Category: Apex Magazine

Containing Apex related *squeeing* or marketing ploys/editing related news.

Apex Magazine, Journal, Writing

Hotwings and a Handful of Words

Maggie Slater

Went out for hotwings tonight at Buffalo Wild Wings! Mmm… Wings… I am horrible at eating wings. I hate veins, and I’m always so nervous about getting one that I pick at the tiny bits of meat like a cat with no teeth. It’s more like licking. I usually get a wing to the point of having a hole in the middle of two still very obscured bones before I pass it off to Andy, who cleans the bones to saintly relics. I do, however, love boneless “wings”. Plus, the messiness of wings compliments my already pitifully messy style of eating. (It doesn’t matter how hard I try to be neat! In fact, the more I try, the more I spill, smear, drip, and smudge!)

Also got my starting allotment of Apex Book Company novel submissions in my inbox today. It’s amazing how much I missed getting actual, non-spam mail! I really like being able to spend the time on a single story, so I think I’m going to enjoy this new submissions role. 

Writing Stuff:

Got 600+ words of the second chapter of the “UNTITLED NOVEL PROJECT”. I really do worry that I over-think waaaaaaaay too much. Still trying to decide if I like those 600+ words, or if I want to approach the scene in a different way. I worry a little bit that I’ve introduced too many characters too fast in this second scene, when really the focus needs to be on my heroine and my heroine alone. Then again, who she is is intricately connected to how other people see her and the face she puts toward them, so perhaps it’s the right place to start after all.

Don’t know. I’ll re-read it tomorrow and if it sticks, it sticks, and if not, then back to the drawing board for this chapter. I can’t bear to follow up Chapter 1, which feels so strong to me, with a blatantly weaker chapter simply because I can. And I know I can write in her voice, because I’ve got two pretty solid scenes which tell me I can. Just need to loosen up and find the groove, baby.

Need to plan out my to-do list again. This whole last month’s been both really productive and a complete wash. Novel Progress = GOOD! Short Work Progress = BAD! When I get my crap together, I’ll post the list on here so I’ll at least have to answer to this blog if I slack off or get diverted.

Apex Magazine, Art, Writing

I’s so tired…

Maggie Slater

I am tired. It’s been a long week already, and it’s only Wednesday!

O_O <–my scared face. 

On the plus side, I’ve been playing around with Write In/White Out, a comic strip which is pretty much just me making fun of the fact that I’m insane, and the fact that I think too much, and the fact that when it comes to writing, I have so little self-confidence. I figured it would help me lighten up about myself in the process, too, which would be good! Plus, I love drawing/cartooning, so it’ll give me yet another thing to do INSTEAD of actually getting writing done! YAY!

>.O <–my ouch face. 

Also, check out my blog article for Apex! And keep an eye out for my review of the new Star Trek movie next week on the Apex blog!

Writing Stuff:

T_T <–streaming tears face

Grand total this week: a measly 248 words on “THE UNTITLED NOVEL PROJECT”, but I’m just messing around with that anyway. Only ~1000 new words on the “UNTITLED DYSTOPIC SF SHORT STORY”. *le sigh*

It’s been a bad week for writing. I usually get only about an hour during my lunch break at work to get anything written, but this week has been chalk-full of meetings, training sessions, and various other lunch-break-eating activities. So it’s been slightly unproductive from that perspective.

Apex Magazine

DOOOOOOOOOOM!!!1!!1

Maggie Slater

So, not sure how far this has spread yet, but we got the sad news today: Apex Magazine is going on indefinite hiatus. I had heard rumblings that this might occur, but I hadn’t realized it was quite so imminent. This means all the stories we currently have in our queue are being released back to their authors, and we will be closed for short fiction submissions.

THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO APEX BOOK COMPANY. Apex Book Company is still open to book submissions, as far as I’m aware, and will continue to be so. Most of us submissions editors are turning our attentions from slushing to various other positions in the APEX EMPIRE. 

