It might be bheerfan‘s birthday, but I got a pressie today, too – Black Powder War, the third in naominovik‘s fabulous trilogy.
I’m so tempted to RUN home and read, but I must work tonight on revisions to Matters and some notes I jotted down over the weekend for Book 2, now titled Unnecessary Evil. Getting back into the swing of writing all the time will be tough, but I tend to work better when I have deadlines looming.
I should be getting the contract this week, and then will return back to them shortly thereafter.
There’s something energizing about attending a convention, whether mystery, SF/F or just fannish. Conventions and gatherings of like-minded peeps tend to make me want to dig right in and be creative, making words dance. I regret not having brought my laptop to Mayhem, but maybe it worked out for the best. I don’t know. Editing a printed ms (e.g., Matters) is not something I’ve done for a while and it required me to really concentrate. I’m so used to reading/editing on screen, that I was a bit taken aback by the slow process. I do think this allowed me to see things that I wanted to tweak – maybe more easily than reviewing on screen? I don’t really know.
My query to an agent fell flat – got a very quick rejection note. 
Oh well, once I’d re-read my query, I realized that I hadn’t mentioned that the upcoming contract would be for the Matters reprint, and the next 3 books. Eep – my bad. I’m not sure if it makes sense to send a reply (this was all via e-mail), and explain. Or if I should query the next agent on my list.
Sigh. I hate this part.
In any case, life goes on. The writing goes on. The contract will arrive and then things will happen.
One of the next things I need to do is to look up 2007 SF/F cons, especially any within driving distance. Since I hadn’t yet made any concrete plans for mystery cons, this is a good time to figure out which SF/F cons I need to attend. Definitely think that Balticon will be on that list, since it’s right nearby. I don’t know if I mentioned it, but my work will be marketed as paranormal romance, so I need to set my sights on venues that will have fans of this genre. Probably need to look at Romantic Times, too and possibly Romance Writers’ annual convention, too. I’m a member of RWA, but haven’t been one for long. Over the past 7 years, I’ve been so tied into the mystery community, it’s time to get myself back out to non-mystery events.
If any of you have any suggestions as to good genre type cons that have author guests/speakers/participants, please let me know.
Comment
*waves* Hi! Just friended you and this entry with Romantic Times in it caught my eye and OMG, I can’t believe I at last know someone else who knows about this magazine. I was a subscriber many years ago, when I aspired to write historical romances and oh, haven’t we come a long way, baby! I can finally come out of the closet to someone –
Hi. My name is tx_tart and I am a former RT reader.
*sigh* Oh, that feels better.
Comment
LOL – I still read RT, because I’m fascinated by all the new sub-genres that seem to be cropping up. In any case, I’m officially a paranormal romance writer now, whatever that means. Heh!
BTW, I friended you last night b/c I thought I’d done it a long time ago, and d’oh, I hadn’t. Found you via your DS fic, which is lovely, I might add.
(and we have several mutual friends)
Welcome to my world.
(FYI, I’m a former Texan – San Antonian, to be precise.)