My Nerves are Shot

I e-filed my copyright forms and e-submitted Smuggler’s Justice through http://www.copyright.gov/eco and I submitted it to a publisher. So, yeah, my nerves are completely shot. I didn’t do the logical thing and submit to a publisher who generally publishes science fiction, oh no, I took a leap and submitted to a publisher that might be interested in the underlying social commentary. I figured that if they actually read the slush pile (hey, no guarantees there, I know they’ve got mountains to go through, I’m not kidding myself, just hopeful!) then someone might decide they really, really like political intrigue and government cover-ups, even if it is in a science-fiction setting. I particularly think that could be the case if you take the longer view of the series as a whole dealing with lots of different aspects of governmental corruption and the kind of places that slippery slopes can lead.  That said – it’s going to be ‘8 –  12 weeks’ before they get back to me; if  they get back to me at all.

So, while my nerves are seriously shot and I’m trying not to actually shake, I’m not going to hold my breath and I’m very likely to simultaneously submit to other publishers who are more likely to actually want science fiction… lots of gadgetry, FTL travel, odd civilizations, thinly disguised social / political commentary and all. Who knows? Maybe the first folks I contacted will jump on it and be completely thrilled about it, maybe they’ll turn me down, but the point is that this time I didn’t chicken out. This time I actually submitted my manuscript somewhere, and for me that makes all the difference.

I still haven’t decided which agent, if any, to query. I admit that having an agent might be helpful in getting the books sold, but I’m really not sure how well I’d “work” with an agent. Do you remember grades from early elementary school: S for Satisfactory, N for Needs Improvement, and U for Unsatisfactory? I do. I also remember getting a U in ‘works and plays well with others’ every semester for years. You wouldn’t think so now, since I’ve managed to get along quite well with any number of people I’ve worked with, but I do worry that tendency might crop up in working with an agent. I don’t really know why that worry is lurking in the back of my mind. I’m sure agents are perfectly reasonable human beings. Maybe it’s worrying that I’m not an entirely reasonable human being!

That said, I also was a ‘good girl’ and I finished the first round of edits on Wendy S. Russo’s January Black today. In re-reading it, I have to say that it’s still awesome and I still had to blow my nose and clean my glasses (tears tend to leave mineral traces when they dry) and boo-hoo a bit. I sincerely love the way Ms. Russo works to bring the concepts of liberty and freedom into her work…. And of course, I do love me a governmental cover-up, a conspiracy, and a lot of research to uncover them. The characters are endearing and I love that Matty tries so hard to be a gentleman. I think it’s a much more realistic depiction of what goes on in a boy’s mind when he’s a ‘good kid’ at heart than you generally see in YA fiction. I also love that he’s a brat! Okay, okay, no spoilers even though I would absolutely love to rave on and on.

On the home front, my little boy had to stay home from school today because he had one really long seizure and four little ‘after shock’ seizures that wiped him out. Poor lamb wound up sleeping until nearly noon. My big boy has a job interview tomorrow and, yes, I’m really hoping that he gets the job. It would give him something to do besides mope around telling me that there aren’t any jobs not getting snatched up by mid-career grownups who need work to pay the bills. I still think it’s sad that he got upstaged for a job at McD’s by an accountant.

Smuggler’s Justice

Yep. I posted it again. I like the way that red ‘winner’ shines so pretty. :c)

‘Smuggler’s Justice’ is finished and I’ve done the first round of editing on it. Since I wrote the first two chapters in first-person and then switched to third it really needed the work even before going into Beta reading. Right now Himself is Beta reading it. He’s not a big science fiction fan, but he does like political intrigue and political scandal, so I’m holding out hope that he’ll actually like it. That said, I am planning to seek out other Beta readers who are more familiar with commercial science fiction on the market to get a better idea of how the book stacks up.  In the meantime, the next 3 books in the series are organizing themselves into plot ideas I’ll need to churn through Snowflake Pro (which I have decided is possibly the best thing in the world for the outline-haters, like myself, among us).

Of course, I’m going to have to list my handicapped son’s chickens in my acknowledgements for their help with writing the book…  Yes, my little boy thinks that the sounds I make while typing are similar to the sounds of chickens pecking, and he happens to love the farm more that just about anything. He has a rich imagination (as you would expect from a deaf-blind child) and his imaginary friends include a flock of eleven (his favorite number) Rhode Island Red chickens the size of domestic turkeys. He insists that he asked his chickens to help me, and he’s been rooting for me all month long, so the chickens clearly must be thanked!

