May 2008

I managed to get my second book submitted on time, meaning the end of April. But this is not an industry where one gets instant (or even timely?) feedback, so I'm moving forward, hoping that book #2 will be acceptable because book #3 is building upon the events in book #2. Ah, the agony of waiting for the publishing business to grind around through another cycle! The biggest problem, as I try to structure book #3, is the title. I seem to be one of those writers that needs to fix a title in her sights. This month has been spent foundering around with plot and structure... but I also had time to upgrade my Mac to using Leopard, and to camp with my poor ignored husband.

April 2008

I get the first look at the Peacekeeper cover! Then, since February, my husband's been asking when he "gets his wife back." It won't be this month since I'm finishing up book #2 in the Ariane Kedros series (tentatively named Vigilante). I'm also preparing for the Pikes Peak Writers Conference, where I'm giving two workshops. I also learned I don't have software for generating print-ready CMYK color-space files. Grrrrr -- that makes bookmarks really, really hard to order. There's been no time, since the beginning of the year, to update my reading list (although the pile of finished books grows, so I am still making time to read). I'm thinking of revamping that part of the web site... in May. Everything's pushed off until May.

March 2008

I have no idea where February went, but March has been filled with making changes to Peacekeeper. I received the editorial letter from Jessica, which is always scary for a writer. She didn't want serious plot/characterization changes, but she did ask for clarification in certain parts. She also wanted one or two more flashback scenes, which made me nervous. They always tell novice writers that flashbacks are "bad." This novel, however, is about how people deal with past deeds and decisions, so I suppose it's hard to do that without dramatizing the past. Hope the new scenes work.

January 2008

The death of a loved one is a disorienting experience, and the loss of my father-in-law this January sent my husband and me into a place of distorted time and space. I can't say what else happened this January, except that there was frantic activity and we made two trips to Louisiana. In general, this month was about wishes: I wish we'd gotten down there faster so my husband could speak to him, I wish I'd been able to present him the 'author-signed' book that he anticipated, I wish he could have seen the pictures we brought...

Tarlton Guyote was a generous Cajun that had a grin for everybody and a joke for every occasion. He spent thirty years in the U.S. Air Force and was a veteran of three wars. We will remember Tarlton with love and his humor with fondness.

December 2007

The contract arrived! Unfortunately, so did the news that they're changing the title. No longer Crew Tempo, but I can understand the publisher's concern. As Jessica said, the title relates to a subplot and they want to advertise the military flavor. I was asked to provide a description of Ariane and come up with new title suggestions -- within one afternoon. This was exciting because they're already working on a cover (yippee!), but on the other hand, I learned that panic is not conducive to my creativity. I brainstormed a list of titles and sent it back, hopefully in time for the meeting. When I get news of the new title, I'll post it (and figure out how to rename Genetic Chords and Weapon Harmonics, which make no sense anymore).

November 2007

Can't help but feel like a poster child for the "Publishing is slooooow" education campaign. I'm still waiting for the contract and the editorial letter. On the other hand, I know that everybody's busy and I'm getting in some writing time on Genetic Chords. Happy Thanksgiving -- hope everyone's turkey and ham was as good as mine!

October 2007

Attend MileHiCon 39 in Denver, CO, and have David Weber sign two books: At All Costs and Off Armageddon Reef. Now all I need is the time to read them. Earlier in the month, I took a trip with the husband to the Grand Canyon. It's unbelievable... cameras cannot do it justice.

September 2007

Woo-hoo! Roc is offering a 3-book contract, starting with Crew Tempo. The editor will be Jessica Wade, and she anticipates Crew Tempo will be published in late 2008 or early 2009. (Do I have a great agent or what? Thanks, Jennifer!)

August 2007

It appears Internet Explorer 6 doesn't always render the pages for the Eclectic Speculative Fiction Reader correctly (grrrrr). I apologize to those affected and ask that you view the pages with Firefox or Opera until I can find and fix the problem. Short story still making rounds and I'm working on two new projects.

June 2007

For some strange reason, I pull out "A Node in Time" and review the judge's comments (it won second place in the Short Story division of the 2005 Paul Gillette Memorial Writing Contest ). I edit the story and send it out to start making the rounds...

May 2007

Jennifer tells me she loves Crew Tempo and has submitted it to an editor that I pitched to at the conference. I start working on a follow-on novel for Minoan Space. Tentative titles are Eugenic Chords and Genetic Chords.

April 2007

I'm at the Pikes Peak Writers Conference, where they present awards for the Paul Gillette writing contest. More pictures provided here.

March 2007

Yippee! Crew Tempo is first place winner in the Science Fiction and Fantasy division of the 2007 Paul Gillette Memorial Writing Contest. At the same time, with editing help from husband Mike and writing critique partner Robin, the manuscript is finally in the mail to Jennifer.

Going back further...

Do you really want to know? You'd probably like to believe that I'm a sudden successful publication story, but I've been writing speculative fiction, on and off, for that past thirty-five years. I've been reading speculative fiction for... ahem... even longer. I finished and submitted my first SF novel in 1987 (a resounding failure, which I now understand is well-deserved).