May 24, 2008--My contracts from Kim Lionetti arrived in the mail yesterday! YAY! I've read them, signed them, and, due to the holiday weekend, will mail them back to her Tuesday the 27th. The paperwork's done, and it's finally official. I have an agent. :) Keep checking back. I hope to have publishing news within a few months or so. Until then, if you want to follow my journey through revisionland and submissions to publishers, stay tuned to my blog. I promised my fellow LJers that I'd keep every step posted along the way.
May 8, 2008--Okay, so it's been almost a year since my last upate. Well, I just wanted to wait until I had something AMAZING to report. As of today, I am an AGENTED author. YAY! Yes, I've finally snagged that ellusive literary agent who has a keychain filled with shiny keys to open up the doors of the big New York publishing houses, and can get my books past the slush piles! Her name is Kim Lionetti with BookEnds, LLC. She's an AAR agent--which is a guarantee that she follows the strict canon of ethics set up by the organization, and makes a specified number of legitimate sales per year to big publishers. So she's the real deal. Now, wasn't that worth waiting for? I'LL SAY! Anyway, for a detailed account of how it all came about, visit my blog.
July 1, 2007—I’ve started sending out query letters to agents for representation of my regency vampire romance, entitled NOCTURNUS. I’ve got a good feeling about this book. Check back for updates.
June 26, 2007—Under the advice of my awesome editor at The Deepening, I have snail-mailed my literary short “Whittler” to The New Yorker, in hopes they’ll like it as much as he did. Now, I hold my breath and, in zentao’s words, “wait with hopeful anticipation that it gets there on a ‘good day,’ and makes it up the editorial ladder.” I’ll keep you posted.
June 26, 2007—One of my writer pals (Christen Reighter: www.writtenrealm.com) emailed me today to let me know I have been selected as an author of excellence on The Deepening: http://www.thedeepening.com/ for “ consistently producing and publishing excellent short stories and fiction with an identifiable, distinctive style and voice”. Kudos for scoping out my kudos, Christen!
May 19, 2007—I’ve been keeping up the stiff regiment of writing a chapter a week, and so far it’s working. DRUM ROLL PLEASE: I’ve reached the half-way point in my vampire novel! I’ll put up a short synopsis and excerpt when I’m closer to finishing. A month ago, I had some fellow bloggers nudge me for not keeping up my Live Journal. It’s just too hard to adhere to my self-induced deadlines while blogging, so I’m letting it drop for now. To read a more detailed explanation, visit my LJ: http://krysta-3.livejournal.com/. That will be the last entry I’ll post until July or August.
February 27, 2007—After hearing from a third agent that the first book of my trilogy is “well written, but too long … will be hard to place in today’s tight market”, I have opted to set aside the trilogy after having finished book II , swallow my pride, and write something marketable. I have a great idea for a vampire novel set in the regency era, and plan to brainstorm and research it this week. I want to keep it around 100, 000 words, and hope to be finished writing it by mid-July or so, in order to query agents. I still believe in my Winter Witch Trilogy, but have finally come to a place where I can be humble enough to realize it’s not going to be my first published work. Who knows. Maybe it still needs a bit more tweaking. These will be my "books under the bed." After selling this vamp novel and establishing a readership, when the publishers ask, "well, what else do you have?" I’ll take them out, dust them off, and say, "Here you go." But for now, I have to strike while the vampires are HOT! Check back. I’ll keep you apprised of my progress.
February 5, 2007—My short story “Closure” has been accepted by The Deepening, and will be out in the March online issue.
January 1, 2007—My literary short “Stillborn” is up this month at TD: http://www.thedeepening.com/. Swing by and take a look. Also, I’m working on several more short stories while finishing book two in the trilogy. I plan to send one to TD and try my hand at another publisher that specializes in speculative fic, called Shimmer Magazine: http://www.shimmerzine.com/.
December 22, 2006—I received a reply to my manuscript for "Yesterday's Winter" (requested in June by a Kensington editor I met at the Fiw conference). Her words were encouraging, if a little disappointing. She said I have a remarkably vivid style and a great sense of narrative sweep, but it is far more a fantasy than a category romance (I had listed it as a paranormal romance—rookie mistake), and Kensington does not represent fantasies of this scope. She suggested a few publishers for me to try that specialize in fantasy w/romantic elements. She ended the letter with a request that I keep her posted on what happens with it, saying it has tremendous potential and she wishes they did publish projects like this. Wow. Can’t be too upset with such a nice rejection letter, aye? If nothing else, I’ve now heard it from an editor’s lips what genre this trilogy falls into, so I know who to start sending it to. One step closer to publication!
October 15, 2006—My literary flash, "Stillborn", has been accepted by "The Deepening". This acceptance arrived in a personalized email from the editor-in-chief commending me on my writing. Thanks, Zentao, for the ecouraging words.
October 9, 2006—My literary slipstream, "Shadow Waxing", was accepted by "The Deepening" for publication. My prior acceptance, “Virtual Emily”, is up on their site through the month of October. If you would like to read it, click the above link to subscribe.
September 5, 2006—My literary short, “Virtual Emily”, was accepted for publication by “The Deepening". They are an e-zine with heavy literary leanings, and they are picky about what they take so it’s a cool thing to be accepted by them. Here’s their URL: http://www.thedeepening.com/short-stories-and-novels-to-read.shtml. They have a few cover stories you can read for free but then you have to subscribe to read the ones inside. My story is scheduled to come out in October but I don’t yet know if it was chosen for the cover or as filler. Keep checking back and I’ll let you know when it’s going to “print”. Oh, and yes, I’m getting paid for it. SMILE.
August 17, 2006—I opened a blog on Live Journal. If you want a glimpse of my inner turnings, be they thought provoking or just shooting the breeze, visit me there. The URL is http://krysta-3.livejournal.com/. I look forward to walking the blog with you.
June 9-10, 2006—I attended the Frontiers in Writing Conference held at the Ambassador Hotel in Amarillo, TX, and met some wonderful aspiring writers as well as some already established authors. On the final day, my manuscript for “Yesterday’s Winter” won honorable mention (fourth place) in the conference sponsored writing competition judged by a panel of authors and editors. I’m opting to consider this a good omen…