Well. Last week was bananas, wasn’t it–and that post is only the half of it. The DAY after I found out about APD and how it may be a thing that has, you know, shaped my entire experience of reality up to this point, I received an email from GigaNotoSaurus saying that yes, they want to buy my novelette Still Life!

(I may have shrieked a little when I got the email. I was sitting in a park field in Port Credit catching up with my friend Liz, who is also an author–she may have shrieked a little on my behalf also. This is why we’re friends.)

Still Life represents my first semi-pro sale, which is amazing. It came during a really rocky couple of weeks where I was questioning my abilities and whether or not I was ‘good enough’ to be trying to sell my work; it’s sale says, yes, I am ‘good enough’, I just have to find the markets that are right for me. So the timing was amazing, too.

(And there’s a little bonus fun: one of the parts of my query letter that I was struggling with was the fact that my writing credits, until now, have been in token markets. Do I spell that out in the query letter, possibly making myself look rinky-dink? Do I take the line out, and risk looking like I’m not trying, that I’m coming out of nowhere and expecting a book deal? What do I doooo~?? Well, problem solved: I lead with GigaNotoSaurus and then follow with the time-honoured “among others”. Honestly, for such a small problem it was huge relief to have it tied up in a neat little package.)

I shall definitely let everyone know when the story comes out! Currently I have sent back the contract and am now waiting on edits (I’ve been told to expect just tweaks/nitpicks, so I’m not worried).

The whole experience also made me realize that I’ve been missing blogging. The last couple of months would have been mostly just: ‘sent out X number of stories and queries. Still not King’. Not very entertaining to read about week after week. But now that I am determined to take Creampuff‘s query game up a level with the help of Pitch Wars, I think I’ll have enough to write more solid posts.

August is going to be about rewriting my queries, taking an online course, and finishing a few small over-hanging projects so I can clear my plate for September and Embers. Doesn’t sound like a lot, right? But if this last week of July has been any indication, August is going to be anything but boring.

See you next week!