Random Insomnia Post brought to you by Diet Cola Beverage

Tonight’s Random Insomnia Post is brought to you by Diet Cola Beverage.

I went out with a friend around dinner time, and I ordered Diet Cola. Of course, Diet Cola has lots and LOTS of caffeine. Drinking two glasses of said beverage is a sure fire way for me to guarantee myself a sleepless night… hence a 3:15 a.m. posting.

It matters not that I have someplace to be tomorrow, and it’s so late at night it’s actually early the next morning, so even if I fall asleep now there is little chance of getting much more than 5 hours of sleep.

Let me just say that on five hours sleep, I’m a very grumpy person. In order to be awake, I will no doubt have to consume more Diet Cola Beverage tomorrow morning and afternoon just so I don’t pass out whilst conducting my activities.

Wouldn’t it be nice if this was a humor blog post? Oh, hahaha, you can’t sleep because you drank Diet Cola Beverage, that’s a laugh riot.

Hmmm, I just checked. Nope. It ain’t funny.

But as long as you came along for the ride this far, and thanks for your kind patience dear reader, why on earth did I consume Diet Cola Beverage when I could have had something else?

Ahhhhh, but you see, there’s the rub. There is NOTHING else available for me.

What’s that you say? You say it’s impossible to be out at a fine dining establishment and have nothing on the drink menu for you?

Let’s go through the choices, shall we?

- Red Wine = no, it’s alcohol

- White Wine = see Red Wine

- Beer = see Red Wine

- Mixed Drinks = getting the picture?

Okay, let’s put alcohol aside and move on to other things then.

- Coffee = I don’t drink coffee. Yes, YES – I’m a freak of nature. I know…so sue me.

- Tea = I very rarely drink hot tea, and frankly it would be a bizarre choice for a beverage with dinner

- Water = now, this one is tricky. I can drink water, but since water is free, it’s like I didn’t order anything. And if I say, “I’ll just have water,” my companion will inevitably say, “But don’t you want something…?” or “No, you can’t just have water, order something…” and then I’ll say….

- Diet Cola Beverage please. You know, the one with quantities of caffeine sufficient to keep me awake all night so I can post something ridiculous to my blog for people to laugh at? Yeah, I’ll take that.

No, on second thought, bring me TWO glasses of that. One just wasn’t enough.

 

 

A gray day in Jersey City

It’s eerily calm out right now, and gray. Last night, I lay awake at 2, 3 and then 4am and watched tiny flakes of snow hit the pavement and disappear – nothing stuck and it’s all wet black pavement without traces of white. It’s also not cold enough for snow.

I couldn’t sleep in my bed because it was too comfortable. It was strange, tossing back and forth all warm and supported by my cushy mattress and unable to find the right spot. So I went to the living room and wedged my body into my couch, which feels fine when you first lay your body down, but the longer you stay in one spot it feels like it’s made out of concrete.

I watched re-runs on television. This re-run was of a man going to Hawaii to pick cacao pods. Then he showed the process from picking the pod to making dark chocolate.

I finally fell asleep around 4:30am, and slept until 9 and then decided what the hell and fell back asleep again for a few more hours because my brain still wasn’t working.

I’m sitting up as I write this and every joint in my body is saying thanks a lot for the brilliant idea of sleeping on the couch but in a way, I’m glad for the discomfort. It makes me want to get up and do something (other than write this blog post.)

This post feels like a Random Insomnia Post, which I used to write on the blog awhile back, even though it’s the middle of the day right now. I guess you can have insomnia any time within a 24 hour cycle, I just never thought about it that way. Maybe I would if I worked the night shift and tried to sleep when the sun is shining and it’s beautiful outside. That’s probably the worst kind of insomnia, actually.

Just as I write this, the sun is fighting to peek through the clouds. It’s like someone turning up the volume on a great song you love that comes on the radio while you’re driving down the highway and tapping your fingers on the steering wheel…but then turning it back down again when the gray clouds win.

 

 

Random Insomnia Post on submitting short stories

It’s somewhere after 2am, and I can’t sleep. After puttering around for a while, the logical thing to do, dear readers, is to write a blog post.

In the middle of the night, all sorts of things occur to you.  “Did I lock the door?” “Do I have milk in the house?”

Regardless of these random thoughts, my primary focus continues to be my writing and publishing opportunities so I think I will opine on that, if you will bear with me.

As of this writing I have my short stories out to 32 different small press magazines for their consideration.  4 of those submissions were sent in 2010, and the remaining 28 were sent this year.

My submissions number is highly variable because I submit my work around several times a month while I am waiting for my responses. My sub number goes up or down depending on who is getting back to me and at what pace.

Now, my rejection list is a whole other story.  I have about 42 small press magazines who have rejected my submissions (thusfar) – and that includes both 2010 and 2011, since I’ve been tracking these things (I used to not want to know them).

Finally, my acceptance rate. While small, I’m pleased to say I have 4 total acceptances. One acceptance from 2009 (published in 2010); one acceptance from late 2010 (published in 2011); two acceptances from 2011: one has already been published in First Stop Fiction, the other awaits a final publication date. Not too shabby, reader!

Whoever said that getting your work published is a matter of patience and persistence is right. The same stories that were rejected elsewhere are getting published eventually.

Each time I get critical feedback – or encouragement - from an editor in the form of a rejection, I use the opportunity to go back to the story and make changes and enhancements.  I don’t always change my story based on this feedback (particularly if the feedback seems random), but I always try to view the story with fresh eyes.

This particular strategy has worked for me, of course your mileage may vary.  But I think I should note that all of my works that have been published thusfar are flash fiction – under 1000 words.  It is relatively easier to tinker with endings or make minor edits when the story is so small.

Another thing I have noticed is that although I submit my work very widely across as broad a spectrum of small lit. magazines as I think is feasible, I am also beginning to notice that there are a small handful that I submit to repeatedly because I think my work would fit best with them. 

In many cases it is also because I have gotten encouraging feedback from the editorial staff!  Some of my nicest rejections are complimentary and personal.  It’s their way of saying, while we couldn’t publish this story, we like your writing and you should definitely come back to us with other work.

These are my observations from my experiences over the past 18-24 months of actively submitting my work. I’d like to think I do have some good stories to tell, and a handful of magazines have validated that thought by publishing my work, and a good many more have validated that thought by rejecting my work in a way that is encouraging and re-inforces the idea of continuing to submit.

Another way of saying it, for writers who might be reading this post, is – 1) don’t give up; 2) use feedback constructively; 3) yes, it’s a bit of a numbers game to get your work published, if the stories are at the right quality level; 4) everyone’s experiences really are different.

Keep sending your work into the world and keep on writing new stories. It’s the only way to get published.