oh. em. gee., part two

[swan_tower]

And then the editor suggests one last line to go after the one you thought was the last line, and you say "yes, that's it exactly," and after the most ridiculously niggly revision process I've ever been through -- a revision process possibly more niggly than all my other story revisions put together -- I've sold "A Mask of Flesh" to Clockwork Phoenix.

Let it be known to all the world that Mike Allen is a saint among editors, for putting up with me. He made the ending of the story much better, however much I occasionally wanted to light the last page on fire.

Anyway, those of you from the Changeling game may be interested to know that this is the use to which I put all that research I did into Central American folklore, back in the day. My odd little quest to publish some Mayan/Aztec fantasy has begun.

Comments

[oneminutemonkey.livejournal.com]

Congrats. :>

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Danke! The antho looks like it's going to be really awesome.

[ombriel.livejournal.com]

Ooh, lovely placement! Congrats!

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I've had my fingers crossed on this one for a while.

[tltrent.livejournal.com]

Way cool! I just finally found Mike here on LJ, even though he lives nearby. :)

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

He's been pretty awesome to work with.

[tltrent.livejournal.com]

Can't wait to get my hands on this antho! Congrats!

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

Yay! This TOC just gets better whenever something adds to it! :)

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

When he posted the first half, my desire to be in the antho went up about 75%.

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

I saw the list of the second-half stories and just did a little glee-dance around my chair. :D

[xmurphyjacobsx.livejournal.com]

Ok beautiful, I need someone to talk me off the ledge. I am trying to do the edits on my FIRST sold story. I'm finding it near impossible -- not that there's anything wrong with the edits or my editor, just that I can't seem to make myself DO them. I know I'm taking it all too personally, but I haven't been able to find the right mantra or spell or whatever to get beyond it. I'm losing sleep. Edits are due shortly and even opening the ms is like being stabbed in the eye. Last night, at about 1 am, I was thinking I should just pull the story and tear up the contract rather than inflict my obvious inability to use verbs on the unwary public (and here I thought I'd done GREAT with the verbs).

So, being as no one is local to kick my ass or shoot me with animal tranqs, any tricks to get over this particular cusp?

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm.

Well, first of all, deep breaths. <g>

Time helps. I know the edits are due soon, but as a general rule, I try to read through the edits and then walk away for at least a day before I do anything about them, to give my subconscious and my ego time to adjust.

Also, if you had any things associated with the story originally -- for me, it's usually music, though "A Mask of Flesh" being what it is, I also burned copal incense -- try firing those things up again, as it will help your brain get back in gear.

Above all, think of this as an opportunity, not a disaster. This is your chance to make things better. They're obviously not bad to begin with, or your editor would never have bought it in the first place; now you take the sandpaper and polishing cloth to it, and bring out that last bit of shine.

[time-shark.livejournal.com]

"a saint among editors"

Pshaw!

;-p

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Well, that and a sadistic monster. ^_^

[time-shark.livejournal.com]

That's better. ;-p

I guess they're not mutually exclusive...

[dsgood.livejournal.com]

Congratulations!

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[shveta-thakrar.livejournal.com]

:)

[shveta-thakrar.livejournal.com]

Oops, add "congratulations" to that smile.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Danke!

[m-stiefvater.livejournal.com]

Hey, congrats! I saw the sub page for that and thought it looked really appealing.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the whole look of it drew me in from the start.

[aliettedb.livejournal.com]

Yay!
That's awesome (and you're in good company, seeing the TOC...)

If you find places that publish Mayan/Aztec fantasy, I'm really interested. I'm having some difficulties placing my own.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Oooh, you have some, too?

Maybe we can convince an editor to do an anthology of nothing but. 'Cause I have more stories I want to do in this setting, though none of them finished yet. And one contemporary fantasy piece about an anthropologist working among the Nahua, the modern descendents of the Aztecs.

[aliettedb.livejournal.com]

A fair amount...
I did manage to sell three of them, two to Shimmer and one to WOTF (and if you count alternate histories, I also sold one to Interzone, although the Aztec civ in that one had westernised quite a bit).

I would love an antho :)

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Maybe we can convince some small-press types; they're more willing to gamble on names like Metzpoztequi and Itlacahuiztli. <g>

(Neither of which, for the record, is a name I'm actually using. Just discards on my way to actual character names for "Chrysalis," one of my Mesoamerican wips.)