Voluted Tales Magazines is looking for stories, flash fiction, and novelletes between 7,500-10,000 words, as well as comics/graphic short stories and artwork which cover the spectrum of science fiction and fantasy genres as well as stempunk. Horror and paranormal romance are considered but not as seriously.

Voluted Tales is published out of Australia. Because they publish such specific work at such a high volume it should not be a surprise that they have a very high acceptance rate.  They accept around 75% of the work submitted to them. They also respond to most work within a month but occasionally it will take them up to six months. They are also able to pay each of their authors $10 US per accepted work.

Voluted Tales is currently reading for its first special edition, entitled “The Darkness Internal” which is hosted by guest editor Christopher Nadeau. Christopher is looking for the following kinds of submissions

“The Darkness Internal”- Looking for stories that are outside the norm. They can be horror, dark fantasy, science fiction or even mainstream lit as long they meet the following criteria: Tales of inner darkness. Think Kafka or Phillip K Dick or any U.S. Congressional hearing. Stories should focus on an internal struggle or occurrence. Not looking for genre staples such as vampires, werewolves, and especially not zombies. More interested in tales of torment and struggle as defined by the classic “Man Versus Himself” approach to writing. Still, if you can find a fresh and exciting way to tell the story following the criteria and using those fabled beings, knock us out!

The special edition is accepting submissions through a special email address. They are also still reading for the regular editions of the magazine as well. For their normal magazine you must register with the site and then submit with their personal submissions manager. I find their personal submission manager a little hard to use, but not too complicated. The one thing you need to know is that you have to sign up for a free subscription before submitting.

To read all their submission guidelines and to learn more about their magazine visit their website here: http://volutedtales.com/page/submission-guidelines

That doesn’t sound like you?

How about, it’s Friday night and you’re exhausted from a long week at work.  All you want to do is sleep, but your manuscript is almost done.  If you lie down, your brain will keep you awake but at the same time you’re sick of looking at a computer screen.  Maybe a bit of TV will relax you enough to – you get a text.  Your friends are going to the movies.  It’s a ‘working weekend’ but you convince yourself you’ll have time for the book.  You grab your jacket and head out the door.

We are our own worst enemies.  As writers there is a story in us that needs to be told but time and again we find ways to avoid sitting down and – well – writing.  But procrastination is not the curse we think it is.  No, procrastination is our subconscious mind helping us work through stubborn moments – some people call it ‘writers block’ and others ‘being lazy.’  It’s neither.

When a writer is in the zone, that fantastic place where we can’t help but put words on the page whether we’re at the computer or in the middle of a conference at work, we either know where we’re going with the manuscript or the characters are being particularly forthcoming for a change.  However, it’s rare that a writer remains in the zone throughout an entire piece.  There are times when any excuse to avoid writing is a good excuse – and really, it is.

Procrastination is a necessary coping mechanism and a useful tool for writers.  There are two kinds: escapism & avoidest behaviour.  Simply put, those who use procrastination recharge or refocus their mind and/or body.  Both techniques are useful for a writer, just in slightly different ways.  The more you are aware of why you procrastinate, the better prepared you will be when you eventually do get back to writing.

The escapist is a writer in need of recharging: you go to sleep, you watch TV or a movie, you read a book or listen to music.  You submerse yourself completely in something else.  This is not an absolute break from writing though.  You need to feel awake and rejuvenated in order to write.  Sometimes, we need to distance ourselves from one thing in order to kick our brain back into gear.  The down-time is necessary: we are replenishing our creative reservoir.

An avoider is a writer in need of refocusing: you walk the dog, clean the bathroom, or collate your files.  You are performing a task that keeps your body active and allows your mind to spin.  Sitting at the computer waiting for the right idea or the right words to come, means you’ll be focusing on how you’re not getting anywhere.  By occupying your body with an alternate task you are giving your subconscious permission to spin while your conscious mind focuses on a new undertaking.  The brain can then fit ideas together and make connections without the hassle of our inner voice telling it to ‘hurry up.’  This is the epitome of the phrase, “Don’t think about it and it will come to you.”

By recognizing your perchance for procrastination, you become aware of your subconscious needs.  We all require down-time, what we do with it and how we use it to our advantage separates the smart writers from those who are lost.  Give yourself permission to procrastinate and let your ideas incubate.   Fighting yourself, telling yourself you should be writing instead of doing this alternate task, does not help.  You block your subconscious rhythms and it takes even longer to sort through and process what you need than if you just let yourself go.

Take hold of your procrastination tendencies and use it as the tool it’s meant to be.  If knowledge is power, then empower yourselves as writers: go forth and procrastinate with a clear conscience – give yourself permission to be distracted in order to make sense of your work and finally move forward.

About the Author
M.J. Moores began her career as a high school English teacher with a passion for creative writing.  Recently, she left the teaching profession to work as a freelance writer as she prepares her science fiction novel for publishing.  Unimpressed with the lack of straightforward, simple (and free) resources available to new and emerging writers, she started her own online editing company and writers’ blog (Infinite Pathways) to help her fellow compatriots.  M.J. is the author of Publicizing Yourself: A Beginners Guide to Author Marketing available through Smashwords. http://infinite-pathways.org  –  http://facebook.com/AuthorMJMoores

When I was growing up I was obsessed with the Boxcar Children, not the later books when the children were wealthy and supported, but the first book when they were making a life for themselves in an abandoned boxcar. The books where homes were established in churches, barns, buses, boats, and trees all captured my imagination.

In this writing prompt imagine a story figuring around a main character or a group of main characters who live in or are building an unusual house for themselves. The traditional way to do this, in books like My Side of The Mountain or The Boxcar Children is to follow a child protagonist as they flee their parents or social services. However that does not need to be the case.

If you don’t feel like writing a whole narrative about why these characters have come to live in this house you can discard the characters and instead focus on providing details about the house. Is it made from scratch, or a modified rocket ship, or something else entirely? What does it contain? What does it look like? How does it function? These are all details you can include.

In fact if you start describing the modified house you might find that a much larger story extends from it. By describing the house you might even learn who made it and who lives in it. This is a fun exercise because it stretches the imagination and allows for unusual thoughts to occur.

Caketrain is a primarily print journal based out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 2003 and their goal has stayed the same: To publish the best contemporary works of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. They have become a respected modern journal and are known for publishing trendy but thoughtful literary work.

Caketrain has a 50 page online preview this issue, so it is very easy to get a feel for what sort of work they are looking for. Caketrain has a very low acceptance rate, they publish under 1% of the work they receive in all genres. This is partially because they get a lot of submissions and partially because they publish a lot of already established authors like Matt Bell, Sean Thomas Dougherty, and Denise Duhamel.  They only release one issue a year with pieces from about 50 different writers.

You can submit up to seven poems at a time, or one work of fiction or creative non-fiction (no book reviews), works of visual art, or any combination of the three. They do not accept postal submissions. Submissions should include a cover letter with titles of pieces as well as a brief biographical statement (no longer then a hundred words). They do not accept work that has been previously published elsewhere.

Caketrain also publishes a number of books, including novellas and story collections, although the books tend to be published via a contest with an entry fee.

If you are interested in learning more or submitting please visit their website at http://www.caketrain.org/submissions/.