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Blood Drops #1

10/22/2024

Back in April of this year, I submitted my first piece in a long while. It was a nonfiction piece that was sent to Memento Mori Ink. In complete transparency it was a requested piece, so submitting it might be a stretch, though it could have still been rejected. I also sent a story to a contest around the same time. The story didn’t win, but it was nice to send a story out with hopes it would get published. 

In May, I sent two pieces to Lisa Vasquez for Napalm Psalms. I knew only one would get picked but I wanted her to have a choice. She chose the better of the two and one of my favorite psychological pieces titled, Duality. I sent one story out in June that was ultimately rejected.

Sending out those five pieces created an itch I haven’t had in a long, long time. So, in July I set out to submit thirty-one stories, one for each day of the month. It was a lot of work, but I managed to meet my goal. That put me at a total of thirty-six stories submitted on the year. Umm … I haven’t submitted thirty-one total stories combined since 2011. 

Let me tell you, the rejections rolled in. I mean, seriously. I received thirteen rejections in the span of two weeks, almost one a day. It was disheartening, but I knew this would happen, Then I received an acceptance for the Weird Wide Web’s podcast for my story, She’s A Vampire, I’m A Hobo. When I heard the story (done by Lindsey Goddard) I got really excited. 

Since then, I have really dug my heels in, trying to find places for my work. There is one very big problem, though: I’m not really a horror writer anymore. Sure, I write some darker words on dark, real life subjects, but I don’t write what I feel is stereotypical horror anymore. I’ve experimented with different styles and genres (like mystery, romance and literary, as well as poetry).

Even though trying to find paying markets is a little frustrating, I find I’m enjoying sending stories out. I’ve also been keeping track of all of the submissions in a spreadsheet. So, here are the latest statistics on the year:

Submissions: 64

Responses: 45

Rejections: 32 (bummer)

Acceptances: 13 (Awesome sauce)

Acceptance Rate: 28.9%

The acceptance rate is really good. I was hoping for something between 20%-25%, so I’m happy with that number. Thirteen acceptances is more than I have had in any year since 2010, when thirty-three stories were accepted. 

Of those thirteen acceptances, seven have already been published. Below are links to those seven stories. Please take a few minutes to check them out. Some of them are free to read, others are parts of books or magazines, so, yeah, there’s a purchase price.

I’m A Hobo, She’s A Vampire at The Weird Wide Web Podcast. 

The Hook of Relatability at Memento Mori Ink Magazine (Nonfiction)

The Scarring at Exquisite Death

Darkness at Dark Descent, Whispers From Beyond Volume III

Treats at the Aver Residence at Wilhelm Presents Frightening Tales

Wave at Micromance (yes, this is a love story)

Duality at Napalm Psalms 

Thank you for stopping by. Also, thank you for taking the time to look over some of those stories. I’m excited to be putting out work again.

If you have a few extra seconds, please take the time to like the post, leave a comment and share it with your friends. I greatly appreciate it.

Until we meet again, my friends, be kind to one another.

A.J.

Posted on by ajbrown · 2 Comments

A Conversation With Lindsey Goddard

In the many years I have been in this business, I have met a lot of writers. Many of them have passed out of my life through time. It’s the nature of things. Some of them have become like family. Again, the nature of things. Some of them have left horrible impressions and I have helped them exit my life. Yes, it’s them, not me. Then there’s people like Lindsey Goddard. Lindsey and I go way back to the early days of me seeking publication. We connected through social media, became Internet friends. We’ve both worked with publishers and have had our hands in quite a number of projects.

Lindsey has published a few of my stories in various places, like in the anthology, Quixotic: Not Every Day Love Stories. The story was Sunday, a non-traditional vampire love story. Then there was the piece, Release, a story no one would touch because of subject matter. She took it for the publication The Monsters Next Door, which is an appropriate title, given the subject matter of the story. Here, recently, she took my short story, I’m a Hobo, She’s A Vampire for her podcast on The Weird Wide Web. 

With all that said, let’s have a sit down with Lindsey Goddard.

Who: Lindsey Goddard

What: Writing, The Weird Wide Web, Podcast, Life

Why: I want to. Why else?

A.J.: Good morning, Lindsey. I hope you are doing well.

LG: Good morning, A.J. I am! I have fresh coffee. 😊

A.J.: Let’s jump right in here. Will you tell the world who Lindsey Goddard is?

LG: An author with roots in horror fiction who likes to sneak into other genres and darken them up as well! Haha. I make gothic arts and crafts, and the home décor in my house reflects as much. I enjoy blogging and connecting with other creatives. I’m currently working on my first True Crime book about murder in my home state of Missouri.

A.J.: You’ve been writing a long time, probably longer than I have. What got you started in writing?

LG: I won a Mother’s Day poetry contest in first grade. They framed my poem and gave me a dozen roses for my mom. It was the proudest moment of my young life. The next time I felt that rush was when I sold a short story to an indie ‘zine at the age of fifteen. It’s a feeling of gratification unlike any other. I’ve put writing aside many times in my life as my circumstances change … But I always find my way back.