While it is a sad announcement for us, and likely for many of the prospective authors who had stories submitted to us, this is good news for Apex Book Company, which is where we get most of our revenue anyway. Some of you may be aware that when I started out with Apex, I was also one of the Marketing Fairies, which I ceased to be–to large degree–due to the sheer volume of submissions which required my attention. Now, I will be reverting back to Marketing Fairy, and am looking forward to the challenges that presents while Apex Magazine is on hiatus. 

We don’t expect Apex Magazine to stay closed permanently, so keep an eye on Apex’s website for updates about our submission status.

Apex Magazine, Journal, Writing

Changes be Brewin’

Maggie Slater

Don’t know how much I can talk about stuff yet, so I’ll have to save my other, more informative post for later, once it’s finally officially announced. 

The Day Score:

+ There is such a thing as a free lunch! Go NCA! ^_^

+ THE HOUSE IS STILL CLEAN. (I know. I’m scared, too.)

– Sad news from above, which I’m not sure I can actually mention yet.

+ Having more time to work on marketing stuff for Apex.

+ Writing went well today. See below.

= (+4) v. (-1) = Not Bad. ^_^

Writing Stuff:

It was a good day for writing, and I blame the spicy yakisoba for that. Mmmm. Delicious. Finished (for all intents and purposes until I re-read it later) the first section of Chapter 17 for “Thief Dilemma”. The second section has been done for a while, so now I get to move on to the third section! YAY! ^_^

Also went through a scene of “UNTITLED NOVEL PROJECT” which I’ve been slowly tinkering with, getting a feel for character’s POV and voice, and am still–shockingly–amused by it. ^_^

Apex Magazine, Art, Journal, Portland/Oregon, Writing

If it comes to war, I call dibs on the sharkapolt!

Maggie Slater

I was going to begin this entry with a lengthy, nose-to-dirt grovel session for being so bad at updating lately, but then I decided not to. Truth of the matter is, things have been going well, but I’ve been super busy with rather everyday, mundane things you probably wouldn’t care much to hear about. So until I have more time, I’m just going to do a quick running pros/cons list, plus the writing stuff at the bottom, par usual, in order to keep me accountable to what I do and do not get done. ^_^

This weekend:

+ + Cleaned the house. Much needed. I would post the video I took of it “before” and then do another for “after”, but it was seriously awful, and no one deserves to see that enshrined on the Internet for all eternity.

+ Hung out with Kaku! YAY! We’ve all been so busy, it seems like time to hang out just slips through the cracks. But not this weekend! Walked around Mt. Tabor in Portland (+), had a shoe-throwing contest which was sorely weighted (one of us has extreme shoe-throwing skills) (+), ate Little Caesar’s pizza (+), watched “Steamboy” (-), and played some Halo (+, always). 

+/- Minus, because I wrote 1000 words of Chapter 17 for “Thief Dilemma” only to realize I couldn’t use any of them. Plus, because it made me realize what I *actually* needed to do for this chapter, and because I got a fresh, usable 1000 done today at lunch.

+ Did minor grocery shopping. We’re trying to maintain damage-control for our arbitrary April budget. 

+ Changed bank account over to Oregon, at last. 

– Didn’t get any painting in.

+ Hung two of my paintings (see “House of Mirth” and “We Are–All of Us–Robots”) on the walls, and they look good there!

– Didn’t finish backlog of Apex submissions.

+ Did get through a huge batch. Hoping to close the gap over this week, and dive into more recent submissions. Finally reorganized my day planning to make more time.

+ Write Nite is awesome, and I get a lot of work done!

= (+8) vs. (-2) = +6. A Good, Productive Weekend ^_^

Writing Stuff: Continue reading “If it comes to war, I call dibs on the sharkapolt!” →

Apex Magazine, Journal, Writing

It’s strange what an empty office will make you think…

Maggie Slater

I am not going to lie: the office after hours, by myself, is a kind of creepy place. Apart from the door down the hall that always sounds like a little girl shouting “Mom!”, or the creaky air vents that sound like footsteps, when all the lights besides mine go off, I can’t help but start to think of what I’d do if I looked up and in the reflection of the front window I saw some disembodied figure lurking behind me in the dark conference room. *shudder* On the plus side, I can come up with some pretty fun ghost story ideas in the few minutes before I shut all that kind of thinking out of my head so I don’t get the heebie-jeebies. 

