. There's a satisfaction to finishing a project that gets significantly delayed when writing a novel versus a story or article.

I sent the story to a few of my beta readers this week, and the feedback has been pretty good. I haven't tried submitting a short piece to a magazine or anthology since the last one was published. I might need to re-read fellow writer Tara Lynne Groth's Magazine Queries That Worked again before I send this one out!

To my fellow writers who primarily focus on shorter pieces, I'd love to hear your thoughts on why you prefer to write short. Are there any resources you'd recommend to other writers who'd like to hone their short story skills?