I’ve been looking at agent listings on WritersMarket.com and market listings as well and I’m really not altogether sure that’s even the route I want to take. I’ll admit that some of my hesitation is financial, but that’s playing second fiddle to my fear of rejection. When it comes to people judging my writing, I’m just as neurotic as any other author, maybe more so considering the great neurosis-free authors I’ve worked with as an editor. Who knows? Of course, despite my fear I’ve drawn up a list of possible agents and once the novel’s through Beta reading I’ll send off my queries if only to say that I didn’t chicken out! That said, I may decide to self-publish entirely in order to get ‘Smuggler’s Justice’ and the rest of the Smuggler’s series out there the way I want them out there without being concerned about print run quantities and the like. On the other hand, that puts all the hard work of finding a cover artist and the like in my lap! I enjoy art, and I’m fairly decent at painting and using Adobe Illustrator, but I’m pretty sure I’m not up to producing the cover I want on my own, and I’m not sure if I can find a cover artist locally who’ll be able to do so either. That means a fairly arduous search for Mister – or Miss – Artistically Right.

For hitting the 50,000 word mark I treated myself to a makeover and a couple of new hairpieces from wiggoddess.com, plus I’ve ordered another one that I liked the look of that she didn’t have in stock in my baby blonde – Clare’s store is down in Berlin, VT. She does all sorts of glamour photography too, so when I need my author photo I’m very likely going to have Clare do it.  It’s an investment because a photo shoot with her isn’t cheap, but I can use the right photo for my author picture on any number of books without ever having to acknowledge that I’m getting any older than that, so it’s all good in my opinion!

Yesterday we drove down to the Vermont Country Store’s store in Rockingham, VT. Of course, on the way there we got a flat tire and had to drive the rest of the way on the ‘doughnut’ spare tire and then all the way back on the back roads at 40mph or less, but considering that it was snowing and the roads were icy I don’t see that as a huge slow down.  While we were there I got lovely soaps (rose, hyacinth, and lavender), nail polish that’s supposed to thicken the nail (which I need because I have paper-thin nails), Tangee blush and lipstick, and two shades of Taboo lipstick. The last time I even saw Taboo lipstick I was eight, and it was the last dregs of my grandmother’s prized hot pink lipstick. After that she switched to something from Avon and was never as happy with it as she had been with her Taboo. I personally got two shades of red lipstick because I tend more towards the ‘vamp/seductress’ when it comes to lipstick than the ‘cheerleader’. The Tangee lipstick and blush changes color to suit your coloring, but I’m still not altogether sure about it since it seems to want to be hot pink on me, and I’m really not a fan of hot pink! Beyond all that I got my little boy a Squawking Chicken. He likes squeaky type toys, so it seemed to be a good fit and so far he seems to like it beyond insisting that it’s definitely not as nice as his imaginary chickens.  I have to admit it’s not as helpful with my writing!

When we got home I gave my son’s friend (his girlfriend’s best friend I think – or at least one of that ‘crowd’) a haircut which she seems to like quite a lot, so that’s nice. I tend to do all the haircutting around here. No, I don’t charge, so you licensed hair dressers don’t come after poor little me! My mother was a licensed beautician for 12 years (1961 – 1973), so I learned the basics from her. Yes, despite a great deal of animosity between the two of us I have to admit that she did teach me some things. I refuse, however, to ever give anyone a ‘shag’ haircut for any reason. The shuddering horror!

In other news, I’ve got a new book to edit for Crescent Moon Press – Wendy S. Russo’s ‘January Black’. I love it to bits after my initial read-through, and I have to say that Ms. Russo did an excellent job with both the subject matter and the prose itself, so I don’t think it’s going to be a terribly long and drawn-out process.  It’s quite a good story, and I’m really enjoying the themes Ms. Russo weaves into her work.

Some of the first books I edited for Crescent Moon Press are being released in December – the novellas ‘A Journey to Hope’ by Cindy Young-Turner, and ‘Sirocco’ by Diane M. Haynes are coming out December 3rd /4th (not sure of the exact dates on those), and the novel ‘A Minor Magic’ by Justin R Macumber is coming out on December 15th. Naturally I’ll be buying a copy of each for my own portfolio – and enjoyment! I’ve also heard that Shawna Romkey’s ‘Speak of the Devil‘ will be released in March 2013, and Lindsey Louck’s ‘Grave Winner‘ will be released in May 2013, but the covers haven’t been released yet nor do I have dates more exact than that.

All in all a very busy month, what with writing a 90,321 word book.  I’ve had some vehicular “fun” and lots of girly-girl stuff to do, and now I’ve got a new book to edit before I can go nuts with nothing to do. Oh! And I have jury duty December 5th. How that’s going to work out if I get the job I think I have a good chance of getting I don’t know.