I have a cold. Again. I had a cold one month ago today. This sucks. I really need to take better care of myself.

Anyway, Happy New Year everyone! I'll be hopped on champagne and cold medicine tonight.

I'm still stunned about the contract. And then when that feeling subsides - usually just for an instant - then panic sets in. What the hell have I done to myself? There is a lot of work involved in this process. I even developed a bout of (not-so-unusual) insomnia last night dwelling on it. I want to do this right, but am trying to be mindful of being too eager and jumping the gun. A lot of authors out there have websites where they promote themselves but for me, this blog and you are what I have, dear readers. I've always marched to the beat of my own drum and writing will probably be just another example of how much so....

I've picked up Flight of the Guardian (again) today and want to finish it by the 30th of January. I'm shooting for a 35,000 word story this time. I'll keep you posted of my progress.

Stay tuned regarding all of the above.

My printer is churning out the contract right now and it's a heck of a lot more complicated than I had ever anticipated. Cover art. Cover art?! I get to approve cover art? Yes, you would think that this is common sense, but I guess I never really thought about it. I'm supposed to sign up and link to certain blogs and web addresses and a million other tiny details I never thought of. I won't know a release date yet until I've been assigned an editor which could be up to a month from now. I'll keep you posted on how it happens. I've always been curious about the whole process and now I'm a part of it!

Thanks to my friends for seeing me through this. Apparently, I'm the only person who is surprised that someone other than me liked the story. I guess that's a good thing too.

Well, Merry Christmas to me! I received an email notification this morning that the first publisher I submitted it to wants to offer a contract for "Soldier"!!! Can you believe it? I still can't. Go me! Go me! :)

I'll be cheesing about this all day.

I don't know why I bother. I said that I was going to let "Trial" sit and then edit and then send it to a publisher. <Ennnhhh.> Nope. I re-edited on Friday night and sent it off that evening. No turn around time listed on their site, but I would be very, very surprised if it doesn't get published...at least somewhere. Not necessarily at the first place I try, but somewhere. I even mentioned to the editor that I think there's room for a part 2 to the story. In fact, I've spent a lot of last night and this morning musing over writing part 2. I really hope it does get published dear readers so that you can take a look at it. I really do think it's that good. (lol. see previous post if you don't believe me.)

And on another note, the new story is called "Flight of the Guardian". My MMC's name is Hiero (pronounced like "hero"). Isn't that sexy?

Anyway, writing here gave me a 30 second break from cleaning the house for the holiday visit by my folks. Since I probably won't get another chance to say it, Merry Christmas everyone!

Damn I'm good. I mean it. I'm really good.

I'll try not to break my arm patting myself on the back but I just finished "Trial" and it's 23 pages, 6400 words of *spice*. I mean, it's hot. I'm not certain that I'll keep the title since I veered away from what I had originally intended to happen in the story, but I am beyond satisfied with the results. I think Morgan Sierra definitely has a future. I'll let it sit for a few days and then go back and edit it before submitting to a publisher. The storyline is well, controversial and I can see people not wanting to publish it because of the subject matter. I absolutely cannot see them not wanting to publish it because of the writing. It's really that good.

(Now that I've said all that, how much money do you want to lay down that I come back in a few days and exclaim how horrible the story is? ha ha!)

I really shouldn't bother saying that I'm not going to do something. Nine times out of ten, I end up doing it anyway. I'm referring to The Voice. I said I wasn't going to edit it. Yeah, right. Not only did I review it once, I reviewed it three times. (And caught errors in it all three times, mind you.) Once done with that, I finally settled on my NaNo gift to myself: I'm having it printed in hard cover. It will be a 6x9 hard bound book, color cover and 291 pages long. (I've even got a dedication page! What it says is a secret for now.) I went to LuLu and ordered two copies. One copy will forever sit on my shelf in pristine condition. The other copy is for others to read. I'm still not 100% pleased with the story, but it does make me smile.

Oh yikes! Double yikes! Got an email today that half of November's submissions have been answered! The other half will be answered before the New Year! Yikes!

I haven't gotten an answer. Whether this is good or bad news....I just don't know.

On another note, despite my earlier resolution, I have started editing The Voice. It's not that bad, I suppose. Not great, but not that bad. I'll let you know if I decide to submit it.

I really, really need more discipline. I was perusing some publisher sites and came across a call for stories from Harlequin called Spice Briefs. They want stories between 5 and 15K words (totally up my alley) that are hard-core erotica. ::Hmmm:: Hard-core, you say? Instantly, I pulled my MC from the story I just started and put him into this new story because he would work better here than in the story I had planned for him. I also came up with a pen name for writing erotica, taking inspiration from my two doggies. If you find any stories published by Morgan Sierra, that's me! So, the new story is called "Trial". Because of its brevity and planned content, it might be hard to post an excerpt, but we'll see. In the meanwhile, the other story - no name now because I took away the MC - is on hold.

I finally did it. I started another story. And that should be good news, right? Well, the new story has hit some snags. I've started it exactly three times. What I mean to say is that after the first start, I realized it was missing some oomph, so I inserted a few lines. About half a dozen pages later, I realize "oh! this is a whole 'nother start!" No biggie, right? Wrong. Two days later I get a brainstorm about how it should really start. And yep, this should occur before I get to the pages I've already started. Oy.

I think I need to go back to a disciplined way of writing. This free-lance thing ain't doing it.

Is no news good news from a potential publisher? Anyone?

Wow. Perhaps there's a writer in me after all.

I am going absolutely nucking futz without a novel to write. I was going to give myself some time off, but after what? - seven whole days, I'm starting to lose my mind.

Did I mention that my laptop is working now? Yeah. After NaNo is over. Of course. But at least I'll have it for the next great piece I write. Whatever that might be.

And is it true that no news is good news when it comes to publishers? That's what I'm counting on for Soldier. I've read that people are using their rejection letters as a source of pride which says "Hey! At least I tried to get published. What did you do?!"

That's something to ponder too.

With all of the grumbling I did during November about how behind I was, you would think that I wouldn't miss NaNo. Well. You're wrong. I do miss NaNo. I can't believe that November is over! It's currently only the 5th of December and I'm supposed to be taking a break, but I find myself fidgeting - nay, itching for something to do. Did I mention that school is over this week too? Double whammy.

I don't think The Voice is salvageable, so perhaps I'll come up with a new story to write instead of trying to edit it. I'll let you know what I come up with.

On another note: The Voice ended up being 50,825 words....finished November 30th at 10:08pm.