R.J.K. Lee's Figments Blog: Submissions Update & Upcoming Deadlines

Hey Everybody,

Upcoming submission windows are listed (and clickable!) at the bottom of this post.

I'll start with an update on my own submissions. I believe I made 12 submissions in June, two of them new stories finished in June, and the other submissions including six stories written previously and revised a bit before sending back out.

First, the Writers of the Future entry for the 3rd Quarter deadline is done and submitted. I have high hopes for this one. I won't say it's my favorite (that's still reserved for my second entry to WotF, first HM-winner, kick-ass Atena Maverick versus Signboard City, who will get more attention this summer as I return to some noveling on the side of my non-stop short story and flash production--it's time), but this story I submitted is the first one that received full feedback from a pro writer, Wulf Moon, the pack leader of the Super Secrets Challenge group on the Writers of the Future forum. He provided a ton of excellent feedback. The only other pro feedback I can think of is Eric Witchey's wonderful advice on my novel pitch in 2017 and some story feedback from Eugene Writers Anonymous somewhere in 2014-2017.

This piece was a joy to watch progress since it first started on a little napkin in the summer of 2014, upon which I decided to draw a little fantasy map just like I always used to do in journals in elementary school. That started the world which was soon built into a novel, "What We Must Give," in the Fall/Winter of 2014, a novel that went through many revisions 2014-2017. And then, after the darkness that tore into my life in 2018, I returned in 2019 and joined Wulf's Super Secret Challenge group on the Writers of the Future forum. In January 2020, when I read one of the prompts for the flash challenge, I knew it was time to dive back into that world. I wrote out this beautiful flash story that I may still try and publish separate from the other pieces.

After submitting that flash to a couple publications, I ended up expanding it into a short story in May. My writing partner and I exchanged multiple drafts as we prepared to submit our stories to Moon. It was tough for me as I had to cut out links to the novel and characters and scenes and even a full on plot line that may be moved to the follow-up short story. This story went through a complete re-write after my writing partner pointed out a way to get closer to the Heart's Desire of my MC. After all that, it went into the hands of Moon and, following his comments, I took the story to the revision board again, worked through many revisions with my writing partner for a few more weeks, up into the last day of the deadline, and by the end I feel like the emotion was raw and the world was laid bare. More to come with this world: a follow-up short story with the same characters and a few new ones, and then I'll take both stories and using them as guides in revising the novel itself.

As for the four stories I submitted by June 30th:
- for Cast of Wonders for their Banned Book Weeks theme of Lifelines, a 2000-word piece about an estranged father tanuki with an odd power he uses to reach his daughter

- for The Binge-Watching Cure III, a 1000-word piece about an inventor who creates devices for super villains but must refuse a delivery to handle some family trouble