Dan Keeble ~ writer

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Feb 2024/Apr 2024

Wintertime stops most outdoor activity, and this year it seemed to have dragged on well into Springtime. Even now the temperature is struggling to maintain double figures. Maybe being ‘confined to barracks’ is the reason why the output has increased this quarter. They say make hay while the sun shines. I find that doesn’t apply to my writing. As soon as the sun shines, I am drawn to take advantage of it with outdoor pursuits. How I envy disciplined writers that are able to to stick to a routine throughout all seasons.

Accepted stories have been Close Encounter ~ Friday Flash Fiction, Relationship Lessons ~ Twist & Twain, Victor’s Violin ~ Barren Fiction, High Intentions ~ The Lit Nerds, and Break In ~ Green Silk Journal.

Articles accepted were Sales Talk ~ Short Humour Site, Writing About What You Don’t Know ~ Scribble, and my regular Danky’s Pique column in Regional Life included Getting Old, Free to Choose, and The Widow’s Two Mites.

Nov 2023/Jan 2024

An idea for a story can often arise from a strange situation, unusual place, or an overheard conversations. Maybe simply an event or dream that remains in the memory. Such events can produce something less predictable and hackneyed.

Last summer, I was walking along the beach near my home and got talking to a guy with a metal detector. I discovered he was with a circus, visiting for the season at the local theme park. Looking down at his feet, I joked his shoes looked normal. He laughed, saying he was the ringmaster, and left the clowning to others.

The idea of a circus performer on the beach seemed out of place. Why? Who knows why I thought it so? But it had me imagining clowns taking a break on the beach to work out a new routine. The result was Old Timers, which was published in Twist & Twain.

My short story ~ Close Encounter, appeared in Friday Flash Fiction. 

My regular Danky’s Pique column contributions to Regional Life for this period were, Built to Last, a satirical view of modern design disasters, Bethlehem with Dinosaur, a humorous take on the annual school nativity play, and Ring Out the Old, a reveal of the vast sums of royalties artists make from repetitive Christmas songs.

If I cannot see it, neither will the reader.

Whether setting a scene, describing an action, an object or character, imagination may not be enough. It can leave a story sounding flat. For a reader to fully immerse themselves in a story, a writer needs to totally visualise it before a word is set down. If it can be worked out and snagged in the mind first, it will be believable on paper.

I have found that running a plot idea through my mind before falling into sleep allows me to visualise a story in great detail. Amazingly, not just the scenes get played out, but often words and phrases naturally arise.

The story Old Timers, mentioned above, involved some complex routines carried out by a couple of ageing clowns, tried out on unsuspecting young lads. I spent many nights running the actions through my mind as I lay in bed until I felt I had got it perfect. At one point, I became so immersed in the action, I began laughing. I had visualised the entire story, setting, and characters. So much so, when the publisher used a stock photo to accompany the story, I felt disappointed the guys in the beach picture were not the two imaginary old guys I had visualised in my head.

Aug 2023/Oct 2023.

Not a very productive quarter. There are always too many summer distractions. Growing bonsai trees requires a lot of care. Particularly when deciding not to expand the collection because of the specialist treatment needed, and then yielding to temptation at the garden centre. Then there is woodturning. The lathe is set up in an unheated garage, which means having to take advantage of the warmer months to produce yet even more bowls, boxes and wooden fruit to fill the home.

I have written from the age of sixteen, and have enjoyed many had other interests along the way, like genealogy, wine making etc. as other do. They have been temporary distractions, having come and gone. But my head is always full of the next writing task.

Just two flash fiction pieces accepted in this period. Temporary Flight accepted by Across the Margin, and a piece entitled Homage accepted by Short Beasts Literary Review. Although this piece was the work of fiction, it was built around the death of my grandfather, who was killed in WW1 on the first day of the first battle at Mons. It is the third time his story has appeared in print. Despite having never had the opportunity to meet him, I think I have honoured him.

My Danky’s Pique columns included We Better Get Up Early, a satirical look at the time we are expected to allocate each day to stay healthy in mind and body, Mr. Negative Will Positively Hate You, and People’s Dogs and Kids Are So Cute, highlighting why they are not.

