Sometimes I Have To Just Be Happy

Really. I do.

darkprism_fics and I got our manuscript together, and Darkprism did the cover letter and other bits and we submitted it to Torquere Press last Friday. It's a gay D/s and bdsm romance, so it fits their market pretty thoroughly.

We actually heard back from them on Sunday morning, simply telling us that they received the manuscript; but that was nice to get.

I'm really proud and happy about getting a whole book written, edited, and actually submitting it. The fact that Darkprism and I are probably most of the way through a second book and wrestling with it has kind of obscured the "omg, we submitted something for publication", but I really want to just savor the fact that we have. It's solid, character-driven, and has good plot, and I feel good about that, and happy that my writing abilities have improved over just these few months.

I wanted to know what it felt like to write a whole novel, and now I do. It's mostly just a lot of good, hard work that employs my whole brain in ways that I really enjoy, as it's been both right and left brain stuff that I never got to use all at once the way I get to do with writing. And, yes, I probably should now go write some hard SF or allow myself to write something more along the lines of Sean Stewart's fantasies. I am thinking through lots of things for the AI-driven "Journey to the West".

But I can't help but remember emailing Sean for a few months about his books, and how much I loved them and how little he'd been told that people really, really enjoy them and how little those books were appreciated. And how much more fun and popularity he now has not writing anymore. It's one of those odd things that linger.

Sometimes I Have To Just Be Happy

Really. I do.

darkprism_fics and I got our manuscript together, and Darkprism did the cover letter and other bits and we submitted it to Torquere Press last Friday. It's a gay D/s and bdsm romance, so it fits their market pretty thoroughly.

We actually heard back from them on Sunday morning, simply telling us that they received the manuscript; but that was nice to get.

I'm really proud and happy about getting a whole book written, edited, and actually submitting it. The fact that Darkprism and I are probably most of the way through a second book and wrestling with it has kind of obscured the "omg, we submitted something for publication", but I really want to just savor the fact that we have. It's solid, character-driven, and has good plot, and I feel good about that, and happy that my writing abilities have improved over just these few months.

I wanted to know what it felt like to write a whole novel, and now I do. It's mostly just a lot of good, hard work that employs my whole brain in ways that I really enjoy, as it's been both right and left brain stuff that I never got to use all at once the way I get to do with writing. And, yes, I probably should now go write some hard SF or allow myself to write something more along the lines of Sean Stewart's fantasies. I am thinking through lots of things for the AI-driven "Journey to the West".

But I can't help but remember emailing Sean for a few months about his books, and how much I loved them and how little he'd been told that people really, really enjoy them and how little those books were appreciated. And how much more fun and popularity he now has not writing anymore. It's one of those odd things that linger.

Thunderstorms, Messed-up Knee, and a Good Summer

It's been a very wet summer. Lots of rainstorms, thunderstorms, and a long wet spring that led into a very wet summer. It's actually been humid here! After commenting about condensation on drink glasses in Vermont, it was funny to get home and actually have condensation on our glasses here, which we never get.

The garden likes it, and everything out here on the Front Range is unusually green. The sun's still be out, and it's still been hot, but the tomatoes are a little slower, though the corn and produce has been good around here and the farmers are talking about bumper crops and there's hay everywhere. My allergies have been mostly under control, too, as the nearly daily rains have washed all kinds of stuff out of the air.

I think my favorite thing has been doing backstroke in the neighborhood pool while watching the many-layered sky flow above me. I hadn't known that there were swallows in the neighborhood, or that dragonflies would fly that far. The sparrows zigzag their way through the air, and the commercial jets sail serenely above.

( Read more... )

Thunderstorms, Messed-up Knee, and a Good Summer

It's been a very wet summer. Lots of rainstorms, thunderstorms, and a long wet spring that led into a very wet summer. It's actually been humid here! After commenting about condensation on drink glasses in Vermont, it was funny to get home and actually have condensation on our glasses here, which we never get.

The garden likes it, and everything out here on the Front Range is unusually green. The sun's still be out, and it's still been hot, but the tomatoes are a little slower, though the corn and produce has been good around here and the farmers are talking about bumper crops and there's hay everywhere. My allergies have been mostly under control, too, as the nearly daily rains have washed all kinds of stuff out of the air.

I think my favorite thing has been doing backstroke in the neighborhood pool while watching the many-layered sky flow above me. I hadn't known that there were swallows in the neighborhood, or that dragonflies would fly that far. The sparrows zigzag their way through the air, and the commercial jets sail serenely above.

( Read more... )