Story submitted, proposal sent

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there.

Awww yeah, you know who you are.

(That would make an excellent intro to an odd sort of music video.)

Yesterday I decided to submit the story I just finished to a horror market. Then I spent the next hour or so formatting my manuscript. First, I used advice from Flashing Swords, then I went back to William Shunn's site on Proper Manuscript Format.

In the future I need to remember to turn off curly or smart quotes much earlier in the process. Dashes and ellipses also give me trouble. Dashes should not become em dashes, they should be two dashes with no spaces on either side. Ellipses should not be converted to the condensed version. Turn off Widow/Orphan control.

I feel a bit like Rain Man repeating this stuff in my head.

So I sent that off. Then I started looking for the next story idea and found a place that requires a proposal to be accepted before submission. Next I did a lot of research, wrote a few paragraphs about the short story I'd outlined loosely and sent it off.

I'm not sure I did it right. But that's the good thing about writing as opposed to, say, practising medicine: Nobody's going to die because I screwed up. Except maybe of embarrassment.

The story may get written regardless of acceptance. I can always use it as an exercise for class. Go go gadget workshopping!