As I mentioned earlier, writing rough drafts is tough most of the time. So many decisions on what the story should be, how to make it unique and how to tell it.  It takes a while to build up some momentum, but once I do, I find some brief moments when the writing gets a little easier. It’s almost fun! LOL.

In the past 24 hours, I’ve written a prologue and the third chapter of my novel Desert Witch. I’ve also made progress on a short story titled “Chaperone”. I like times like this.

I have found that while publications focusing on queer fiction are nearly extinct, there are a lot of literary magazines that will publish fiction in a wide range of genres. Some pay good money. Others pay only in contributor copies of the magazine or nothing at all. So I’ve created a database of these magazines, narrowing down the ones that seem most likely candidates.

But before I start submitting, I need to sit down with these magazines to get a feel for each one. You can only learn so much from Writer’s Market or even the publication website. I am hoping that at least some of them are available for reading at the main Phoenix Library. I may have to order online a sample copy of the ones that aren’t. I would prefer to avoid that right now because money is tight. But we’ll see.