1. I Won a Major Award - and it's not a leg lamp!
First of all, in case anyone reads this blog and not Musings (which seems unlikely):
I won iwoniwon! And so did Vince. Yay!
BEST FICTION/POETRY JOURNAL
TIE!
Musings from Mâvarin - mavarin
TO GROW IS TO BE ANXIOUS - deabvt
2. Kate Weighs In
"I saw what you wrote about me on Friday," Black Rose Kate tells me.
"I thought you might," I acknowledge. "Do you object to anything I said?"
"Nay, your suppositions were quite astute. 'Tis certain that if I'm here much longer, we will have a parting of the ways. You're too honest by half to tolerate me for long. You do not approve of my larcenous heart, and the bindings of your conventional morality chafe me exceedingly."
"I'm sorry to hear that," I tell her. "What did you think about my award last night?"
"Congratulations, I'm sure, but 'tis of no moment to me. You may tell people I'm fictional, but I know better."
"I only said that in a few emails."
"And in your LiveJournal, and in IMs to your friends. Do not lie to me, Karen. You have not the skill for it."
"Oh, that, yes. Are you insulted?"
"Nay, but do not expect me to be wholehearted in approval, either."
"Sorry."
It seems that I'm apologizing her her a lot these days. Why is it never the other way around?
3. The Real Deal
After checking with a certain well-known science fiction writer on the advisability of posting a piece of something I'm actually trying to sell, I've decided that starting next week, my Saturday Night Fiction entry will feature the good stuff: the first two chapters of Heirs of Mâvarin in serial form. This is your chance to find out what I've been talking about all this time. For the rest of the story, well, you'll just have to wait until I find a publisher for the darn thing! The idea here is to free my schedule up a bit, so that I can finally finish the last edit of the first book and start sending it around again.
Aside from five queries to agents three years ago, I haven't submitted Heirs to anyone over over a decade. It was a very different manuscript then, not anywhere near as good as it is now.
The market has changed in the intervening years, too. Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia have all made inroads in popular culture. On the other hand, I'm not in that league, and the publishing industry has been consolidated down to a handful of companies with dozens of imprints each. Tough market - and yes, I'm nervous about sending my life's work out again, possibly to be ignored and rejected. It's all very well to tell me how many times L'Engle and King had their most important books turned down by dozens of publishers, but what if there are only five publishers left that take unagented fantasy, and I've tried all five? What then?
Karen
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Update: Monday, 11/7/05: Black Rose Kate is gone. More later.
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