Crack that Whip!

Posted on March 19, 2025 by RieSheridanRose

I really must post more…but I’ve been busy. Writing, editing, searching for markets…not blogging. But I really need to add it to the schedule more.

I have made 133 subs so far this year. 54 of them have been rejected…some of those more than once…but I am trying. I have a goal of 50 subs a month as a ballpark. So far, with all those subs, I have only 9 acceptances, but obviously–especially since some of the rejected pieces were submitted last year–I am waiting on an answer for most of them. I am proud of the acceptances I have gotten, and hope to swell their ranks soon. For one thing, I’ve had some photographs accepted. This has been a real goal of mine.

I’ve also written a great many flash pieces this year, though they haven’t found homes yet.

And then there is the poetry.

Poetry is my favorite genre, I have to say. And when someone commented the other day, “But you’re not really a poet, are you?” I couldn’t believe it. I write poetry almost every day. (It’s supposed to be a poem a day, but sometimes life happens.) If I had to choose only one type of writing to do for the rest of my life, it would be poetry. That comment has spurred me to write even more. I didn’t get an interview for Austin’s first Poet Laureate, but I hope to apply again in two years when it comes back around. And writing more poems helps that goal.

Anyway, that’s a wee update on what I’ve been doing. What are you working on lately?

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Introducing the Poet-Rie Substack!

Posted on January 28, 2025 by RieSheridanRose

I decided at the end of last year that I was going to make some changes to my social media presence. As a result, I tabled Patreon–where I was terrible at posting–and, instead, joined Substack as a creator. The secret motivations behind this were twofold:

  • It would allow me to beef up my poetry tutorial stats
    • It would be a new place to show off my poems

So far, it’s been a lot of fun, if not incredibly interactive. I’ve covered a bit of found poetry, ekphrastics, acrostics, haikus, and finding inspiration in nature. I’ve shared examples and photographic prompts. Now, if only I could get to the point that other people are willing to play with me…

If you want to check it out, all content–with the exception of one post of poems I still hope to get published someday–is available for a free subscription, and perhaps even if you don’t subscribe to my stack but are still a member of the platform. (I’m not sure you can see things if you are not a substack member at all.)

Poet-Rie Substack

I would love it if you drop by and maybe leave a comment or try one of the forms! Hope to see you there.

BTW, here is my latest poetry publication–a poem in Sleeve of Hearts, created by Lindsey Goddard of Weird Wide Web.

The second edition of my horror novel Skellyman is also out now from Mocha Memoirs Press.

And our anthology, A Crack in the Code: Stories of Cybertronic Rebellion, is now available for Kindle pre-order.

Now to get back to writing. 43 subs so far this month, and I would like to get to 50.

How’s your year going?

Photo by John on Pexels.com
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The Year So Far…

Posted on January 11, 2025 by RieSheridanRose

It’s been a busy two weeks so far. I’ve been writing a poem a day and submitting at least one piece a day. So far, I am sitting at 17 for the year. That’s an entire extra week’s worth. That feels pretty good.

The majority of these pieces have been new, and most have been submitted to paying markets. That’s a change from most years where I have done more “for the love” submissions. I guess I am trying to be more professional. It’s about time.

One of the things I’ve written this month is a new Bruce and Roxanne story–the first of these I’ve done since 2007, though all of their stories were collected into Bruce and Roxanne from Start to Finnish in 2015. (Also available from me directly if you want a signed copy.)

Several anthologies I’ve been published in recently are topping the Amazon charts and the Preditors and Editors Yearly Poll. It feels so good to be part of them.

And there will be several releases coming in the next few weeks as well. Maybe I am gonna make it in this business after all. 🙂

Onward and upward!

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Obligatory Year End Update

Posted on December 31, 2024 by RieSheridanRose

Scant hours to go before 2024 is in the rearview mirror and 2025 is on the doorstep. Feels like it’s been both a very long and really short year.

I have been part of some amazing things this year. Projects I am extremely proud of–Dastardly Damsels; Sleeve of Hearts; and my own poetry collection Two Dozen Stars, dedicated to the father I lost in March.

I edited an anthology that should be available in February, which I absolutely loved. Even as I write this I am taking a break from going through the galley of a re-release of Skellyman, coming soon from Mocha Memoirs Press.

I applied for the inaugural Austin Poet Laureate position. (And I played lots and lots of Factorio with my husband.)

Submission-wise, I’ve had years with better numbers, but I have also had years with way worse.

Jan58228
Feb82110
Mar6316
Apr5135
May118
Jun7428
Jul925
Aug1427
Sept3224
Oct1214
Nov88418
Dec53315
YTD583821118

(Columns on that stubborn table are Month; Rejections; Acceptances; Publications; and Submissions)

I have ambitious goals for next year–including writing a poem a day and building my Substack.

Here’s to a grand year for us all!

