Happy Day

I got good news in my inbox this evening:  one of my stories has been shortlisted at a major, pro-paying sci-fi market!  I won't name the story or the market just yet, just in case it could affect the outcome, but I wanted to share the good news!  I did a little happy dance and printed up the email, not to file as usual, but to hang on my desk for a little while.  I ought to know the outcome within a month.

Happy day!

I'M DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm done, I'm Done, I'm dOnE, I'm DoNe, I'm DONE!!!!

Yes indeed, I banged out the ending for my first novel today.  108,901 words (give or take), 5 1/2 months in the making, and I've been writing daily for the last four months.  How about THAT for an accomplishment?!

Of course, I'll still be doing a bit of tweaking over the next few days, probably a week or a little more.  I have a HUGE list of things that need to be added in, researched, or decided on.  Plus, I neglected the timeline towards the end, so I need to get that sorted.  Some things are details I need to insert here and there (like changes to the boyfriend character from my last post,) some are from times I didn't want to break my flow by stopping to do research so I could write one line (I just put things in all caps so I'd know to come back to it, like INSERT LEGAL JARGON HERE,) and some were names I wanted to have significance, but didn't want to stop my flow to think about--for example, I didn't even name the ship my protagonist was supposed to be on.  I just wrote SHIP each time.  Now that I no longer have to worry about slowing down the narrative, I can make some of these decisions and use a simple "global search and replace" function to turn SHIP and other such things into whatever I choose.  Some of these things can probably wait for draft two, but I'd like to get a lot of them off my list before diverting my attention elsewhere.

But now the question is, do I read it through one time to make sure it flows, or just wait until I'm ready to start editing?  Distance and time give my editorial voice a great deal of strength, so I always set aside a draft for a month or more before revising it.  It's more like somebody else wrote it that way, and I can more easily spot its flaws and tell myself where I need to tweak and rewrite.  But I always give it a first readthrough before doing this, because I want to spot any holes in consistency and other glaring errors.  I figure anything I can spot while I'm still excited about (and biased towards) the story are pretty big ones and worth fixing right away.

However, I've never finished anything as long as a novel before.  Reading through it will be a big project, especially considering that any "glaring errors" I find are likely to be tied to multiple parts of the narrative, requiring a lot of work to fix.  And I am eager to move on to stories again.  I'm chomping at the bit, really.  In addition, it's been five months since I've seen the beginning, so I've likely already reached the necessary distance for that part--so if I start reading it, I'll probably start doing some heavy revising right away--which isn't what I want to do right now.

Hmm, it sounds like I've just talked myself out of a read-thru.  It's just as well, since I really do want to get back to work on stories for a while.

Now here's a question I'm curious what other people's opinions are:  do I get to call myself a novelist since I've completed one, or do I need to get paid first (or at least have it in print)?

Pandora's Time Sale!!!!

Almost exactly six months after my first sale, I have made another one!

Pandora's Time will appear in the anthology A Glitch in the Continuum!  This is from the Library of Science Fiction and Fantasy Press, which is the same press that is publishing Doomology, where I made my first sale.

I'm really happy with this one.  This was only the third market I sent it to!  I've never placed anything this quickly before (although I can't say much in that regard since this is only my second sale.)  But to boost my ego even further, when I looked around the forums over at Library of the Living Dead, I saw that the editor is still reading a few of the submissions.  However, he decided to send out some acceptances that were in his "yes, definitely" pile--so he wanted mine straight off, he didn't even have to wait in case something better came along!  Yes, it's true, I'm flying high right now!

Doomology Cover Art!

I'm very excited today because I've finally been able to join the forums over at the Library of the Living Dead Press--the parent group that is publishing my first story.  I kept encountering errors and haven't tried in a few weeks, but today I decided to give it another go, and it worked!  So I'm now a member.  I'm not huge into message boards, but I'll definitely be stopping by intermittently.

But that's not the best part.  The best part is that I stopped by just in time, because the cover art for Doomology was posted up there yesterday!  Check it out:

What do you think?  That's the book that will have my work inside!

I Have a Contract!

Yes indeed, the contract for Night Terrors, which was recently accepted by the anthology Doomology:  The Dawning of Disasters from Library of Science Fiction and Fantasy Press, was sent to me yesterday.  All the terms are now in black and white (well, pixels anyway) and is just waiting for my digital "signature" for me to return to them.  It feels good.  It's mostly been a waiting game since the acceptance letter two months ago (and I am aware that there is L-O-T-S of waiting in this industry) but now I have something concrete.

I also have a timeline.  The contract states that they will "publish and commence distribution" by August 1, 2011 or all rights will revert to me.  Therefore, in a year and a week at the latest, I will have a book with my story in it!

This is so exciting!  My career begins to unfold.

Well, back to writing, got to work on the next one.  The story/novel inspired by my dream (which I blogged about here) has been flowing pretty well so far.  I still have to make a lot of decisions about it, but that hasn't stopped me from getting started.

Night Terrors Sale!!

SUCCESS!!!!!
I feel so incredibly high right now!  Something I've been waiting for for a long time has happened.

I SOLD A STORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, my science fiction story Night Terrors will appear in the anthology Doomology:  The Dawning of Disasters from the Library of Science Fiction and Fantasy Press.  I'm so excited!  Happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, Happy, Happy, Happy, Happy, HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY!

I don't have any details on publication schedule at this time, but the table of contents ought to be on their website shortly.  Stay tuned for updates!

Happy happy Happy Happy HAPPY!!!!!!