Friday, May 18, 2012

Big news! I uh, guess I'm an author now?


Oh, yeah, new site design, too! Finally got tired of the kinda-customized, default mountain-looking design. So now I made a slightly-more customized, weirdo star-themed design. I hope you like green.

Um, right. You're probably still wondering what I meant by the title. See the little "author" word in my banner? Yeah, that's right. Captive by the Fog, the novel I finished a couple months ago, is getting published! It tied for second place in the contest, which granted me a contract.

I actually heard the news a couple weeks ago, but was waiting to find out more details before I made a big announcement. It will be published through Musa Publishing, and will be published in e-book form. I signed the contract, and am now waiting to begin the editing process. I was told they're looking to release Captive during late October of this year, but that may change.

Exciting news! I'm still not completely sure I believe it, sometimes. I'd been throwing around short stories, thinking that if one of those hit a wall and stuck to it, that I'd maybe have a shot at one day stepping up to novels. But uh, seems the novel stuck first... the goofy LGBT alien novel based on a really silly dream about my dad, San Francisco, a hot girl, and well, aliens. This just in-- I'm going to be really bad at promoting this thing...

But yeah. That's my big news. The folks at Musa seem pretty awesome, so far, and I'm looking forward to digging my heels in the experience, and finding out about all the work that goes into publishing a book. I'm really looking forward to the editing process. Since I haven't had much exposure to professional critiques or editing, I'll finally be able to learn a few things about what I need to improve on. And well, that's important. I'm not done yet. Not by a long shot.

My next big project is already taking shape, in fact. I'm going to finally novelize the world that Quest was based on. What's Quest, you say? The fantasy world my friend, Heather, and I created back in high school. Originally, it was kinda based on a bunch of various books and sci-fi shows we loved, but as the world grew, and I realized I liked to write stuff, I started making Quest its own universe. And yeah, shaddup-- I know the name's silly. It's not staying!

It will probably take the shape of at least a four-part series of novels. I have the first two books loosely plotted out, and hope to start the first soon. Its tentative name is Wardens of Wandering, but that may change later down the road. It'll be awesome seeing the unique host of characters come to life.

I'm still planning on continuing submitting stories to WotF quarterly, but other than that, I think my focus will remain on these novels. Novels may definitely be my forte. I've always found it easier to work on longer pieces-- projects if you will. I love the idea of sinking down into the process of extensive world building, involved character subplots, and all that jazz.

Anywho, that's my update. I'm gonna be a published author! I'll keep everyone updated on Captive's progress!