Writerly Ways

[cornerofmadness]

I don't have a lot of thoughts today. I have a question. If you self publish, what is your biggest tip? What resources do you use? Do you mind sharing?

It's not easy to find good reliable articles on that. A quick search will, however, bring up a lot of predatory sites offering to publish for you. So you need to be careful out there.

I'm thinking about it for an anthology (down the road, so much to consider) of historic horror. I was turned down for the Stephen King Overlook thing. I expected that of course and appreciate it was quick. What took me by surprise was not the generic 'this isn't right for this anthology' spiel. They said 'we decided to go in another direction.' Huh? Away from me obviously. But they changed the perimeters of this anthology so many times I wonder if they decided to NOT do historical stories and just revolve around the 70-80s where we were told not to write because it was covered. Anyhow, it was a no and on I roll. I did send one out today.

And since people asked to see chapter two of my new novel, I will tuck it in at the end.

OPEN CALL


Revenants Anthology Spirits, ghosts, and revenants ( I plan to submit some small story to this)

KIRBY Fantasy Fiction Magazine Issue 1 Reborn Genre: Second-world fantasy only (I had to look that term up!)

WAXEN Theme: Weird, experimental, and literary horror Genre: Horror with an emphasis on surreal, occult, and experimental work

Ruadán Books is Open For Novellas In April 2026! Theme: Dark speculative fiction exploring the darker aspects of humanity
Genre: Speculative fiction including horror, science fiction, and fantasy (I have to finish that novella. I HAVE to!)


Tales from the Cryptids Theme: Cryptids with agency, transformation, and liminal storytelling

Open submission calls for writers: March 2026

Notes from The Editor’s Desk (March 2026)

Cahava: Now Seeking Submissions

42 Publishers that Accept Direct Submissions of Speculative Fiction



From Around the Web


I'm starting this with some youtubes about self pubbing

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Finding The Heart of the Story

Is Your Story Cohesive? What You Should Know

How to Create a Consistent Story Tone (And Why It Matters)

Pacing as Moral Choice

3 Common Mistakes Committed by Self-Published Novelists (And How to Avoid Them).


From Betty

Five Underplayed Commodities for Kingdoms to Fight Over

Should You Give Non-Human Groups Marginalized Traits?

Is It Romance If It Doesn’t End Happily? (I come down on the no it's not if it's not got a HEA)

What Is Subtext? How Does It Work?

How to Identify & Avoid Author Scams Betty unknowingly added right to the self pub question here with this one

Focus on Finishing And this one is coming right for me

Truncating Phrases

Five Tips to Keep Track of Characters Behind the Scenes.

Free Workshop: How to Write Fear That Feels Real

Coping Mechanism Thesaurus: Seeking Therapy

How to Raise Stakes in Your Story: Why Your Hero Must Face Death (and Why It Matters)

Tolkien Reading Day: 4 Writing Lessons from J.R.R. Tolkien Every Author Should Know

A Lesson in Perseverance from Walt Disney


And as promised here's chapter two of the novel. If you want to see chapter one it's
here. I am curious as to what you think if you read them (I will probably be locking both of these soon)



Chapter Two

Rosa chattered gaily as Liliana gathered her up from the next door neighbors. She would be forever grateful for the Chemas. They had a son Rosa’s age and were more than willing to babysit Rosa after school and late into the night if need be. Rosa hadn’t been asleep like she should have been when Liliana arrived. She’d been born at night and had a preference for it, much like her mother. Rosa told her all about everything fun she had learned in school as Liliana chivvied her down the sidewalk to their small home. Even in the dark, Liliana could see that she’d have to ask the Chema’s elder son to come mow the lawn for her. Half her paycheck should simply be deposited into the Chemas bank for them.

“Mom, I’m going to be a magician,” she said as she bounded up the stairs toward their shared bathroom. Rosa loved her baths but it was too late tonight. She’d shower without protest before hopefully falling into her bed.

“Is that so?” Real magic might nearly be extinct but illusions and tricks were on the rise. Liliana had a fondness for it herself.

Rosa nodded solemnly. “We had a magician come in for the monthly student event. He was awesome! I’m going to do that someday. Can we see if the library has books on magic?”

“We can see if the library has anything you want to learn, baby.”

“Thanks!” Rosa raced into her room, grabbed her nightgown, and disappeared into the bathroom. At ten years old, she had little need of Liliana’s help for anything these days. It was both a relief and a sweet sorrow. Asha assured her nothing prepared you for your child growing up.

