Anthology

I’m currently working on two. One will be released to the wilding readers mid-month, and the other had a deadline for story submission of the end of September. I’m changing that.

I’ve been overwhelmed for most of this year, and when I took these two projects on, I was only a little overwhelmed. Well, in April I yanked up the entire family’s roots and some of us decamped from Ohio to Texas. Nearly five months later things have still not settled into a routine that allows me much time. I realize that my floundering doesn’t affect the authors I know are working on stories for this anthology… but it does make me look hard at what I’ve got going on for the next four to six weeks.

The new deadline for Can’t Go Home Again is October 16th. (Why October 16, Cedar? Well, I have a different deadline on October 15, so this gives me a day to breathe).

What I’m looking for is still stories about PTS, or PTSD fully blown, that keep a person from being able to go home in spirit, even if their body is there. I want a theme of hope arising from despair. Modeling emotions through stories, and showing readers there is a way out that isn’t the final way… This is a holiday anthology, but the stories don’t necessarily need to center around a holiday. I have some already that do, and I’m open to stories that are more focused on the mental struggles and the hopefulness.

The story should be a short story, although if it’s truly exceptional I’ll consider ones outside the 5-10,000 word length. I’m open to stories that have already appeared in print (or on your blog, or what have you). When you have it finished, please send it to cedarlila at gmail dot com in standard manuscript format.

Payment will be royalty sharing, handled through PubShare (which used to be BundleRabbit), and I’ll be open to chatting about Amazon-only or wide distribution for this one. I’m planning to do a one year run on this, and then will either unpublish it, or release exclusivity to the authors so they can have their stories back to do what they wish with. I’m easy.

This is a project I feel very strongly about. I’ll make it happen, one way or another. But I also have to recognize my own limitations and that extra two weeks is going to make a difference. For one thing, to my surprise, I’ll be a guest at FenCon in just a couple of weeks. For another thing, having been this long without my First Reader is affecting my writing. Yes, he’s only a phone call or text message away. It’s not the same. Or maybe it’s just that I’m still off kilter and doing my best to find balance. Whichever it is, I’m cutting myself some slack. And very much looking forward to seeing the stories come together for this collection.