Breaking News: I HAVE A BOOK!

 So it's been a few days since I've updated here last, and a lot's happened since last time. Before anything else, though, I want to reassure you that I will be getting back to the Great Discworld Re-Read. Having a bit of Discworld to read when the round world is being, well, the way it's being, has been both a joy and a delight.

First things first! I've been working on a book since 2020. I made it my goal to finish a complete draft by the end of 2025, and I met that goal. By the end of March this year, I had re-read the entire manuscript and discovered that while there were a few changes I needed to make, they weren't nearly as extensive as I'd feared. In a spurt of enthusiasm and energy, I finished it to the point that I was willing to make it available to the public. All this to say that my first book, The Infinite Library, is now available! You can find it for free on Royal Road, or if you'd like to own a copy, you can find it on Kindle or in paperback on Amazon or on Kobo.

When I was little, I promised myself that one day, I would have a book with my name on it. Thanks to indie publishing and never giving up on the dream, I finally made good on that promise.

That's me!

In the meantime, I'm also competing in the NYC Midnight Short Story contest for the second year running. Each year people enter and are put into groups, and each group is given a different prompt (usually a genre, a subject, and a character), and an extremely short amount of time to write a story. Round one was 8 days to write 2,000 words. I've never made it past the first round, but the important thing is that I am guaranteed feedback from the judges. The feedback may not always been completely useful, but hearing from impartial readers has done wonders for both my craft and my confidence. 

I made round two this year! After the initial astonishment and reading the feedback (which was much more complimentary than I expected), I had to hunker down to write the story for round two - this time, I had three days to write 1,750 words on a completely new prompt. I actually just submitted my story about half an hour ago, about 11 hours before it was due, after going through two rounds with my favorite beta-readers. Once again, I don't expect to make it to the next round, but I'm looking forward to getting the feedback.

I've been writing since I figured out how to, and I've been doing so consistently and deliberately for the last ten years or so. I don't see myself giving up my day job to write full time, if nothing else than because I need health insurance and a stable income, but I've always wanted to tell stories. I've built up my confidence enough to let other people read what I write, and it's starting to feel like people are enjoying the stories I tell. If that's all I leave behind in this world, then I'll consider it a win.