Which makes it official. I'm working freelance on a White Wolf book. The money is good, the exposure is fun. The people are wonderful so far. The material is likely to be wonderful. Who knows what else will follow if I work my butt off on this job. That said, I'm going to go away now and get back to working on said project.

I'll be posting another paying market acceptance that I heard back a day after hearing from White Wolf once I get more details about it. 

Also at my website.

I just got a nice chunk of submissions to various and sundry contests and anthologies. With a second to breath, I thought I'd share with you a heck of a conversation I had.

I love the internet and its potential for spontaneous discussion and random pseudo-interviews. Here's the set up. Earlier in the day I had this conversation I had read THIS agents blog. A quote in it stuck with me.

"The type of writing a query requires is so far removed from the kind of writing a fiction writer does that, to me, it’s the equivalent of a dancer going to audition for the role of The Sugar Plum Fairy, and being made to stand perfectly still and DESCRIBE her movements, rather than simply being allowed to dance. Unless that dancer, then, is also a singer and has a way with words, that dancer may the most incredible Sugar Plum Fairy that troop will ever see, but the dance company will never know this." - Sandra Kring

So, I put it up in my G-Chat message. (That's THIS thing if you don't know.)

A few minutes after I posted the thought for all the internet to read I got a message from my friend The Man From Free Planet X.

Jared said to me: "Do you believe that? The ballerina metaphor, I mean?"

A answered: "I know queries make me want to cry." and then "The idea of using 200 words to prove to a stranger that my 89,000 words are good enough is jarring."

"Look at it this way," Jared said. "In a bookstore, you have only, what? A 7 word sentence to do the same thing? 200 words is a luxury."

I didn't find that much comfort, and told Jared that. He laid it back out for me like this: "It's like brick-laying. As a bricklayer, you're going to have to learn how to smooth out the mortar after to you place the bricks. Does this, matter, really? Does this make the wall any less stable? Or more? Not really. But it's a skill you need to have in order to get more people to hire you bricklay."

A little bit later in internet time, he came back with: "Which is why I feel like the ballerina metaphor misses the point It might be better if, before the ballerina auditioned, the director said "Wait. Let's see if you fit in the costume first."

That resonated a great deal and I'm really rather grateful for his opinion on the matter. Thanks Jared.

(Oh, and about five minutes later, Jared said, "That said query letters are horrible.")

ZOMG!

I have been published in my first print mag!

You can pick up your copy over at Mouth Full of Bullets.

Thank you, Mr. Borg for including my Jack Doe short story "The Baked Bank Job."

This is also up on my writing blog at my website.

If you know me in person, you've heard me say before that I enjoy the maxim by Raymond Chandler.

“When in doubt, have a man come through the door with a gun in his hand.”

Anyway, I'd love to hear your opinions.

Mmm.. The Huzbun got my laptop up and running again, so today I could do more market research. I love that crap. Duotrope, you is my favorite.

I came across an neat looking fledgling market I thought I'd share.

Big Pulp

I mention it since it might be of interest to a number of my friends out there.

zephrin, my other writer friends out there, they pay up to 25$ for fiction.

blackwell, szeret21, they're looking for photography. I couldn't find the pay rate, but I'm sure they pay.

planetx, they're looking for comics!

So, here, I'm making more competition for myself! Submit 'em if you got 'em!!

...Okay, so I'm not really famous yet, but my short story "Mars Ain't No Place for Ladies" did get blogged about here.

That's a step in the right direction, I imagine.

Plus, the 'zine that it was published on was nominated for the Predators and Editors Reader's Choice Award for 2007, from the editor. If haven't yet voted with P&E for your favorite 'Zine, you should go vote for Spacewesterns.com. Seriously. Nathan Lilly is a good guy and the 'zine is something fun!

Click me! Click me!!!

I think the editor, Nathan Lilly, did the art there for me. It's really beautiful and I didn't even know he was doing it.

So, in case you didn't catch my husband's almost brutal show of support, my short story "Mars' Ain't No Place for Ladies" will be up at Space Westerns next Sunday.

While you're there checking it out, you might notice zephrin short story is the latest update available. Glad I could point you to a paying gig, and congrats!!

In other news, I got another short story accepted by the nice gentleman over at Mouth Full of Bullets . They are full up till Spring of 2009, but still not a bad place to throw a submission. I heard back the same day I submitted, which I'm pretty sure was record time and a fluke.

I wanted to thank blackwell, your advice about contracts was spot on, and I know I'll be getting paid as a result.

Also, Tina will be a year old on the 9th of next month. I have no idea what to do about that, I mean, aside from celebrate like it's 1999.

I'm having a little success, and with each bit of good news, I'm praying for all the people I know, I'm wishing that what ever good is resting on my shoulders and giving me these little bits of accomplishment can be shared with everyone I know and care about. The fact is, for good or bad, I know that who I am today is a result of who I have known and do know. I know that everything I do is a manifestation of the experince I have had, and so therefore, the interactions with people I have had the joy (however dubious) to know.

So, everyone out there in interweb world, whether I talk to you every day, or haven't said a word in years, thank you. Thank you for brushing my life and if only I could literally share what ever success I have with you.

So, the first real hard edits of THE BEAST are done. I'm handing it around for some polish opinions while I dust up my query letter writing skizills and hunting for agents who won't hate me too much.


Is it silly to take pictures of a manuscript? Yes, but I did it anyway. Ha ha ha.

My piece, "Mar's Ain't No Place for Ladies" is in talks with the editor of this site.  The editor seems like a great guy, and he seemed to like it, so I'm excited.

I would actually recommend you take a look at the site for some quick fun reads. I've only read a few stories, and they were just that- fun.

David told me he'd buy me a laptop when I got my first story published in a paying market. Of course, just because the editor told me he'd publish the story is not the same thing as actually being published, so I guess I shouldn't put my cart before my wagon.

Still... I can already picture me sitting on my lawn with my lap top while Tina plays in the yard and eats bugs.... It's a lovely picture really.

So if you know a good place to get a cheap laptop, let me know!