Most of my working life was spent in Sales. I learned early from industrial training that it was a numbers game. The cliché, ‘You have to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince,’ served me well both in selling and writing. As a young man I lacked the confidence that went with the pre-conceived idea of a salesman. So I simply got through the number of rejections faster. I learned not to be derailed from my goal. It made me an effective salesman while I improved my skills. Rejections were necessary hurdles to the finish line. If my average sale was one in 30, I simply stayed focussed and worked hard to get through the 29 rejects swiftly.

Receiving a rejection from an editor now has very little effect on me. I record the fact on my spread sheet, and quickly review or re-edit its suitability for the next publication. When we know that our manuscript is only one of perhaps a hundred submissions hoping to be one of maybe six selected per edition, it is obvious rejection is part of the writing business. Wrong frog? Swiftly hop along to the next.

May 2023/July 2023

Finally the warm Springtime arrived. The time when we emerge from our homes and begin again to enjoy the outdoors. There are places to visit or weeds to attend to. The recovery from hibernation pulls us away from the keyboard. For many, writing in the sunshine is a natural pleasure. Unfortunately, I find it difficult to get words down if I’m not in a business space, sitting at a desk. At a push, I can manage to scribble with a pad on my lap sitting on a sofa.

I was pleased that my story, Growing Friendship, was voted for a third prize in Scribble Magazine. A story about the philandering antics of a pop star entitled Cuckoo in the Burrow was accepted by Juste Literary Magazine, and my shortest ever story of six words was published in the 2023 Six Word Wonder anthology available on Amazon. 300 brief tales were selected from 24,000 submissions.

My Danky’s Pique column contributions for the period were Respect, pointing out how little is shown today, Slack Fill, bemoaning deceptive packaging, and Supermarkets~more Like DIY Stores, highlighting how self-service has now gone too far.

I was amazed recently to discover something many writers have always known, but has slipped by me during a lifetime of writing. I presumed I had consumed all the tips and helpful advice to help writers get published.

Like many, I have received hundreds of rejections over the years. Some have been short and formal, others pleasant and encouraging. But I have treated them all with equal sincerity, whether, ‘Not for me,’ or ‘We look forward to receiving further submissions from you.’ Never have I assigned any great importance to the wording used, assuming there was nothing to be read into them. That was until I read an article written by an author classifying different responses to unsolicited submissions. I had never heard the expression Tiered Rejections before.

Ignorantly, I presumed that deluged editors had no time other than to send out their usual standard reject response. Not so. Now I understand, apart from a standard polite rejection note, devoid of any praise or encouragement, there is often a middle tier response containing praise and regret, with an indication that future submissions would be welcome. Then there is a top tier, containing a personal note and maybe a suggestion or two, even the opportunity to re-submit.

Although I send work to editors who have previously published my writing, I have foolishly failed to read anything into rejection notes, other than, ‘No thanks’. Having back-tracked on several past rejections, I clearly see the opportunities I have failed to grasp. It has been a hard-learned lesson, and proves that whatever our craft, there is always something new to discover.

There is an excellent website which lists the rejection form tiers of many literary journals. https://www.rejectionwiki.com/index.php?title=Literary_Journals_and_Rejections

February 2023/April 2023

This early Springtime has felt like the longest and coldest I can recall. Watching the too-many rainy days encourage the weeds and lawn to grow rapidly, while being unable to tend to them, has been frustrating. But being kept indoors at the desk has resulted in a greater output.

A short piece entitled Lost Child was published by Friday Flash Fiction. A longer story, Not The Right Father, appeared in Twist & Twain, an Indian publication. During this period two pieces of humour were accepted by The Short Humour Site. Malodies, was an alternative interpretation of common ills, while Gardening Shoes was a simple poem. A fantasy story was published by The Green Silk Journal, entitled The Chair.

My regular Regional Life column contributions included, Don’t Recycle the Sofa, about the challenges faced when trying to give unwanted items away, It’s All About Ticking the Boxes, highlighting the insincerity of conformity in the modern world, and Artificial Intelligence (AI), pointing out the dangers it can bring.

