Life has been pretty hectic lately, especially with roller derby partially swallowing my life. But I’m going to make a concerted effort to stay on top of this and update more regularly.

I’ve had some success in the story submission process.

Arcane Magazine accepted my necromancers-in-love story, “Kiss of Death.” I’m not certain what issue the story might appear in, and there’s some concern that it could be a while. But this acceptance is a big leap in terms of quality of publishers accepting stories, going from token payments to semi-pro rates. I still haven’t made the golden pro sale, but I’m hoping that things will change in the near future.

Timid Pirate Publishing accepted my submission for their Cobalt City: Dark Carnival anthology, “Beads and Trinkets.” I was gratified to see that my gonzo Snowflake short story tickled the publisher in just the right way. I had a lot of fun writing it, and he seems to have had a lot of fun reading it. It’s nice to be able to just cut loose and chew scenery for a few thousand words.

I’ve also got four stories floating around out there. A paranormal romance story written under a pen name had a re-write and has been resubmitted. I also submitted a story to the Writers of the Future Contest, a flash-fiction piece and the jinxed steampunk story that has managed to kill two anthologies before they ever started. Here’s to hoping that someone bites. I also have a couple more stories to work on.

In other news, I’m working on an outline for a YA novella I’ve been asked to write. Along those lines I’ve been pinging friends and family for music recommendations. I figure I need the right music to properly tell the tale of a teenage lesbian superhero. (No, really.) After that I’m going to be back to working on the novel I hope to pitch this summer. Wahoo!