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High Five Acres · May 4, 2021 6:31 AM

After a crappy 2020 and a really rotten start to the 2021, the stress of Covid/working in healthcare and everything else life has thrown my direction, I've been throwing myself into writing in a way I never have before. I finished a full novel (horse related) back in November but haven't been brave enough to edit it and submit it. Then, I had a funny idea about a quirky little ghost story, so I managed to write a 120 page novella, and after that, I wrote another 120 novella about a child who survives a plane crash. With feedback and help from some of my coworkers, I got the second novella edited. I swallowed my fear of rejection and turned off the little voice in my head that told me I was wasting my time.

On March fifth, I submitted my first novella to my favorite publisher. Their process takes 14 to 16 weeks to review due to the high volume of submissions. 14 to 16 weeks feels like forever and every single day I doubted and questioned and berated myself for being dumb enough to put something out there. Every week felt like a full year. The only important goal I've ever had, my entire life was to be a published author.

Today, just shy of the 8 week mark, my heart stopped when I opened up my e-mail. The publisher is offering me a contract for my novella, 'The Ghost's Host'! I am beside myself, a complete and total mess, a blubbering fool!

This is what life was made for - these moments of absolute joy. No matter what the rest of my existence brings, I will be able to look back on this day, this unimportant little Tuesday in May, and know that all the living, all the choices, all the twists and turns in my life were just the blurb. Today starts the novel of my actual living and I am so ready.

~May the Forth be with you~

annismyrph · May 4, 2021 6:38 AM

CONGRATZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thats fabulous!

WhiteValley · May 4, 2021 7:09 AM

Congratulations! I would have loved to have been a writer, but I just don't have your courage. Savour the moment. You are right, it is just these moments that you will treasure for ever. I am so happy for you - I'm actually grinning while typing this. :D

Xzeina · May 4, 2021 7:26 AM

That's so awesome! I used to write a lot but mental health got in the way of me finishing my poetry book. I hope this is only the beginning of your publications. : )

High Five Acres · May 4, 2021 7:41 AM

@annismyrph - Thank you! I would not have had the guts to do this without the support of you guys and the knowledge that no matter what, I could turn to this community and find peace!

@ White Valley - You can still do it! I spent many years doubting and wringing my hands, but I gave myself a swift kick in the pants with all the craziness going on in the world and found the motivation I needed! Your smile makes my heart burst with joy!

@Xzeina - Writing was always my greatest outlet when I struggled with mental health issues. Don't give up on your poetry! You can self publish stuff like that on Amazon for the world to discover and your words could change someone's life! Writing/reading poetry was my lifeblood for many. many years. Who is your favorite poet?

SandyCreekAcres · May 4, 2021 8:28 AM

Congratulations! That's a super achievement! May you sell many copies. Give me a link to it when it's published and I'll purchase a copy.

There was a time when I wrote a lot of poetry, and even won some prizes in a poetry festival sponsored by the public library in Elmira, NY, about 20 miles north-west of my home. Here's one of mine that all you horse lovers might enjoy. It was written about the colt who appears in the banner at the top of my game horse's pages.

Month-old Colt

Pistol stands in the late May light, fresh
as a schoolboy sketching a cartoon
teacher. The fox-red coat he was born
with has started to shed, leaving raccoon
rings around eyes and muzzle. His mane,
still soft and fine as eyelashes, fringes
his crest. The sound of his name swivels
ears it’ll take him years to grow into.
He turns, flashing the huge white moon
that fills his forehead. With a twitch
of his paddle tail, a hindquarter hitch hoists
hind hooves two feet in the air as his nose drops
toward the dirt, then he takes off, his one white
sock an exclamation point in his gallop.
He slides to a stop, spins, charges up
toward the barn then whirls and powers
back toward the fence, a keyhole racer in training.
Maggie steps from the barn and whickers.
He trots to her side, pokes his nose
under her side for a swallow of milk
and surfaces with a Dennis-the-Menace gleam
in his eye. New teeth nip his mother’s flank.
Her hind leg shoves him flat. As he raises
a wary head, his glance shouts “What did I do?”
With a sigh, he stretches out; eyes drifting shut;
he slides into the tranquil pool of sleep.

Johara · May 4, 2021 8:31 AM

Congratulations! That's really awesome!

annismyrph · May 4, 2021 8:43 AM

I Agree with @SandyCreekAcres ; I am a prolific reader ; esp now with my back being whacky;
you ll need to give me a link :)
And @SandyCreekAcres ; thats really cool ; you took me right into that pasture with the bratboy lol

Xzeina · May 4, 2021 9:56 AM

I stopped writing because the loss of my years of work was too much for me to handle.

boredaf · May 5, 2021 10:54 AM

Score! especially in the novella market well done. I'm always up for talking writing.

High Five Acres · May 5, 2021 10:30 PM

@SandyCreekAcres - I love your poem! Reminds me of all the naughty little ones I've had over the years. And the growing into ears thing REALLY had me smiling!