I recently read a story where a character was doing some woodturning, using tools which are not used in that craft. Most readers would not have realised the error, and still have enjoyed the story. But as woodturning is one of my pastimes, it reminded me of something a well published author said, Write about what you know. and if you don’t know you better found out.

November 2022/January 2023

So much of this period has been devoted to my partner’s serious ill health, which culminated in her undergoing surgery just before the Christmas break. Some people (myself included) contracted Covid and shrugged it off in a day or two. She, unfortunately, ended up with Long Covid leaving her with multiple long term debilitating ill health challenges.

However, I did managed to squeeze in a couple of successes. No Conscious Way Out was published in Potato Soup Journal. I was pleased to learn it had also been chosen for inclusion in their annual anthology to be published in March. Available now from Amazon – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Potato-Soup-Journal-Best-2022/dp/B0BW2ZKSL6/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1678438823&sr=8-4  (UK) and https://amzn.to/3JrAlgA  (USA)

A short piece of humorous fiction entitled, Moving On was published in Emblazoned Soul Literary Review. My monthly Danky’s Pique column in Regional Life Magazine included, Spare a Thought – nothing happens without and order, defending advertising, Please Hold – your call is important to us, challenging poor customer attention, and Don’t Recycle that Sofa, relaying the amusing challenges encountered when trying to give away unwanted stuff on recycle sites.

When we were young, my sister and I would cut out pictures of figures from comic books and magazines, and paste them onto cardboard. We would then create an appropriate scenery inside a cardboard box for our plays. A pirate would be set within sea scenery, or a lady wearing Victorian dress would be placed in a country house, with perhaps an old gentleman with a monocle.

I have often reflected upon those days when choosing a setting for my characters, and wondered why I neglect doing the same now. It’s not enough to give our characters any environment in which to act out their story. Their homes and surroundings should reflect their personalities. After all, our own homes and where we live, reveal a lot about who we are.

Occasionally, I download a picture from the internet of a scene I wish to put a character into. Having it open on my desktop, I imagine a person’s relationship with that environment. I find it helps to creates a more realistic story. It is so easy to put the emphasis on the character and the challenges being faced, while overlooking the surroundings that impact upon the story.

August 2022/October 2022

Back comes that article or story for the tenth time with another, Sorry, but it’s not for us. Self doubt may well arise after that many outings, and the temptation to consign it to the long-term WIP file, presuming it to be unworthy of passing another editor’s desk, is not surprising. Often, all it needs is one more try. Many times, I have found that, apart from the numbers game we all have to live with, a piece can struggle to find the right fit, particularly if the genre falls between two camps. Fortunately, there are so many publications to explore, and perseverance can pay off after more research. Tell Me Straight, was a story I recently had accepted. It struggled eleven times to find a match until Change Seven said yes.

This period, I also succeeded with The Send published in Biostories, and Old Film Script, a humorous story accepted by Script & Twain.

My DANDY’S PIQUE column submissions to Regional Life were Food Allergy Love?, Annoying Cliches are Infuriating, and It’s Life Jim, But Not as We Know It, highlighting how the modern technological world is falling apart.

When I enjoy a story written in a style I like to emulate, I make a note of the other publications referred to in the writer’s bio. It is a rich source of future outlets to submit to, and an excellent way to build up a library of suitable publications.

May 2022/July 2022

I enjoy writing. Even if ideas and the words elude me. When plodding against a strong headwind, I can still keep my head down and focus on the final draft. But it can be an all-consuming time stealer, and feel like an indulgence, particularly when family challenges arise.

My partner contracted Covid-19 at the beginning of the year. It has left her seriously ill and struggling for months. There has been so many emergency hospital trips that we are beginning to recognise familiar ambulance crews in the street. Setting aside moments for scribbling under these circumstances has felt neglectful, however much on-going support I give. Yet, regular column submissions still had to be met. And even if there has not been the desire to commit hours to new ideas, I have nevertheless managed to re-visit deadwood in the WIP file, and successfully breathe life into a couple of them.

