RodCon 2018!
March 27, 2018
Uh, ahem, urgh, *clears throat* Hi there and AHOY! It’s been a while!
My personal life has felt like the inside of a Ninja blender the past few months and I haven’t done hardly ANY writing (*sobs!*), but fortunately Past Erin decided to give Present Erin a kick in the pants and signed her up for RodCon 2018!Ā Which is where I’ll be Saturday, April 7 from around 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. Stop by booth 10 and force me to socialize! It’ll be fun! I’ll have books for sale and some other random stuff collectibles, and maybe some crafts if I get my butt in gear.
Hope to see you there! š
Take care,
Erin
Two Weeks Out!
October 2, 2017
Today is October 1, whichĀ means there are 13 calendar days until the Iowa City Book Festival! It’sĀ been a while since the Twin Cities Book Festival, the only large-scale fest I’ve been to (as an author). I’m excited and nervous. Really nervous. But my main goal is to have fun and meet people and NOT go home with the pounds of candy I’mĀ bringing with me to lure people into my booth.Ā Oh come little children,Ā I’ll take thee away, into a land ofĀ enchaaaantment….
In other news, I got my hands onĀ the cover of MYTHIC, whichĀ should beĀ published soon:Ā 
I’m so excited to read the other stories!
Also, I got several copies ofĀ Heroic FantasyĀ delivered from Finland or somewhere like that. They were printed in Turkey and shipped from Finland, but published in England. So I was a little confused seeing a box from Finland on my porch, and tried desperately to remember what I could’ve bought from that corner of the world…then I remembered. My moment of panic was soon replaced with shrieks of happiness, because the book is even MORE gorgeous in person!! It’s so shiny š You’ll just have to buy a copy to see what I mean, hehehe.
Good News: Part Three
July 7, 2017
I’m pleased to announce that a third short story will appear in MYTHIC later this year š I wrote this one rather recently and am very happy to find it a home. I will have more information about it at a later date!
It looks like the Heroic Fantasy anthology got pushed back a bit, but no matter! I’m sure the wait will be worth it and I will include information about that as it is available. If you are interested in pre-ordering with Amazon you can do so here.
I made the decision to be brave and “put myself out there” at the Iowa City Book Festival this October, which I’m becoming more and more excited about so I know I made the right decision to go for it. I’ve also decided to bring everything I’ve ever written with me, so there will be books by four different “people” on my table, hehehe… whether or not I will own up to everything is still open. I’m hoping to have The Salt Pine Prince done by then but I know it’s a pipe dream š¦ The Iowa City Book Festival is the week before the Iowa Library Association Conference (where I am presenting at with a co-worker), so October will be rather busy, then November is NaNoWriMo as well as my library’s 2nd annual con, so I’m already getting a little anxiety about fall this year!!
I’m playing Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild with my kiddos and it’s a lovely escape from the reality….yes, the reality where I’m in the middle of writing a dozen different books/stories, working a wonderfully hectic job, and parenting two little ones. Bonus points for you if you know what my daughter means when she says, “I hope it’s not dubious!” š
Take care,
Erin
Good News: Part Two!
May 25, 2017
I’m SO EXCITED to announce that my new short story “Rhosyn am Ufel” will appear in theĀ Heroic FantasyĀ anthology published by Flame Tree! I’ve always admired their volumes and am so pleased to be included in one.
Here is a link to a blog post including the line-up of authors! Release date will be July 2017.
And here is a picture of the GORGEOUS cover!!
Good News: Part One
May 5, 2017
Hello out there!
I can finally tell you the good news I mentioned earlier this year and then in another two weeks there will be BONUS good news! Isn’t that fantastic?!
Okay, so here goes with part one:Ā “The Guardian of the Mountain”, which was published inĀ SQ MagĀ fall of 2015, was republished inĀ Star Quake 4: SQ Mag’s Best of 2015 anthology. Yay! I got a complimentary copy of the anthology and I’m all-around just super excited to have my name in somethingĀ so cool. There are a lot of good stories in this anthology and I’m linking to it here andĀ here.
As usual, I am neck-deep in what feels like a gazillion projects, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. My non-writer life is enormously hectic at the moment between my personal, work, and social aspects; I tend to like things a bit calmer :-). All in all it’s a good hectic, which is all I’ll say about that.
Talk to you soon! This time, I mean it.
Take care,
Erin
P.S. I published my first attempt at political satire a few months ago, so one down, four to go on my list of things to publish this year!
Protected: 2016 is Ending…Finally.
December 26, 2016
2nd edition, w00t!
October 24, 2016
Hey ya’ll.
Soooooo, I finally heard back from Tor and it was disappointingly anticlimactic. I knew it was coming. (Well, I knew my manuscript was rejected, I just wasn’t sure if I was ever going to receive a letter saying so!) The letter is known as a “standard rejection”, or SR, and here it is:
Dear Author,
We have given careful consideration to your manuscript and we are sorry to say that we do not feel we can offer to publish it. This is a personal judgement, of course, reflecting our own editorial needs, and the decision of another publisher might be quite different. For this reason, we prefer not to give more specific criticism.
