So I wrote a novella. It's being published by Kristell Ink. And I don't talk about that as much as I talk about Circuits & Slippers. I don't think most people in my life know about it, even though they knew C&S was coming out for months.
I think I didn't want to get anyone's hopes up. Theirs, mine, I don't know. Because I thought it was too good to be true.
I did my research. I knew KI was a legitimate publisher, and I signed a contract. But still that little voice in my head said "Someone's playing a joke. It's all a big scam. Your name will never be on the front of a book, only the table of contents or on a website."
Which is not to knock anthologies or websites in any way. It's just that in those, I'm only a small part of the whole. 1/20 of the stories in C&S, one of hundreds on Cast of Wonders (sometime this year!). But a novella with only my words in it. That's a bigger risk they're taking on me, it's scarier.
So no matter how much I knew it was real, it didn't feel real.
This morning I got to see the first sketch for the cover of my novella, Anachronism. And I just about cried because it finally felt real.
And it's pretty, you guys. My aunt (the first, and at the time only, person I personally knew who had read the book) and I came up with an idea, and the artist pulled the image straight from my brain. It's amazing, and I can't wait to show everyone the final version when it comes out.
Because it is coming out. I am going to have a published novella. And I need to start believing that.