Grinding Away

Getting back into writing and submitting short stories is one of the bazillion things I’m trying to accomplish this year. My first story for the year just got sent away for “Bikes in Space.” I ran it through my crit group last week, and after some revisions and tweaking, I’m really pleased with it. Since I wrote the story for a particular market, I didn’t have to deal with the void left by Duotrope going to a paid service. I have to admit, I was sort of dreading the process of finding new markets to submit to and tracking submissions manually. Talk about a grind. But lo and behold! The void is no more!

The Grinder is here from the people at Diabolical Plots! It offers many of the features Duotrope does, but it’s free. Plus if you’ve downloaded your submissions spreadsheet from Duotrope, you can import it directly into the grinder. It worked perfectly for me. Now, I’ve liked these people ever since they declared one of my shorts as “the best story I’ve ever read” but now I like them even more for helping out the masses of writers who can’t justify shelling out $50 a year for whatever reason.

I found the system well-organized and  easy to use, and I’m the kind of person who doesn’t do well with change. (I was using Windows 2000 up until 2011.) So check it out, kick the tires, and give it a spin. The Grinder is still in Beta, so I’m sure there are more great improvements to come!