Thank you for the opportunity to consider your manuscript and we wish you the best of luck in placing it elsewhere.
Sincerely,
Submissions Editor
Starscape and Tor Teen
Ho hum. Onward and upward. Roll with the punches. Coat yourself in idioms š In the meantime, I finished a 2nd edition ofĀ The FeastĀ and released it last week. So you can check out the “where to purchase” link for an updated looksie.
Or hereĀ š
That’s all for now, folks!
Take care,
Erin
Nick Valentine and other adventures
August 31, 2016
Hallo!
Nothing much to report on the writing front. I have a few short storiesĀ under consideration, but as I’ve come to learn, that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. (Though, as usual, I’m always optimistic and hopeful!) I started another book project. I got to stop doing that! Another small note, I’ve been selected as a NaNoWriMo Municipal Liason Ā for my region, which is a first for me and I’m very happy about that š
I wanted to write about what else is going on in my life. The library where I work is hosting a con later this year, and I’ve played a big part in making it happen. I’m super excited! And, since I don’t often get excuses to do stuff like this, I’m going all out on my costume. Nick Valentine is a second generation synth-turned detective in the game Fallout 4. I’ve played several of the Fallout games and they are among my favorites, so Nick was a natural choice (honestly, I did consider the Silver Shroud first, but his costume didn’t look as challenging). I’m going to do a trial run on the costume on Halloween or around then, and on the big day I’m going to document my transformation from late-20’s librarian of the present to a synth-detective from the apocalyptic future. It’ll be fun, I promise.
That’s all for now! Take care.
Erin
Stage B of the VSP, ready to deploy!
July 14, 2016
Hello, crew!
It’s been a while. Sorry about that, but I don’t believe in writing updates unless I have something to say. Most of the time, I’m more AyorthaianĀ than not š Ā (you get 100 points if you get that reference BTW)
The six month deadline for my Tor submission is closing in, and I haven’t heard anything. The saying “no news is good news” doesn’t apply in this instance, though of course I’m still hopeful due to my cursed optimism. According to Tor’s submission guidelines, I’m supposed to resubmit my story after six months because this means their response was likely lost in the mail. First,Ā I now know it can take 8-9 months for a response from them, but I figure I waited (mostly) patiently for their six month (“do not submit elsewhere”)Ā turnaround, so I’m off the hook as far as I’m concerned.
Second however, it was hard enough waiting the first six months and I don’t have it in me to wait another half a year for a very likely “thank you, but no”, so I do not plan to resubmit despite their advice. Does that sound bitter? I don’t mean it to. Rejections are the norm, for almost all writers. Besides, I had planned to initiate Stage B of my Very Specific Plan if this happened, so I’m going to flesh out my manuscript and polish it before sending it on to another big publisher that accepts unsolicited submissions. Their turnaround time is three months.
In the meantime, I have a short story submission under consideration and a few more pending response. Writing is not for the impatient! I repeat: do not attempt publication if you have little to no patience! A “quick” turnaround is two weeks and three to six months is normal, for all lengths of stories. Before I initiate Stage B, I’ve submitted queries to to agencies who have a 4-6 week turnaround, just in case. In theory, it’s a lot easier to go through the whole publishing deal if you have an agent. So, I figure I should give that a try. Pro tip: make sure you learn all your email’s shortcuts. TIL that some combination involving the spacebar sent one of my queries prematurely. As in, my letter wasn’t complete #queryletterfail Oh well.
Good night!
Erin
Blurbs Are Hard
April 2, 2016
Hey there! It’s been a while. I got some great news: my short story, “A Quality of Pain”, is going to appear in a super unique anthology entitled Clash of the Titles! I’m really excited to be included in an absolutely fantastic lineup featuring all kinds of tales written by all sorts of authors.Ā Each story is different, but they all have one thing in common: none of us authors came up with the titles for our stories! WeĀ eachĀ picked a title, provided by the editor,Ā and basically ran with it. After months of hard work and editing, the end is near, and it’s time to do (for me) the hardest part about the writing process–The Blurb. You all know what The Blurb is. It’s the back of the book, the inside flap, the snippet fromĀ the Amazon description that makes you say, “Wow! I want to read this like NOW!” It literally takes me DAYS to write blurbs becauseĀ I’m trying to entice readers without giving anything away, give readers a good idea of what to expect without going into detail or spelling out the entire plot, andĀ introduce key characters with just the right amount of description, all whileĀ keeping it all as short as possible. It’s so hard! And just when I think it’s perfect, paralyzing doubt sets in and I have to re-write the entire thing. So, I’ve been working on the blurb for “A Quality of Pain” for about four days now. It’ll be done soon. I hope. When more details about Clash of the Titles become available, I will let you all know!
In other news, I haven’t heard back from Tor yet. I didn’t think I would by now, but my darned optimism is so hard to keep quiet. At least I haven’t heard a “no” yet, either! See? OPTIMISM. As usual, I’ve been writing when I can (when I feel like it, which isn’t always…).
And that’s all! I don’t believe in wasting time (as much as possible), so that’s it for now. Happy April Fool’s Day (and Happy Crab Day, hehe).
Ā
e.g.thompson 