While Rosa would be searching for magic, Liliana planned on using that time to look into Easy. Asha had suggested she do so. Would they have papers from Seaglass? Maybe. It was the second biggest city in the country, the main port of call for trade with other countries and within their own. Was Easy one of those Zuccas? Asha didn’t seem to think he was a danger but if he was part of the Zucca family web, he was going to be very dangerous.

As Rosa showered, Liliana stripped and pulled on her robe. Was she failing at her first tenure as a detective? She and Asha had been working this case for months. Mentally she rolled Phoenix into their big case because she was certain tomorrow Dr. Laselli would tell them that Phoenix was missing muscles and her liver as well as being bled dry. It was exactly how the other six had died. Maybe the press was right in trying to light a fire under them even if it was unfair. They were doing their best. They were up against a clever killer.

Looking at Phoenix’s broken body, thoughts of taking a job here had been a bad idea. They lasted until the reality of how dangerous Seaglass had been settled into her brain. She’d needed a break from the city and her mother in law. Cae was the only grandparent Rosa had left in Seaglass and the woman was so controlling, Liliana’s husband had set down rules for visitation. With Valens’s death, Cae had become insufferable not least of all because she blamed Liliana for his death. No, coming here had been the right thing to do. She was closer to her own mother now who had returned to her mountain hometown after Liliana’s father had passed.

“Mom,” Rosa called.

“What’s up?” She peeked out into the hallway and Rosa was in her nightgown.

“Will you be out late tomorrow night too?” She held out a hand to Liliana.

Liliana locked fingers with her, pulling her close. After a quick hug, she escorted Rosa into her bedroom. “I might be.”

“Can you ask Mrs. Chema if she can bring Artile here to watch us. I’m bored with playing their board games.” Rosa tugged her sheets down.

“I can ask but you know you take our games there.”

“Art’s room smells like he never cleans it. Boys are messy.”

“Some girls too,” Liliana smiled, thinking about her own office. “I’ll talk to the Chemas.”

“Thanks, Mom. Can I read some?”

“It’s late, Rosa. You were asleep before I got home. Why don’t you try to go back to sleep?” She pulled the blankets up and kissed her fussing daughter’s forehead.

“Mom, I’m too old for tuck-in time.”

Liliana huffed. Rosa might be right about that. “How did that happen?”

“Time happens when you’re not looking,” Rosa offered up the old saying and Liliana asked.

“I thought that happened to other people. Night, sweetie.”

“Night night, Mom. May starlight kiss your eyes.”

Liliana smiled. Rosa might feel too old for tuck in time but not the sayings that went with it.

“You too.”

She shut her daughter’s door and went to shower away the river muck that had seeped into her socks. As much as she might hate it, Phoenix was less on her mind than the fact another Zucca had crossed her path. She’d hoped to have left that family behind. She hadn’t realized their web stretched across the country. Maybe she was unfair. Maybe he was just unfortunately named. Time would show all.

# # #

Nensi pulled Asha down into the bed with her. Asha interlaced her fingers with her wife’s, almost surprised by the lines in her pale skin. Surely it was yesterday she had first spotted the tall golden haired northern with eyes of winter sky in the Capitol Gardens. She had trailed this woman halfway through the beautiful landscape working up the nerve to speak to her. Nensi spoke to her first. Asha couldn’t remember what she said. Probably stop following me you dim bulb but somehow it turned into a first date and they had been married twenty years now. Nensi was the only other parent Asha’s twins had known after their father ran out the moment he learned he was going to be one.

“Try to relax, love.” Nensi rolled up onto one arm, looking down into Asha’s face. “You need some sleep. This is getting to be too much.”

“I know but another one, Nensi. We have another one, even if it isn’t official yet. I liked Phoenix, not just as a performer. That was the least of her.”

“I know she helped with rescued children.”

Asha nodded, squeezing her eyes shut. After a few calming breaths, she said, “My job isn’t going to help anyone relax. Tell me about your day, baby.”

“I should go fetch you some of the freshman composition essays. Those will put you straight to sleep.” Nensi smiled. “My upperclassman creative writing class is planning an autumn read out loud for the park. They’ll be reading things from last spring’s class or things they’ve noodled with over the summer. That should be fun.”

