Had the email arrive today with the galley proof of The Trigger Reflex anthology being published by Pill Hill Press. The anthology includes my first published short story Groundhog Day.
It was a great buzz to see my story laid out as it will appear in print, an even bigger buzz seeing my name in the table of contents and then later on on the pages my story appears.
This is something I’ve worked for for a lot of years, something I’d dreamt of since I was a teenager writing pretty trashy Star Trek rip off stories. Finally someone thinks what I have written is good enough to appear in print, and that it is good enough to pay me for.
Since receiving the first email, several months ago now, telling me my story had been accepted, I have submitted about half dozen other stories. Three have received rejection notices, one the publisher has ceased trading, and the last two are still out there – awaiting a decision.
I currently have three shorts in the WIP pile, one is a horror western for an anthology for Wicked East Press, one is a steampunk for another Pill Hill Press anthology, and the last is and for Pill Hill Press and for the planned third monster hunter anthology – which has not even been announced yet.
One acceptance has spurred me on, it has resulted in the most productive few months of my writing career. Is it a career? I feel I’d like to label it as such, I spend more time writing now than I do doing anything else.
I look forward to the end of the month, when I hope to let you know the publication date for The Trigger Reflex (its due at the printers November 18th). And I look forward to the second acceptance email, just for my piece of mind, and to prove to myself that the first one, wasn’t a fluke.