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Another New Venture

Posted on December 16, 2024 by RieSheridanRose

This is a time of exploration and adjustment for me. I want to go into the New Year with a fresh start. As part of that, I am rethinking my platform presence. So, I have officially closed my Patreon creator page (if you still find it, it’s an accident) and started fresh on Substack.

So far, I am loving it. Most of my posts are for the free tier, though I will probably do more with the paid subscription model as time goes by. The focus of my Substack is currently–and for the time being–will continue to be poetry. I am exploring some of my favorite forms at the moment and providing examples and prompts to make things more interesting.

Drop by and check it out. Leave me poems in the comments. Use the prompts I provide, or share some of your own favorites. I want to interact with you! Poetry is my passion, and I want to inspire that passion in others.

If you want to see some of my passion in action, you can look into my poetry chapbooks. Find them here:

Two Dozen Stars (my most recent publication)

Overheard in Hell

By Candlelight

Take Out from the Writer’s Cafe

If My Sandcastle Drowns…Can I Live with You?

Dancing on the Edge

Straying from the Path — currently in revision on Lulu, will link when it is available again.

Speculative Poets of Texas Vol. 1

If you would like to order a signed copy from me instead, drop me an email at riewriter@gmail.com, and I will contact you for details. (I will be setting up a direct sales page soon.)

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Hail and Well Met!

Posted on December 3, 2024 by RieSheridanRose

Well, it’s been a minute since I touched the website at all. So, today I decided to finally do something I have been contemplating for quite some time. Consolidating all four WordPress sites into one. In the end, this will make life much easier and help me keep it organized better. But for now, it’s a hot mess. I started out by deleting the extra pages with the same title…until I realized what they were, so now I have to go and retrieve the info off them all before trashing them.

On the other hand, when all is said and done, I should be able to offer signed books directly off the website. This is something I have wanted to do for quite some time. If I can figure it out, I should also have a dedicated email for people to contact me so I don’t lose an important message in the general shuffle.

With only one site to update (and let’s face it…there has been no movement on any of the other three at ALL in years…) it should be easier to keep you guys updated on the latest news. Like the fact I am selling collectibles on eBay again–just a couple of listings at the moment: a collection of classic Doctor Who novels and some Guardians of the Galaxy figures. Now available: Marcus Cole from Babylon 5 and a set of LOTR figures featuring Pippin and Merry.

I have been writing a lot of poems lately, several of which have already been accepted. Others are in a new chapbook I submitted to a contest. (Cross your fingers for me.) On that note, I have also applied to be Austin’s first Poet Laureate. As far as we can tell, there were under 30 applicants going into the final day, so there might be a decent shot at it.

Bookwise, I had a chapbook of poetry published by House of the Fighting Chupacabras Press called Two Dozen Stars that I am extremely proud of. I have a retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice in Dastardly Damsels from Crystal Lake Publishing. And I have a time travel gone wrong story in The Trouble with Time from the Three Cousins Publishing imprint of West Mesa Press.

I’m sure I am forgetting multiple somethings, but I must wrap up now so I can go and work on cleaning up this mess. I promise not to be silent for so long moving forward. Check back often, because I hope to get some of those books up for sale soon!

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Guest Post: Deirdre Swinden

Posted on June 16, 2024 by RieSheridanRose

Today I am pleased to host a guest post from author Deirdre Swinden relating to her new release Somnium from Crystal Lake Publishing.

Take it away, Deirdre!

Sleep Paralysis: Trapped In the Nightmare Realm

By Deirdre Swinden

Several weeks ago, I woke to a massive black shadow standing in my doorway. Fear flooded my body, but there was nothing I could do. My limbs wouldn’t respond. I could see every detail of my room, every contour of the hulking shadow that stole ever closer. As it turned out, I was still asleep. The nerves that kept my arms and legs from living out my dreams were in control during a rapid eye movement (REM) state—a term called “REM atonia.” I was experiencing sleep paralysis, and my nightmare was not all that uncommon.

Sleep paralysis is defined by the National Institutes of Health as a “phenomenon in which resumption of consciousness occurs while muscle atonia of REM sleep is maintained, leading to intense fear and apprehension in the patients as the patient lies awake without the ability to use any part of their body.”

If you’ve ever experienced it, you know the strange sense of frustration where your mind is quite lucid—even if you are dreaming—but your body won’t do a thing in response. For many, sleep paralysis is accompanied by intense feelings of fear. Others describe a weight on the chest or an imposing presence in the room. It’s almost as if your body has trapped you in a nightmare state—which became a critical plot point for my novel Somnium.

When I finally broke the paralysis and woke, the shadow dispersed into nothing. I was left breathless and afraid. Such dreams, which I’ve had since my youth, were the basis for a lifelong fascination with sleep paralysis and lucid dreaming. I wanted to learn how to stop the nightmares. Becoming a lucid dreamer offered me the ability to take control of my nightmares—but only if I could recognize I was dreaming.