Oh! In fun news: I cut my hair yesterday. Well, *I* didn’t, but the nice hairdresser lady did! It’s almost spring (tomorrow! yay!), so it’s that time of year when I cut off all my hair and run around telling everyone “I LOVE not feeling hair on my neck!” Yes, it may disturb some–the running around talking to strangers part, not the hair part–but I think I’m sweet. ^_^ lol Will post pictures shortly.

Pulled a no-lunch (did eat, just didn’t take off the time) today, plus two extra hours at the end of the day to save myself some PTO time for when I don’t feel like I’ve been run over by the flu-dozer. And yes–I’m feeling much better, thanks for asking. But with no lunch, that means no writing, and coming home this late means no time for submissions today. Sunday is my EP1C 5UBM15S10NS S1FT1NG AW3SOME MAR4THON OF DO0M!11!!! so I can finally finish up my queue. At least, that’s the plan. Might as well use this time when we’re not getting new submissions to get myself in gear and prepped for the new delicious onslaught! ^_^

No lunch also means I didn’t do any writing, or at least, I didn’t put any words down. But this last destroyed week has gotten the mind thinking again. I’m hoping it won’t be long until I can finish cranking out “A Maze of Invisible Walls”–I’m pretty much done, interest wise, and really want to move onto something else for a while–and maybe, maybe if I’m *really* productive, I’ll get Thief Dilemma Chapter 17 (untitled) finished and posted. Wouldn’t that be nice? I think so! I’ve got both 17 and 18 planned for most of the characters, but I need to brainstorm still on one of the others. Once I get that squared away, I’ll have all the sections I need for 17.

Next story I write is going to be under 7.5k. I need to practice short stories so much more. And I’ve got a ton I could try out–I just need to really focus on execution.

Been dying to get my hands back on THE NOVEL DRAFT, too–strangely enough. At the end of this last year, I thought I wouldn’t want to even *think* about it for at least six months, but dang it if I’m not really excited about fixing it. Still will hold out for now, though. 

Will be creating a new email soon to reflect the new married name rather than old pen name. Oh, those silly little details!  I’ll probably just use it for writing submissions for now, but I’ll let you know when it officially changes over.

Apex Magazine, Art, Journal, Writing

Sooo…. Uh… Yeah!

Maggie Slater

It has been so busy lately. My life seems to swing between either super busy or super dull within a few days of each other. I think I’d rather find a nice happy balance, but at least the busy has been a lot of fun. ^_^ Hung out with a friend yesterday and went down to the Portland Museum of Art, which was *awesome* and made me want to paint all the more. Did finish the latest painting today, but I think I’ll wait a little while to post it. I still have a long way to go, skill-wise. >.o 

Finished the second Edith Wharton novel I was working through, The Custom of the Country, though I must say the ending struck me as a little slipshod, like she didn’t know how to end this one so she just sort of stopped. Needless to say, it didn’t have that feeling of finality that Ethan Frome and House of Mirth both have. Huge list of books to read piling up–not sure if I’m going to continue with another Edith Wharton (the book I have from the library also contains Age of Innocence which looks a lot shorter than The Custom of the Country, so maybe I’ll try to plow through that before it’s due next Saturday). 

Looked and did taxes today. T_T Haaaaaaaate taxes. But I guess that’s the usual response at this time of year.

Oh! As a side note: Apex has finally got Nate Kenyon’s novella PRIME up for pre-order! I have been waiting for this one, because I have a soft spot for cyberpunk sci-fi, and this looks to be a really, *really* good one. Plus… IT’s A NOVELLA. Which you all know by now is something I’m absolutely obsessed with at the moment. 

