Some Business

I've come to the realization that I'm one of those bloggers who no longer cares about keeping a regular schedule. My former colleague, Nathan Bransford, YA author Natalie Whipple, and editor Sarah Jae-Jones have all talked about Blog Fatigue recently, and I think I've succumbed to this disease.

It's not that I'm tired of blogging. It's that when I log in to Blogger and see how many unfinished posts are sitting in my drafts folder, I get overwhelmed. I don't have as much time as I used to to devote to blogging, and this is not a complaint so much as it is fact. I'm in awe of agents who manage to write informative, in-depth posts Every. Single. Day. It's crazy to me, and it's actually another reason why I'm feeling fatigued. There's a question of, what can I say that others haven't said already?

Here's what I've decided. I still love talking about books and giving advice on how to make your writing publishable. I still love talking about pop culture, TV, and how they usually can relate back to storytelling. So, I'm still going to write about all of those things. Just... less frequently. There's no sense in me writing something incomplete or that I don't really care about just for the sake of keeping a schedule. I like having a blog, but having a blog that doesn't say anything useful is on a level of self-indulgence I'm not comfortable with. I hope that others get something out of my blog posts, so if they cease to be relevant, whom exactly am I writing for?

Wednesdays will always be reserved for your stories, but the other days may have a post and may not. I would like to maintain at least one post a week, but I won't think of it as a set schedule for my own sanity. I hope you all understand and follow me in your Google Reader so that when I do post, you'll know about it.

And speaking of Wednesday publications...

Those are 100% going to continue as scheduled and now is as good a time as any to go over submission guidelines. I've had a recent spike in followers (hello, new friends!), and I'd love for my readers to share their work. But first, some rules:

1) Send submissions to me at glasscasesblog@gmail.com & include a brief intro to the piece.
2) No children's fiction, poetry, general nonfiction (think business or technical writing), self-help, or anything non-narrative. I'm looking for creative writing with a story that can be enjoyed by anyone older than 14.
3) All genres of fiction are welcome, as well as memoir or personal essay.
4) Submissions must be 1500 words or less.
5) Please paste submissions into the body of the email. Do not send as an attachment.

New Rule:
I love when writers come back to submit more work, but I'm implementing an official rule that you cannot share more than two pieces from the same manuscript. People have attempted to trick me into publishing half their manuscript, and just... no.

Bringing me to - only submit one project at once, and please do not submit again until your work has been published.

Finally - AND I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH - any submissions sent to me will not be considered for representation. Anything resembling a query letter will be deleted unread. My blog is mine and mine alone and is not affiliated with Curtis Brown, Ltd. at all. I post work from genres I don't represent and consider this blog a completely separate entity. It is not an audition. If you choose to query me in the future, please do so through proper channels, and do your research on what I represent first.

OK, this blog post was probably just as fun to read as it was to write (which is to say, not very), but it was getting to be too necessary to ignore. Hope you all stick with me while I try to get a better grasp on my blogging schedule, and hopefully no one holds it against me if I skip a week or two.

To end on a lighter note, here is a picture of a corgi dressed as Doctor Who: