Good News Despite Set-Backs

Writing, whether it is part-time or full-time, is one of those occupations that is a continuous roller-coaster with ups and downs that never end. No matter how much experience or how many sales and publications you have under your belt, the let-downs happen, the set-backs occur. It requires a tough approach, a thick skin. Just when you think you're up, bad news floats in. Amidst the bad news, good news can pop in at any time. You never know. But you have to remember that the good does happen.

I have faced a lot of rejection this year, probably because I marketed my work more heavily this year than in the past. But I have also had some great acceptances. After all my years of playing off and on in various writing genres, I still find rejection hard. It's stupid, really, because editor tastes are individual and not for all, and because the competition is fierce and good things get rejected simply because editors can't fit all the good stuff they get into their projects. But still, rejection in general makes me second-guess myself, question myself. And these are dangerous waters to tread.

So I like to focus on the good, and on accomplishment. And this year I have had a lot. Here's the list:

I sold a novel to a real publisher. "The Android and the Thief" will be out from Dreamspinner Press April 2017.

I sold a novella. "Eve of the Great Frost" will be out in the holiday anthology "This Wish Tonight" from Mischief Corner Books December 14, 2016.

I published "The Coming of the Light," a sequel to my novel "The Moonling Prince."

I published a book of poetry, "Dead Starships."

I had a long poem nominated for the Rhysling Award.

I had a poem win third place in a long poem category of a poetry contest. It won a $25 award. You can read it here: We Shall Meet in the Star-Spackled Ruins.

I had poems published in Asimov's, Eye to the Telescope #21 and #22, Love is Love, and Lupine Lunes.

I focus on all these positive things on this list to keep myself going into the next year. It is about pushing forward, always striving to do better. I have a lot of writing experience, but the more I do, sometimes it feels like the less I know. Writing is about trusting. Running blind. Stepping off a ledge into the unknown. You just have to do it and hope. And then repeat and repeat and repeat.

I have more projects for the coming year, 2017. I am working on a new queer scifi romance called "Lake in the Stars". I am working on a new poetry collection called "Superheroes Take Over the World". I am working on a collection of the best of my best queer vampire stories, "Bitters," which will be out very soon (since all of it is already written).

I will not lie that disappointments for me in being a writer, and doing my very best, run vast and deep, but I keep looking at my list of accomplishments from just this year and I know I can go on. I'm not griping, I'm just saying that it's a very hard road. I always wanted to do this full-time, and I can't.
The enthusiasm and excitement with which I approach it comes with a lot of hair-pulling, anxiety and even resentment. Every writer overcomes these things in their own ways, but the battles are real. This has been both a good year for me, and a hard year. But I am off and running into new projects, new hopes, new dreams.

I look forward to 2017 and all it will bring.

Winter Fantasy

the utterances of

the winter dragon

his breaths of ice

snow over the tiny

sleepy town