Aigner Loren Wilson Writer & Editor
Literary Speculative Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Games
The path I took to become a full-time writer, I don't think, is all that unique. But one of the biggest things that helped me was reading posts like this from authors who were where I wanted to be. I've mentioned it before in tons of my craft articles, but I used other authors' careers as a guide map.
Stories, stories, stories, and bread! But mostly story news about my novella, novelette, and short stories.
I write and edit ... a lot. It's my all-time everyday oxygen-blood. It is what fuels me. Yes, it's also my work, but writing is the thing I would do even if my career was in some other industry. Creating stories and thinking about them ARE the things I do instead of most other things. But it's also something that doesn't just happen.
So, I thought I ended July with a bang, but August ended up being my best month for short story sales in 2022 so far. In total, I made 3 story sales to top magazines and anthologies in the month. I'm more daring and wild in these newer stories. And I love it.
Ending July with a bang and kicking off August with two more short story sales, novel query and submission news, and starting my August short story challenge.
I've been spending my time doing a lot of career planning and looking to the future. The question on my mind is: this time next year, where do I want to be? The answers I've been chewing on are the steps and moves I need to make to get to that dream writer-self by July 2023. I do this type of thinking/planning every year and whether or not I get the thing I want, I always end up in a better place than where I started with opportunities crawling out of the woodwork. But how do I build on that to make sure my career and craft are constantly growing?
Along with a link to one of my June 2022 stories, I've included a large list of abortion funds for people to volunteer with, donate to, and use for whatever resources they need.
I feel like I've been heavy in this cavern of learning and consuming over the past month. I don't think I've made any big sales, though I did hear back about a story being held for further review. Bittersweet news. I hope the story gets accepted, but if it doesn't, it getting held means the story is doing something right.
Help me pick a new blog post topic! With my workload and interest, I feel like the whole 'What I'm Consuming' blog post doesn't really align with the work I want to spend my time on. I've been kicking around the idea of what to use this week for and have come up with nothing.
All about what I've been working on over the past month, including my recent sales to the Washington Post, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and so much more.
Aigner Loren Wilson Writer & Editor 