Hello, dreamers. It’s the dawn of a new era.

With my victory in last quarter’s Writers of the Future contest publicly announced, I’ve received a surge in visitors to this site. To those who are new here, welcome aboard. I’m happy to have you dreaming with me. But I have no time to sit around congratulating myself. As I always say, the work of an aspiring author is never done. And I have a lot of work to do in the coming weeks.

For the first time, I’ll be dealing with pending publication. I still have six active queries for my novel, Seven Days on Samarkand, not to mention #SFPit coming in just over a week. I’ve returned to short fiction for the time being, and still have three active submissions. So I have a lot to do. That said, here’s what I’ll be working on this week:

Short Fiction

Late last week, I was officially contacted by a manager with Galaxy Press, the company responsible for publishing the Writers of the Future anthology. She was very nice and responded to emails rapidly, which is an excellent sign. After gathering some vital information from me, she informed me that I should be receiving my contract sometime this week.

For those unfamiliar with the process, acceptance in short fiction begins with a contract. The document formalizes a writer’s relationship with the publisher, determining what rights to their work the publisher receives, how long they will retain them, and what compensation the writer is entitled to for their work. The initial contract (known as the boilerplate) isn’t always friendly to the writer, and if there’s anything in it the writer doesn’t agree with, they must negotiate with the publisher until they settle on a contract both sides can live with.

On the bright side, based on my dealings with Writers of the Future and Galaxy Press thus far, I expect the negotiations to go smoothly and quickly. I’m confident that we can have a contract I’m comfortable signing hammered out before the end of the week. From there, I will be put in touch with a copy editor, who will work with me to edit my story for inclusion in the anthology.

Amid all this, I still have three outstanding submissions. One of them has passed the 170 day mark, which from what I understand about the publication’s editorial process means I can expect an acceptance letter any day now. As for the second-longest running sub, it appears the publication has begun reading submissions from my window. So far, so good. The third sub is to a market I’ve never subbed to before. But based on careful study of their page on Submission Grinder, I think I may have at least made it past the first reading.

And I’m still writing new material. I have, in fact, decided to take my customary October short fiction break. I’ve found it’s a great way to clear my head leading into novel writing season. Short fiction is liberating: I can breeze my way through a relatively short piece, and work on something new each week. I’m already working on an outstanding project, and expect to be able to knock it out before mid-week.

Aquarius 1

Though I’m still working on the final background sketch for Aquarius 1, I’ve mostly stepped back to gather my energy for November, and the push through to the end of the year.

That said, I continue to work on my background notes. I’ve fine-tuned the backstory for my secondary POV character, and found my way into a new early scene to explain her motivations better. I’m still coming up with new scenes and dialogue, and feeling better about this story every day. I can’t wait to start writing, but all things in time.

Querying Seven Days on Samarkand

Still four rejections, still six queries outstanding. At this point I don’t expect to hear back at all from at least two of them. But the others may yet offer hope. For one of them, I’ve passed their average response time for rejections. With any luck, I’ll receive my very first full (or at least partial) request this week.

Regardless, I’m now turning my full attention to #SFPit. I’m working on new materials to post during the event, hoping to garner interest from literary agents. It would be a huge boost to attract even a single agent “like” during the event. Should that not come to pass, however, it will mark the end of my querying efforts for this year.

That said, my current plan is to resume work in mid-to-late December. Recent beta reading has left me with a lot of ideas for improving my manuscript, and I’m eager to play around with them when the time comes. For now, however, Aquarius 1 awaits.

Upcoming Content

Hawkeyed readers will have noticed some changes to my homepage. I’ve added a graphic commemorating my win in Writers of the Future, as well as a shiny new “About the Author” graphic advertising my upcoming appearance in their anthology.

That said, here’s what you can expect this week on this site:

Wednesday: “WIP Wednesday”

In my next “WIP Wednesday” post, I’ll be talking about how I determine my characters’ motivations, and how those in turn inform dialogue in the story (and vise-versa).

Friday: “The Cutting Room Floor”

In this month’s post on editing, I’ll be cluing readers in to an editing trick I came across this past year: the “phone edit”. Watch for this post to learn how changing things up can improve the editing process.

Sunday: “Dear Sir or Madam: Next Steps”

This week on my Sunday post, in addition to an update on my querying mission, I’ll be detailing the next steps after a writer finds an agent. Take a look for a step-by-step guide to how a book goes from representation to readers’ hands.

It’s going to be another busy week. So read on, and dare to dream. – MK