Last January, a friend sent me a link to a short-story contest through the American Philosophical Association. The story had to have a philosophical element, and winning entries would be published in Sci-Phi Online Magazine. I read their content, really liked what I saw, and wrote my first ever short story, \u201cLast Call.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, it didn\u2019t win. It was too fresh, like newly bottled wine. I\u2019d never even tried to write a short story before. I let it age a while, then re-read it, made some revisions, and sent it out again. And again. And again. No luck.<\/p>\n
After letting it sit for a few more months, I reviewed it again, made some additional changes and, last November, fired it off as a submission to my fiction class for critique by my classmates and our teacher. Wow! The feedback I received was fabulous, and oh so helpful! I also got lots of encouragement to resubmit.<\/p>\n
So I did. In January, I sent it in to a small online magazine for consideration, listed my submission on Duotrope so I could track it, and moved on to something else. Several somethings else, in fact. At this point, I have five fiction short stories and one non-fiction essay, all of which are still in the process of refining and resubmitting.<\/p>\n
A couple of weeks ago, I got word from one of my other queries that they had considered long and hard whether to publish another of my shorts (\u201cMurder of Crows\u201d), but in the end they selected someone else\u2019s submission, though they wanted me to know it was really<\/em> close. The editor said he enjoyed the piece, liked my writing style, and encouraged me to submit again. He looked forward to reading more of my work. After so many bland, \u201cthanks but no thanks\u201d rejections, that one felt good.<\/p>\n Last Wednesday I finally submitted a piece of my novel\u2019s sequel to writing class and again got great feedback. The teacher said she could see that my influences were writers like Ursula Le Guin and Frank Herbert (awesome praise, that \u2013 I did a little happy dance right then in class). I came home and told Bobby. Understand, he\u2019s been in on my novel\u2019s development since day one, and is always there to hear each new scene as I complete it. So he wanted to know what everyone had to say. I opened my e-mail program to read him some of the comments from classmates and there it was.<\/p>\n My first acceptance. Apparently the most recent changes I made to \u201cLast Call\u201d got it picked up. The editor even said they \u201cloved it.\u201d<\/p>\n Oh, the happy dance this old(ish) writer can still do when properly motivated! I danced around the living room and down the hall, and with Bobby still laughing, I sat down to e-mail everyone I know.<\/p>\n Well, okay, a few close friends. All my writers\u2019 groups. My Facebook friends. My family. And since then anyone would listen. Possibly even a few strangers. Really.<\/p>\n Can you tell I\u2019m excited? (Perhaps this might explain that odd screaming sound you heard around 11:20 p.m. last Wednesday night?)<\/p>\n Now the contract is signed (did that this morning) and, though I don\u2019t know when it will appear, I\u2019ll pass on the publication\u2019s name and link as soon as it\u2019s a done deal, promise.<\/p>\n And so the story of my publishing career begins! Still dancin\u2019 over here. I know I still have a long way to go. This is only a first step, but it feels so huge! I have no intention of letting up on the hard work and feel even more motivated than ever. (Gee, ya think?) But I\u2019m happy to take the accomplishments when they come, and celebrate each and every one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last January, a friend sent me a link to a short-story contest through the American Philosophical Association. The story had to have a philosophical element, and winning entries would be published in Sci-Phi Online Magazine. I read their content, really liked what I saw, and wrote my first ever short story, \u201cLast Call.\u201d Of course,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-posts","category-on-writing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8n0kX-ag","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6452,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/11\/alphamind-the-collective-consciousness\/","url_meta":{"origin":636,"position":0},"title":"Alphamind: The Collective Consciousness","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"August 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"(The Alphamind Odyssey Book 1) By James Azinheira \u00a9 April 27, 2024 File size: 6.1 MB 397 pages ASIN: B0D2WVG3SN What would happen if neuroscience incorporated AI and quantum nanobots into neurological repair in traumatic brain injuries? Alphamind explores that exact dilemma\/potential. This is a hard science fiction tale blended\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"A faceless human head-and-shoulders image is superimposed against a backdrop of a close orbital view of Earth, with stars above. The sun, breaking over the horizon of the Earth, shines through the center of the image\u2019s forehead, and emerges as a series of ripples of light that spiral out and grow larger. Text reads \u201cAlphamind: The Collective Consciousness. A Novel. 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Told with sensitivity, humor, humanity, and a touch of philosophical wonder, the story follows the personal development\u2014inasmuch as a robot can expect\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"A robot, silhouetted against the clear image of a green and gold sky where the moon hangs close, stands amidst the dark ruins of a city. Text reads, Service Model, Adrian Tchaikovsky. \u201cAdrian Tchaikovsky is one of the best storytellers in the business. Come see for yourself.\u201d \u2013 John Scalzi.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/ServiceModel-194x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":198,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2017\/05\/15\/idea-storm\/","url_meta":{"origin":636,"position":2},"title":"Idea Storm","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"May 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"For some reason, lately my head is full of ideas for stories. No, seriously. It\u2019s always been full of ideas for a single story, one that had many parts and threads. Now, the ideas are independent of that tale, branching out into a number of different directions and genres. Two\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":721,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2018\/04\/23\/the-left-hand-of-darkness\/","url_meta":{"origin":636,"position":3},"title":"The Left Hand of Darkness","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"April 23, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"By Ursula K. Le Quin Ace Books, ISBN: 978-0441478125 Paperback, 304 pages. \u00a91987 On Gethen, human envoy Genly Ai has been sent to convince the planet\u2019s leaders to join the Ekumen, a loose confederation of planets who do not rule one another, but who cooperate in matters of interest to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/LHoDarkness-169x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5177,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/25\/unthinkable\/","url_meta":{"origin":636,"position":4},"title":"Unthinkable","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"December 25, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"By Brad Parks \u00a9 2021, Thomas & Mercer ASIN: B08BZJ6VJ5 Kindle Version, file size 2873 KB I have yet to read a Brad Parks novel that doesn\u2019t grab me. This one was no exception. Parks knows how to write great thrillers, and delights in doing so. Unthinkable is a twist\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Against a dark background, two red\/orange\/yellow \"roads\" are shown going forward, and diverging in opposite directions with no forward path. Text says \"Fast, Furious, Fun, and Deliciously Twisty.\" Quote by David Baldacci; \"Unthinkable, Internationally betselling author Brad Parks.\"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Unthinkable-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6386,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/01\/secrets-of-olde-the-hades-interview\/","url_meta":{"origin":636,"position":5},"title":"Secrets of Olde: The Hades Interview","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"August 1, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"By Kayleigh Kavanagh \u00a9 March 28, 2024 File size: 3.0 MB 313 pages ASIN: B0CZFCCW81 Secrets of Olde: The Hades Interview is exactly that: an interview. Hades has had it up to here with the humans getting his story wrong, so he wants to set the record straight: He did\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"A human skull looks out from among deep, blood-red leaves and metallic fillagree. Fine, dried vines cover its cap and fill its eye sockets. Text reads \u201cSecrets of Olde: The Hades Interview. 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