Speaking of…

Writing Stuff:

Friday, 1:00PM, Clackamas, OR: 15k into the current novella project and I suddenly realize that one of the characters has disappeared. He’s there at the beginning, stands around a little in the first 10-12 pages, but then after that, he’s just gone. Vanished. And the worst part is, I didn’t even miss him when he left. 

1:12, Clackamas, McDonald’s Drive-Through: After a bit of pondering, recognizing that if the character is missing, it’s because he isn’t important enough, I come to the conclusion that I must make the choice between two options: 1) Remove the character, or 2) Make him more important to the story. I know I don’t want to remove him, because he’s so cool (in theory), and because he represents so much. SO, that means I have to make him more important. 

1:30, Portland office, Break room: It occurs to me that making him more important won’t actually be that hard–theoretically. I’ve thought about it, and with the new stuff I’ve come up with, both he and the Main Character have a heck of a lot more personality. Always a plus. However, this comes with a trade: it means reworking the first 15k words to reflect the changes. Doesn’t have to be *completely* rewritten, but portions will, and all of it will need at least minor tweaking. Bummer. Positive: The story will definitely be stronger and the MC’s personality will have more definition and rationale behind it, plus it makes it a little more of a coming-of-age story, which with this current subject, I think works well. 

But still-! So much more work. >.<

Apex Magazine, Journal, Writing

And onto you, Wednesday

Maggie Slater

Just a short little post today. The Corporate head-honchos are down in Portland for today and tomorrow at work, and as unbelievable as it may sound to some of you, it’s actually a lot of fun. They’re all really nice, and it’s great to have the extra people in the office. It’s been a little quite of late. Plus, there were brownies, and that just spells AWESOME.

Catching up on my submissions queue at Apex, which is very good, too. Voting on Holding 2 tonight, as well. ^_^ 

Writing Stuff:

Got a bunch of writing in today. It was one of those delightful 1000 word rampages I occasionally get on during my lunch break. I blame the brownies, because I was full enough to forget I was supposed to be eating lunch. (Never fear, I did remember after my boss found my food in the microwave when he stopped in for a coffee refresh, and it was only a half-hour into my break.) ^_^ I love it when the writing clicks so well I lose track of time. Doesn’t happen nearly often enough!

Apex Magazine

The Benefit of the Doubt

Maggie Slater

I’ve determined that the #1 thing you can do to improve your chances of being accepted at any given publication is to read the guidelines. Over and over, I see editors pleading for this little consideration on their guideline pages, and it always struck me as redundant. Of course I’m going to read the guidelines! Who wouldn’t? 

Apparently, a lot of people. Not just beginners, either, but pros too. I think it irks me more with the pros, because they should know this stuff by now. It makes me wonder how seriously they take submitting to Apex Magazine that they so obviously break our very first request in our guidelines. I’m not going to lie: it irks me. It’s a waste of my time as a slusher, and their time as a submitter, and no one likes wasting time. 

But I’m willing to give the benefit of the doubt to these submitters. In fact, I’ve created a list of reasons I must assume account for their blatant flaunting of our guidelines. 

1. They’re still using the print form of The Writer’s Market, which, since it has to be published for the upcoming year, seems to be out of date and inaccurate (particularly for online magazines) for almost the whole year. Cure: Utilize the net. It’s worth knowing if you’re wasting an editor’s time, or they’re closed to submissions for a period of time, etc., etc. Always check the online guidelines, if they’re available.

2. They suffer extreme migraines every time they look at a computer screen, and therefore cannot navigate to the “Submissions” page on the Apex website before being overcome with brutal cerebral pain. Cure: Get a friend to utilize the website and check our guidelines. And get lots of rest in a pitch-dark room.

3. They don’t recognize that SF–for Apex–stands for Science Fiction, not Speculative Fiction in general. Cure: Read (or at least skim) some of the stories on Apex’s site. Come on, folks, it’s free. It’s only going to cost you a little time to see that the stories we publish are heavily (if not totally) science fiction-centered. 