A.J.: I think, as writers, and really any artists, we leave, but we’re always drawn back. The obsession is real. You like the darker things in literature. What is it about horror that appeals to you?

LG: Horror is real. It’s all around us, threatening to affect our comfortable daily lives. Watching the news has always given me a helpless, sinking feeling. But when I write horror, I take back my control. I can decide the outcome. Much safer to be the author than the character, I think.

A.J.: I agree with you there. I don’t want to be the victim of someone else’s horror story. Let’s change gears and talk about The Weird Wide Web. What led to you creating this?

LG: I purchased the domain at WeirdWideWeb.org in early 2020, but it took a while for the project to find its true purpose. Seems like everything stopped in 2020, doesn’t it? And the world is just now waking up again. 

The pot of Crazy Stew that is Weird Wide Web simmered on the back burner for a WHILE, and it got better in the process. My original plan was to blog and podcast, but now there are writing contests and much more fun to come.

A.J.: You do interviews and narrate stories on the podcast. First, how do you go about choosing the people you want to interview? Second, you do all the narration on the stories, including sound effects. How much goes into putting together the stories before they air?

LG: Although authors and artists are portrayed as impatient madmen in cinema, the truth is, they have an endearing resilience—this compulsion to connect with other people and get their work into the world. So, I never have to seek out my interviewees. They always find me!

I am discovering as the podcast grows that it’s pretty darn labor intensive, but with only two episodes a month, I’ll survive! I think!

A.J.: Do you have as much fun with the podcast as it sounds like you do?

I’m having so much fun, I’m going to change my middle name to Fun. Lindsey Fun Goddard. That’s me. That’s how freaking fun this podcast is! Find out more at: WeirdWideWeb.org/Podcast

A.J.: For The Weird Wide Web, what types of stories do you look for both for your contests and for the podcast?

LG: It’s funny because, to read the four winning contest entries we ended up with last contest, a person might assume I was looking for horror. I wasn’t. Neither was Mitzy Carter, my fellow submissions reader. We ended up with a Top 15 stories toward the end of judging the 157 entries. A couple were sci-fi, a few were dark fantasy, some satire, or speculative fiction that cannot be boxed into a genre. But in the end, we chose the stories that packed the most punch. Stories that were not only well-written, but made us go, “Wow, that was clever.”

And … As far as the podcast, I tell you … it just fell into harmony with the universe. The right stories have landed in my lap at the right times.  *hippie voice* The podcast is meant to be, man.

A.J.: Being longtime Internet Friends, I’ve watched you chase publishing as much as I have, taper off, then chase it again. Recently, I’ve noticed you enjoy submitting stories to various podcast. Why is this?

LG: Wow. What a great question, because I’ve never thought about the true reason for this until now: Podcasts and audiobooks saved my life. There was a point in my life where I was under so much STRESS that I couldn’t focus on books. I would read the same sentence TEN TIMES before absorbing it. My brain just wasn’t having it. But I did not want to live without fiction. In fact, I cannot live without fiction. So, I turned to podcasts and audiobooks. During this time, I began to really LOVE podcasts! Some made me feel like I was tuning in to an old dramatic radio broadcast in the 1940s and just getting lost in the story.

A.J.: Has this become somewhat of an addiction? 

LG: You tell me! I had a story on Creepy Podcast recently, and in the coming months I’ll have stories on Chilling Tales for Dark Nights, Nocturnal Transmissions, The Morbid Forest, and Wilhelm’s Frightening Tales, with submissions pending at even more podcasts! Haha.

A.J.: Oh, wow. That’s a lot of places. Congratulations on those. Now, the next question is always one of those tougher questions to answer, but if you could give yourself any advice (and it doesn’t matter what it is about it), what would that be?

LG: I would tell my younger self that I was worth more than the buzz inside the bottle when the world broke me, and I turned to alcohol. It only made it harder to piece myself back together.

A.J.: That’s some seriously good advice there. So many people could use that these days. One last thing, Lindsey. Where can the weird wide world find you?

LG: Well, if you’re into visiting websites that never get updated, I have great news! Here’s mine! http://www.LindseyBethGoddard.com

Also, I just released an expanded version of my 2016 novella, Ashes of Another Life, with never-before-published content, such as bonus material in the middle, an epilogue, and a prologue. The old version had 18 ratings on Amazon, and sadly, the new book hasn’t received any so far. If anyone would be so kind as to hop over there, read, and review, it would mean the world to me. Here’s the link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DCXHPZBY

A.J.:Thank you for your time, Lindsey. I wish you well with The Weird Wide Web and your publishing endeavors. Have a great day and chase those dreams. 

LG: Thank you, A.J. I feel lucky to have stayed acquainted with you this long. You have remained on my social media despite me losing my mind a few times. Haha. Much appreciated! I look forward to our NEXT project together!

A.J.: Before I go, I want to say thank you for stopping by. Hit that like button at the end here and leave a comment if you don’t mind. Also, check out Lindsey through social media and her website and give the Weird Wide Web a look. Every set of eyes on a writer’s pages, every like, every comment, are motivators for artists of any type. 

Until we meet again, my friends, be kind to one another.

A.J.