I thought I'd left the paperwork behind...

Phew. I've filled out Dreamspinner's forms for the editorial team, to create the blurb and letting them know I'm going to be around while they probably pull Contact Sport to pieces and hope I can put it back again. With the copies of everything I've made, from the initial yes please email to the contract, editing process info etc, I now have a paper file about ten times longer than the poor little story itself.

Just as well that I'm an ex civil servant and I know bureaucracy. And that this is more fun than ministerial speeches ever were.

One More Step On The Way

That sounds as though it ought to be a song, or something.  I've signed the contract and am one more baby step along the way to being a published writer. Dreamspinner are very efficient and good - the one-off fee for Contact Sport is now in my Paypal account. I'm impressed!  I can probably buy a couple of coffees in Houston in May, now, and still have enough left over for a muffin.

On other things, I'm up to Ch 7 in revising Shield. The whole of the first story should be ready soon, and then I must think about publishing or self publishing. It's the first of five books, and I'm not sure I want to get locked into a contract for that. I may well be better on my own. Sarah Madison quite rightly has suggested self-publishing something smaller first to test the water.  That is such a brilliant idea, and I have just the thing...

Whoooo Hoooo!

Dreamspinner Press has said "YES" and my short story, Contact Sport, will appear in Make a Play, the 2013 Dreamspinner Press Daily Dose - in June, I think. After release, Contact Sport will also be for sale individually as a short story. I am still trying to get the hyperventilating under control here.  

Wow.  I am chuffed with a capital CHUFF!!  I'm published!  Well, okay, only a 6k short story, but I AM PUBLISHED!!!!

A fellow member of the Facebook m/m romance community has made her latest book free for 24 hours on Amazon. My Bittersweet by Nat Wood is here at Amazon.com and here at Amazon.co.uk Enjoy!

Cover Art

All right, I know I should be writing or doing housework or walking the dog, but I just spent a happy hour on Pulp-o-mizer (yes, seriously, that is the name of this site), creating wonderful Dan Dare-ish retro covers for pulp magazine versions of all five of the planned Shield novels. I haven't had this much fun in AGES.

Anyhow, here we go:

Taking Shield






Taking Shield II : Heart Scarab






Taking Shield III : Sabrien





Taking Shield IV : The Chains of Their Sins





Taking Shield V : Day of Wrath

Aren't they fun? I'm so tempted to go with something like this, if only I could get Bennet and Flynn onto the covers together.

Learning my craft

From a blog discussion about self-published books and the fact so many of them show poor technical writing skills – poor grammar and spelling, or just poor technique generally – and whether this matters or all that counts is telling the story:

“Craft is the cut, the polish and the setting that makes the jewel.”

I love that. It's a perfect description of why I keep trying and trying to improve as a writer.

Deadline today...

Well, today's the deadline for Dreamspinner's anthology.  From tomorrow, I suppose I start watching the emails for a reaction from them.  Nerve-wracking, sending out your first child like this to make his own way in the world...