In Somnium, Gillian has mastered the art of lucid dreaming, but will it help her wake when an accident traps her in a nightmare realm? Will it save her when the virus-like technology that has caused her persistent nightmares becomes sentient?

Have you ever had an episode of sleep paralysis? Share your experience!

Reference:

Farooq, M., & Anjum, F. (2023, September 4). Sleep paralysis. StatPearls – NCBI Bookshelf. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK562322/#:~:text=Sleep%20paralysis%20refers%20to%20the,any%20part%20of%20their%20body

Find more about the author at these links:

WEBSITE – https://deirdreswindenauthor.com

X/TWITTER – @DeirdreSwinden

FACEBOOK – https://www.facebook.com/deirdre.swinden5

and visit Crystal Lake’s website here:

https://www.crystallakepub.com/

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We Ain’t Dead Yet…

Posted on May 30, 2024 by RieSheridanRose
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Greetings, faithful readers! It’s been far too long since you got an update. I blame it on Jo. She is having the longest European Progress/Honeymoon in the history of the world. I haven’t heard a word from her since 2018…but I still have hope.

Meanwhile, I haven’t been totally neglecting the denizens of Ma’s boarding house and its environs. I have written a short story about Phaeton that will appear in an anthology later in the year or early next, and I have written the first in what, I hope, may be a spin-off series of mystery novels featuring Fred Bond and Kevin Reilly. It has been through one round of beta readers and then sat in a drawer for a couple of years, but I think it is polishing up rather nicely. We’ll soon see.

The cover art is waiting patiently to be used:

Another gem from my favorite cover artist, Brad Fraunfelter.

It’s a tale in which our intrepid amateur detectives search for clues in all the wrong places. They find Trouble and intrigue wherever they go as they try to help Aunt Emily Estes keep her home safe.

All your favorite characters are back–with the exception of Jo and Alistair, and they do get mentioned. Plus, there are new faces here and there as well.

I really like this book, and I hope you will, too!

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Over a Year Between Posts Again…

Posted on February 29, 2024 by RieSheridanRose

Hard to keep one’s head above water sometimes, isn’t it…?

One (me) tries to keep up with everything, but sometimes things fall by the wayside. My blogs are among the things that always seem to get lost. But, this year is all about productivity, so I decided that I would work on bringing up my posting schedule as well.

In my defense, I have been doing a lot of work this year so far. 38 submissions now, and 17 of them are new. And not all of them are haikus for once. Along with polishing up and submitting a paranormal romance story from my wild teen days, I have written two brand-new stories from scratch.

And also polished and placed several reprint stories. It’s rather exciting to see things get new lives.

Just like this blog.

Going to keep it short and sweet this time, as I consider whether I should consolidate all my blogs into one site. Would it still be hard to keep them up? Probably, but I am willing to consider all the angles.

I hope you will climb the mountain with me…

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Navigating the Seas of Submissions…

Posted on January 9, 2023 by RieSheridanRose

Sometimes, being a writer feels like you are riding out a storm in the middle of a turbulent sea. Waves are crashing over the bow, and you are sure you are going under any moment.

This week has been something like that. I made three submissions to one of my favorite markets, and all three were turned down. That happens. No problem…

…except these were all reprints, which had been published at least once each, and had already been through edits for those publications.

I realize that every editor is different and that what excites one reader may bore another, but it really knocked me back a step. Especially since this was coming from an editor that I’ve hardly ever failed to please. And now, it was three times in as many days.

Why am I telling you this?

  • To vent a little, I freely admit that…
  • To show that it happens to everyone at some point or another.
  • To get myself ready to send something out again–rejections are daunting, but you have to get past them.

Will I send her another reprint? Not for the foreseeable future…but that just means it is time to write something new.

When making a submission, there are several things to keep in mind:

  • Read the guidelines carefully, and follow them to the letter. Use the font they want. Format like they want. Even if you don’t see why it matters!
  • Provide the contact information they ask for. Don’t give a full list of credits unless they ask for it. Really.
  • Keep your query letter/submission email businesslike unless you have a relationship established with the editor from past correspondence. Even then, it doesn’t hurt to look professional.
  • Keep accurate records. Don’t forget what’s been sent where.
  • Don’t send a reprint unless they say they accept them. A lot of people don’t want leftovers.
  • Don’t send a story to multiple places at once. Even if they say it’s okay, no one wants to accept something only to find out it’s no longer available because someone else said “yes” first.
  • Don’t ask for a status report before the deadline for submissions. They will tell you when they’re ready–just work on something else while you wait.
  • Don’t respond to a rejection–especially with why they are wrong to pass on your story.
  • Keep writing.

Here’s to smooth sailing in the future!

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