Dorothy Parker once said, “I hate writing, I love having written.”
I don’t hate writing, but this week has certainly proven to me that having written feels better than (almost) anything.
I completed the arguably final revisions to my thriller novel. I say arguably, because it feels done (to me), and until an editor says differently, this where I’m standing pat. The writing of the first draft went exactly as planned, but the revisions took longer than I expected; largely because of all the recent (and wonderful) distractions over “Stars That Make Dark Heaven Light”. I’ve never tried to write a thriller before, and this project had stretched me and forced me to try some things I hadn’t ever attempted before. I’m actually feeling excited about the querying process. And now that it’s written, it feels good.
I also signed a sales contract for a short story to professional publication this week. I won’t say to whom until I have a release date, but it was for a story I wrote at a writers workshop last month. I wrote four short stories at that workshop, the most I’ve ever written in a single week. I am still on a high from having written four (count ’em–one, two, three, four!) short stories in that one week. And to sell one of them to a publication I’ve never sold to before (and so quickly) feels fantastic.
I also celebrated the publication of one of my short stories this week in Fiction River, edited by Kerrie Hughes. The Alchemy & Steam edition has my short story, “The Order of the Golden Grapefruit”, along with a lot of other wonderful short fiction by some really talented writers. I wrote this short story as a historical fantasy back in January, 2014. I love this story about a chocolate shop window display competition in Brussels, and had a lot of fun writing it. Every time I reread it, I relive the pleasure of of that experience. And now that it’s published, it feels good.
Yeah, having written is WAY better than…well, just about anything. But selling and publication are pretty sweet, too.
