400

Milestones Continue To Accumulate

Today, Saturday 3 September 2011, I shipped my 400th submission to any market. 72 completed stories sent out 400 times, with 16 publications including one reprint. Not bad for just over nine years of sending things out, if I do say so myself.

It took 1427 days after 9 June 2002 to get to the first hundred submissions on 6 May 2006, 725 days for my second hundred on 30 April 2008 and 689 days to the third hundred on 20 March 2010 and 532 days to the fourth hundred. Clearly I'm continuing to decrease the average time between subs.

Sabbatical 1.32 Report -- August 2011 (and into September)

August was the first full month of my Sabbatical 1.3. Back on August 19th I had a record 26 submissions out to market. With rejections, that dropped down to 18. But with #400 -- sabbatical submission #41 -- I am back to 26 stories out to market. In 3373 days of sending stories out into the world I have never let the number of subs drop to zero. It's been a motivator, that's for sure.

jakobdrud wrote about Writer, Take Heart. I commented:

Just before I started submitting stories in June 2002, I'd read some authors talking on the order of 600 rejections before they made it. Closing in on submission 400 with two pro sales and 13 others, so I suppose I could argue that at 2/3 the way to SFWA pro status I'm right on track.

That and enduring 300+ rejections for my post-Ph.D. job search, had already toughened me. (grin)

oh, and average and typical results mean nothing in specific cases. (big-grin)

Dr. Phil

Into THE FUTURE!

I'm full of new stories right now and I need to get back to novels. But I'm still working back into getting sufficient Time In Chair. Still, the amount of work I've gotten done on my Fujitsu U810 UMPC since the end of July is astonishing.

Go me. (grin)

Dr. Phil

The Start of the Season

Sacrificial Lamb Week

Seems a lot of big football teams schedule non-conference games, often against lower tier opponents, for their first game. So there I was, flipping channels after the Cubs game hit a 7th inning rain delay, and ABC was showing Western Michigan University at Michigan. While The Ohio State University was beating up on Akron 42-0, Western had bravely scored first blood, 7-0. Then 7-7, then the Broncos were about to score and Michigan intercepted and ran it back for a TD. Michigan scored again, but must've missed an extra point, 20-7.

At this point I changed channels. So color me surprised when I checked the score and saw the final as 34-10 -- not bad, Broncos. But there was a cryptic note, cut off. So I investigated on ESPN. Seems both teams agreed to call the game near the end of the 3rd quarter -- due to lightning.

The Wolverines were driving for another score when the game was suspended because of lightning. Nearly an hour later, the game was called with the result and statistics standing in what school officials say is the first weather-shortened game in the 132-year history of college football's winningest team.

Huh.

Not sure I've ever heard of a football game called before.

Meanwhile Northwestern played a more regular non-conference foe and had a more civilized win, NU 24 Boston College 17. Ah, a real college football game. (grin)

Dr. Phil