Asha snuggled into the bedding. “I like the sound of that. We’ll go, of course. Hopefully. Provided no one does something evil that day.”

“Here’s hoping.”

“I’ll get Liliana to bring Rosa. She’s such a bright little girl, so much less trouble than ours at that age.”

Nensi snorted and settled back on the mattress. “Twins, double the child, triple the chaos.”

“Too damn true.”

“How is Liliana working out?”

“good. You can see where Rosa gets her smarts from. I hope she hangs in there. You know how rough it can be when you’re first starting out as a detective.”

“I know how hard it was for you.” Nensi brushed Asha’s twists back from her face and then sat back up in bed. She snared Asha’s nightcap off the bed stand. “Here, you’re so tired you nearly forgot this.”

With a soft groan, Asha tucked all her twisted locs into the night cap before settling back down again. “She’ll do good here.”

“And you’ll both solve this terrible series of crimes,” Nensi said.

Asha could only hope she was right.

# # #

Ezio stared at another sunrise. For someone who loved the night, he certainly saw enough of them. His swollen eyes ached too much to sleep. He’d been weeping since he arrived back in his home, a place he couldn’t have imagined owning just a few years ago. He bought it from a lumbar baron’s son who had gambled and squandered the family fortune. He felt very little regrets over taking advantage of him. The guy had hit Ezio’s girls – twice, destroying his second chance. Sometimes Ezio wondered where he was now. He’d like to kick him a few more times.

He’d do worse to whatever bastard had killed Phoenix. She didn’t deserve that. Not many deserved to die – and how sad for him that he had known several who absolutely did. As he stroked Honeybunny, the largest and oldest of his clowder of cats, he ached for a cigarette to calm his nerves. He usually wouldn’t smoke if one of his babies was in his lap.

“That’s not really what you want,” he whispered. Of course it wasn’t. he wanted some Comfort, wanted that drug to wrap him up in its soft embrace. That’s how he’d grown up, his owner bringing him up on Flight and back down again on Comfort. He’d begun his sober journey only eight years ago and he was never going back. But some days, like right now, he wanted to race back to his addiction. Comfort would make him forget that Phoenix was dead, that he was going to miss her in so many ways.

What was he going to tell the kids at Acorn Hall? She did even more work there than he did. All those kids rescued from people like the one who sold him when he was a child, all those kids waiting for Phoenix’s comforting presence, helping to reassure them that yes they might be little acorns now but one day, they would be the tree, strong, sturdy. No one could hurt them again, not like they’d been hurt.

Most were too young to understand that pleasant thought wasn’t entirely true. There was always more pain in the world and it could come for you at any time. It had come for Phoenix and now the kids would have to be told about her death. He hoped that the papers reported that Phoenix Wing had been killed. The children knew her as Marlaine. Maybe no one had read about it yet. He’d have Aarre call in the psychiatrists for Acorn Hall to help handle it later today.

Shooing Honeybunny off his lap, Ezio stood up, his robe barely closed and stepped out the doors to the balcony. He lit up a cigarette as he watched the sky bloom into roses. Who would want to hurt Phoenix? How had they caught her unawares? She, like a lot of abuse survivors, were hypervigilant. She had a carefully monitored client list. She never worked the street, hadn’t done so in years. Had she been simply grabbed off the street? The moniker – Quartz Heart Killer– echoed in his skull. Ezio flicked his cigarette away and hugged himself. No, he wouldn’t think about that. Phoenix couldn’t have met her end that way.

He’d been paying attention to the cases. Most of the sex workers who had fallen to this monster had been street workers or ones from crooked houses. The homeless had been targeted to but both groups walked through life with the target around their necks, thumping against their hardening hearts. How easy it would have been for him to harden his own heart after all he’d been through? He’d stitched his soul together but not all by himself. He’d been lucky enough to find helpers and he thanked the Goddess and God for them every day, meaning it deep to his central well.

Ezio dragged back inside. He could catch a few hours of sleep before he had to be at the morgue. Asha Chase wouldn’t lie to him. She watched out for his place, dealt with him fairly. She’d even come to the more tame shows. He cultivated all the friendships he could within Ancono’s police force. His places were legal and he was determined to keep them that way. He had worked too hard for what he had to risk it.

Three of his cats had claimed his bed since he hadn’t been using it. He crawled under the covers and let them resettle themselves. Honeybunny joined him, pressing her bulk against his hip. Ezio dug fingers into her fur and fought for rest.