Story sale news

I’m happy to announce that my story “Blood and Gold” has been accepted for publication in The Mammoth Book of Dieselpunk (table of contents). Publication date is July 14, 2015; I’ll mention it again next summer!

Also, my story “Matchmaker” (originally published in Clarkesworld Magazine) has been translated into Galician and is up at Nova Fantasia: A casamenteira. (Galician is a Romance language, one of three spoken in Spain, the other two being Spanish [obviously] and Catalan.)

Counting up . . . (15 things)

1 Really Cool Thing

I’m on the Andre Norton Award Jury this year! Official announcement

(Hey, look, I didn’t bury the lede!)

5 Things to Put You in a Better Mood

Happiness, confidence, optimism, meaning in life, and success — Eric Barker talks about notes to write yourself to give yourself a boost

9 Things

This actually falls into the series of productivity tools I’ve been talking about. It’s a simple take on the to-do list that I picked up from Jamie Todd Rubin, and he got the idea from the 27 GoodThings blog. Being a paperless ambassador, he advocates Evernote and Penultimate, but you can do the same thing with any notepad. And rather than duplicate his explanation, I’ll just link to his original post. I find this a very useful tool to keep myself (mostly) from trying to do too much on a given day. Getting “9 Things” Done

What interesting things have you found recently?

New contributor’s copies!

Cover of Spells & SwashbucklersThe other day, I received my printed copy of Spells & Swashbucklers. It’s a lovely book. I handed it to my son to look at, and he got as far as “anthology” before putting it down. I pointed out my name on the back cover as one of the contributors to the anthology, and that was when he decided it was worth another look — even started reading my story!

That wasn’t the only arrival this week, however.

Cover of Fall 2012 issue of Space and TimeToday, I received copies of the Fall 2012 issue of Space & Time, which has my story “A Pretty Bauble,” a lovely mother-daughter story with sword fights and cats.

There’s something very satisfying about seeing something I’ve written in print. (Don’t get me wrong; I’m happy with electronic publication, too.) In that vein, I’d like to point out that Clarkesworld Magazine is reviving its anthologies (although it’ll be a while before 2011 — Year Five — is available) and Daily Science Fiction is also planning compilations of stories. Don’t worry — I’ll let you know when they’re ready!

All the news that I can think of

First, I finally filled out the application for SFWA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America), and I’ve received notice that my application was approved. I am now a full-fledged pro by the standards of that body (three professional short story sales).

Second, my short story “Pretty Bauble” is scheduled to be in issue 117 of Space & Time Magazine. I’m not sure when that will be out, but I’ll let you know when I do. (For those of you who may have short stories, the magazine is open to submissions until August 5.)

Third, David Bridger is running a wonderful week-long group therapy for writers on his blog this week, helping people think about what their personal obstacles are to writing and what they can do to overcome them. (I posted on Monday, but I’m dropping out. Through no fault of the commenters, some of the things said trigger negative feelings for me, which leaves me in a place I don’t like to be. However, I recommend everyone check it out and see how it works for them.)

I’ll be back tomorrow for a Q & A that has nothing to do with my writing life. 🙂

So what’s new with you this week?

Only semi-here

Just wanted to post a quick note apologizing for my lack of commenting on other A to Z blog participants. I’m a procrastinator (I’d say a terrible procrastinator, but the truth is I’m quite good at it!), and I’m going through piles of receipts as I work through our taxes. I’m sorry; I’ll be back to blog-hopping by Monday.

A to Z coming to a blog near you

April begins on Sunday, as you might have noticed. Last April, I participated in the A to Z blogging challenge. This year, I’m doing it again, and unlike last year, I’m going with a theme: epic fantasy. Posts will be about authors, books, tropes, themes, or anything else I think happens to fit.

I will still make my normal posts — the Merry-Go-Round blog tour post on the second, the gratitude posts on Mondays, the genre-defining posts on Fridays, and pictures of my garden or random other posts as I see fit. This is adding to the blog for a month, not changing it overall. Just expect more content for the month of April.

Also, if you’re inspired, you can go sign up to join in, but hurry — sign-ups close on Monday! If you follow that link, you’ll see the others who are signed up to participate (currently 1,365 blogs). Check some out; see what they have to say. You might find a new favorite!