Living the Fictional Dream

Every Day Fiction just published its August table of contents, and I’m not on it. How is that different from the last 12 EDF TOCs, you might ask? Well, it’s not different. However, August is EDF’s last TOC of the year. The fact that I have not been on any of their TOCs since July 2010 is not particularly remarkable in most respects. The past couple of years, I haven’t been able to devote the same amount of time and effort to my writing as I did from 2007 and 2008. Two pregnancies, working full time, and being a mom to two under two saw to that. It’s hard to find time and energy to write when you’re suffering from lack of sleep, lack of spare time, and feeling like you’re going to toss your cookies for the better part of two years.

But, despite everything that was going on, I did have one story published in EDF in 2009, and, to my surprise, it was selected for EDF’s third anthology. I’d had a story in their first anthology, and four stories in their second anthology. But, this year, since I didn’t have a story published, I don’t even have a chance of making the fourth anthology. So, the streak is broken.

I did actually manage to submit a story to EDF a few weeks ago, but I wasn’t sure if it was in time. Apparently not, as it’s still classified as in process in the submission queue.

Anyway, I know it’s my fault that the streak is broken, but it still makes me a little sad. But, hey, the girls are getting older now. I’m moving from having two under two to having two toddlers. Maybe that will be easier? Um… one can hope, though the increased mobility makes things challenging in different ways. So, maybe next year, I’ll be able to write more and get some more stories out there on submission, to EDF and other places. The girls are starting to enjoy Sesame Street, maybe that will give me a few minutes in front of the laptop to write.

Is it possible to write with the theme song to “Elmo’s World” playing in the background? I guess we’ll see!