4. Their dog ate the guidelines. Cure: Feed the dog more often. And guess what? The guidelines are available anytime online. 

5. During an alien abduction, those nasty little green men stole all the data about the guidelines out of their brains in order to feed the nuclear-powered extraterrestrial fiction-producing machine, which is the sole reason they’re not getting accepted at magazines like Apex. Cure: This is the only acceptable excuse. And yes- I’m being facetious. 

6. They’re too busy to check guidelines. Cure: Then why aren’t you too busy to submit your manuscript?

I could come up with more reasons, I’m sure, and the more submissions we get that are so completely out of the ballpark, the more likely I am to waste time on a blog complaining about it. For the record: from time to time, I have seen some really well-written, clever, even inspiring pieces of non-dark SF…

but they still got rejected for not fitting guidelines.

Apex Magazine, Journal, Writing

Where the pizza was, I cannot say, but in the fridge IT WAS NOT.

Maggie Slater

To the guys at work: Was it good? Did the cheese and the pepperonis and the crust and the sauce just go oh-so-well together? Did you think- Wow, I’m glad I found this pizza in the fridge tucked behind the banana and the kiwi in that brought-from-home ziplock bag!

You know who you are. I will find out. And then-! Ooooooh, you don’t wanna know.

^_^

ANYWAY, so it’s been a little while since I updated, not that I suspect many people noticed, but hey–like the subtitle of this blog says: no one’s forcing you to read this. Lots of stuff has been going on actually since I last posted. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it, but I’m now a full-time employee! YAY! I get benefits and a raise and PTO! I’ve never had PTO before! O.O

The last few weeks have seemed really insanely busy, too, which might explain my brief absence from the blogosphere. Andy and I finally topped off our housing furniture needs (dresser, bedside tables, bookshelf #2, desk, hampers)! YAY for a place that looks lived in and homey! We also got… A FICUS. Yes. You read that correctly. We have a tiny tree in our house now. It makes me happy. Now the challenge is just to keep it alive (I fear I lack my mother’s gift for gardening).

Besides that, I’ve basically just been trying to get to bed early enough to get some scarce reading-time in, which has actually been going really well. I finished House of Mirth by Edith Wharton (*love*), and am now moving on to The Custom of the Country. I’m finding this second one a little tougher to get into, but knowing how well she can evoke my emotions later on, I’ll put up with a little slowness in the beginning. I think I’ll also be reading Age of Innocence, and perhaps The Reef. If I’m really on a roll, I might go so far as to hit up Summer and some of her other short-story collections. But I have determined that after this, my author-focus is going to shift to Octavia Butler. Her SF blows my mind in the best of ways, and after reading Dawn I was determined to read as many of her other works as possible. 

But enough of that. 

Before I forget, let me mention that Apex Magazine just put out the delicious cyborg version of itself: a PDF reincarnation of the original APEX SF & HORROR DIGEST. These PDF versions, beginning with this month’s issue, will contain all the stories to be found online, but will have cover art, inside art, essays which won’t appear on the website, as well as other nifty tidbits! It’s well worth the $2 per issue (ONLY TWO BUCKS! O.O!!). I already bought my copy. How about you? 

In other news, I’ve got a bunch of pictures I’ll need to post of the furniture editions/other various things that I’ve been meaning to put up, but alas-! have not. I’m going to try to do better with visuals/videos/etc. because I think it’s pretty fun, and I might as well have fun! 

I’ve also been sporting with the idea of starting to post book reviews (mainly of science fiction, horror, and fantasy). I need to read a lot more than I have recently, but thanks to getting rid of cable TV, I actually do have more time (time I am now spending writing this blog entry). I did some book reviewing in college for the school newspaper, and actually enjoyed it quite a bit. If you have an opinion on this matter, I’d be interested to hear it.

Writing Stuff:

Continue reading “Where the pizza was, I cannot say, but in the fridge IT WAS NOT.” →