A potted history of my short fiction career to date

So the double publication in Midnight Echo 10 caused me to check back on my overall short fiction publications to date. I’ve had a total of 52 short stories, novelettes and novellas published so far, and one self-published novella. Here’s how it breaks down:2005 – 1 story published. My first, but it was unpaid.

2006 – 2 stories published. Both unpaid, still learning the ropes.

2007 – 1 story published, but it was my first paid publication, albeit only a token payment.

2008 – 2 published stories. This year is also when I first self-published the “Ghost of the Black” novella on my website.

2009 – 9 stories published. This is the year I really started taking short fiction writing seriously.

2010 – 7 published stories.

2011 – 11 published stories – my biggest year to date in terms of numbers.

2012 – 10 published stories.

2013 – 10 published stories (so far). (EDIT 7/10/13 – I just learned that All the Wealth in the World will be published in Lakeside Circus in November, so this has gone up by one since the original posting.)
It wasn’t until 2012 that I sold my first story at pro rates, but lots of the previous years included several semi-pro sales and hardly any stories were given away after 2007 (although a few were token payments and one given to a charity anthology.) I’ve had a few pro sales since that first one, and I hope to continue to make more.

This list doesn’t include reprints in Year’s Best collections or podcasts or anything like that (of which there have been quite a few) – it’s purely the first publication of each story. And it doesn’t include novels, obviously. It is proof, though, that hard work and bloody minded determination, coupled with a solid effort to continue to learn and improve your craft, will pay dividends in the end. And given my love of short fiction, I don’t plan to give up any time soon. I have two Personal Bests now to try to beat – more than 11 stories published in one calendar year and more than 2 stories in the same publication. Neither of those things, of course, are more important than quality stories, in well-paying, quality publications. That will always be my primary goal: Writer better, sell better.