Two such stories were Salad Days, a story of an old lady reliving her earlier life of crime, accepted by 10 x 10 magazine, and Growing Friendship, a sci-fi story accepted by Scribble magazine.

My regular DANKY’S PIQUE column contributions were: Did You Ask For an Opinion?, about judgemental people, Come Away From There-You’ll Get Dirty, about the obsession with keep kids clean, and Hey, Listen Up Doc, highlighting the challenges experienced when trying to communicate with a doctor.

February 2022/April 2022

Lots of articles and stories submitted during this period, but a slow response from only one or two. My DANKY’S PIQUE column included Does That Music Seem Loud to You? about music in documentaries, Kids Today Are Worse Than Ever, dispelling the myth that the generations before them were little angels, Me, Pushy?-No Way, about pushy parents.

Write a story using, Nun, Ironing board, and Surprise, she challenged me with. What!? It is amazing how you can stretch your imagination when you try hard. The result was a short story entitled Waves of Doubt, accepted for publication by Ireland’s Own magazine.

Occasionally, but sadly not often, I receive a few comments along with a rejection note. I say sadly because I feel that many editors might be tempted to add a short critique when a piece just misses the mark, or there just wasn’t enough space. The problem is that it can be a risky action to take, especially if the contributor is not experienced and seasoned enough to accept a rejection and feedback in good faith. Then, what can follow is an angry response from the writer arguing with the editor about the merits of his submission. Editors and slush pile readers do not have the time to enter into long exchanges of opinion, so a thanks, but no thanks often has to suffice. How that is interpreted is down to the writer’s experience and personality.

Rejection is part of writing. Statistically, less than 7% of submissions end up being accepted for publication. If a magazine has to select five stories a month from say fifty submissions, it is possible that ten or more may well have fitted the bill. So a lot of the time we are just up against the numbers.

If we have honed and polished our writing to perfection, then we should accept that our submission will be one of many, whether good or bad. Salesman don’t make a sale every time. Not every dart hits the bullseye. And not every football hits the back of the net. But if our cherished words hit the goalpost, and the editor takes the trouble to say how close we were, we should be grateful for the support and encouragement.

November 2021/January 2022

My three Danky’s Pique column articles for the month included, Keeping Us In the Loop, about the excessive text/email communications received when purchasing online. Grandad, What Was It Like in Your Day, highlighting how the elderly are still having their day, compared with the anaesthetised young. And lastly, Pay Attention to Deep referring to the confusing and amusing instruction leaflets supplied with products originating from abroad.

Two stories accepted for publication were, A Man’s Dog – Everyday Fiction, and Love the Trees Until the Leaves Fall – Fiction on the Web.

I first started out writing over sixty years ago, in the hope of seeing my efforts in print, . That was a time when there was a plethora of print magazines, and not just for those with special interests. There was also an abundance of general interest magazines to write for. These were slowly replaced by the weekend newspaper supplements, and finally online journals.

Besides the satisfaction of seeing my work on the page, there was the welcomed financial reward for the effort taken. And it was not difficult to supplement a full-time income with a few articles and stories. Local newspapers paid well too for items of human interest. Payment was three to four times what it is nowadays, and it was not unreasonable to dream of making a living from writing.

Today, there are many more freelance writers, and an outstanding number of online magazines, with very few in a position to provide any financial compensation. Local newspapers, that once had a high paying circulation, now contain very little local interest, as the majority of the pages have been turned over to advertising to pay for the costly distribution to a smaller readership. Magazine competition, whether print or online, is fierce, and publishing and presentation requirements are demanding, even when aiming at a publication that does pay.

The business of writing is more challenging nowadays to those who seek financial reward. Perhaps American writer William Faulkner, writing in 1958, summed up how we should approach writing today. He said, ‘Keep it amateur. You’re not writing for money, but for pleasure. It should be fun. And it should be exciting.’ Looks like we don’t have much of a choice, but to treat it as an indulgent hobby.

                                                                                                        ……………see archived entries for 2019/21