I must say it’s a great feeling to receive an Author’s packet and being welcomed to a group. As a writer, you often work on your own on a project for months, if not years. Then once you sign the contract, you’re part of a team. You share your story with publishers, editors, graphic artists, reviewers, readers, etc. It’s no longer just your project. You’re letting your creation grow up and enter the world, in a way.
I wrote Smoldering Nights for fun. I didn’t have any readers in mind, but was just letting my imagination go wild. I tried rock climbing one summer so that ended up in the story. I love the setting of a goth/rock club so that’s where Nike and Luc talk for the first time. I love the Gloucester area of Massachusetts and coastal Maine, so I threw that in as well. And anyone who knows me knows I’ve loved the vampire myth for as long as I can remember.
So imagine my surprise when I sent this story out to one publisher and they offered me a contract for it?
Now that was an awesome feeling. Too bad I was reading the email on my Droid and I threw it up into the air out of excitement. Then it crashed to the ground. It works, but it’s acting funny. Oh well, small price to pay to have this story published.