@Xyeina - I get it. I had many years where my depression meds made it impossible to pick up a pen or have a thought I considered worthwhile. Then, even when I would feel 'creative', mostly I would just read through old stuff and tear it up. Boy, if I could turn back time or tell my younger self the things I know now, what a different existence this could have been. On the flip side, though, without the decades of angst and upset, would I have become the person I am today? It's just an endless loop of tail chasing questions! The world would be all the richer with whatever you choose to give it, so keep that in mind. :)

@boredaf - I've written one novel (not edited well or ready to do anything with it, though), but it seems I'm much more suited for novellas. They are running right around 34k words (120 pages) and I love the freedom of not having to slog through extra scenes to meet an arbitrary word count. It's a tough market though, most people don't want to waste money on something less than 60k to 80k words, so I'm sure it isn't going to appeal to a lot of people. Either way, the thought that someone believes in me enough to take a chance is mind boggling!

Just got a copy of the contract and I'm drowning in ten pages of heretofores and thereins! This summer is going to get a little wild. I was truly expecting a rejection letter and I got myself in over my head with some other stuff. I'm working full time, taking care of my farmette and I decided to go back to school for a teaching degree so I can do something I love since I'm getting pretty burned out at my current job. Should I panic yet? Adding editing a book for publication along with working on the other ones is giving me palpitations! Sleep is overrated, right? lol

boredaf · May 6, 2021 7:48 AM

Contract: oof that's why people get agents. Sounds terrifying.
Random stuff: Don't know if it will help but "Alexa donne" and "iwriterly" are both youtube channels with great advice for managing writing careers the first gears more toward trad pub and the latter toward self pub but they're both good.

Do they have an editor working with you or are you on your own? I know nothing about the novella market.

High Five Acres · May 6, 2021 8:22 AM

Once I get the contract signed, they said they will set up a team for me (with one to two editors) and we can start working toward publication. Honestly,I am completely clueless as far as what happens next, so I will definitely check out those channels! According to what I'm reading, basically, the only thing I'm responsible to do at this point is write/rework and show up if I'm contracted to do an event. They are responsible for the majority of the promotion and marketing, all costs associated with editing and publishing, copyrighting, etc. The publisher I'm working with is Bold Strokes Books. I have sooo many books from them and of all of the 'alternative' publishers, I have noticed they have a particular attention to detail and high quality editing. I have yet to read one that wasn't well done (even if I didn't personally find the book to be to my liking) and the president of the company is a wonderful author, herself.

boredaf · May 6, 2021 8:47 AM

That's awesome and you nailed the most important thing "money never flows away from the author" they sound reputable :). It's nice knowing someone farther along in the process than I am.

High Five Acres · May 6, 2021 9:06 AM

I think I'm in over my head, but I'm thrilled about it anyway.

Have you ever participated in NaNoWriMo? ( nanowrimo.org ) That site helped me understand exactly what I wanted and set goals for myself that I would not have otherwise followed. I met a great group of people from my area on a Discord chat through NaNoWriMo and they gave me tons of encouragement/help throughout the writing process. Even now, they have given me some pretty excellent contract advice! NaNoWriMo has helped so many people become the authors they want to be over the years and I HIGHLY recommend checking them out.

I'm glad to swap knowledge and info on anything book related! If you are on Facebook, look me up. I'm Cathleen Collins (my profile pic is of my goofy dogs - they are far more photogenic than I am!)

Kaysa · May 6, 2021 9:27 AM

Congratulations! That’s so exciting

boredaf · May 6, 2021 9:39 AM

No I haven't, but at the moment my hold up is that the series I'm working on is co-authored and editing co-authored work takes forever. but the actual writing isn't a problem, I'm almost done with a first draft of the sequel and have some side projects set in the same universe.

I know you don't query for a series, but we haven't settled on a publishing route yet so there's no harm in preparing.

My writing crew has been trying to get me on discord forever heh.

High Five Acres · May 7, 2021 12:31 AM

Wow! I don't know if I would have the wherewithal to be able to write WITH someone else! I imagine that would be quite a challenge. So what you focus on is more fantasy stuff? I've always loved that genre, though I don't know if I'm creative enough to write entire worlds into existence. The one I submitted is loosely considered speculative fic as it does deal with ghosts, psychics, past lives and other things of that nature.

I'd love to hear what projects you are working on!

Forestshadow · May 7, 2021 10:15 AM

I love stories like this. Congrats!!

I am working on a fanfic story based on my favorite character from one game I play. I have it up on AO3 (Archives of Our Own). DM me for the info if someone wants to read it. Feel free to make suggestions too.

boredaf · May 7, 2021 11:34 AM

Well my fanfic group and I collabed a lot so I was used to it when I started doing original stuff w/ my RL partner.

My original work is contemporary fantasy (like buffy or supernatural) so less world building then you would have otherwise.

@forest shadow if you ever move into original I highly recommend you watch Alexa donne on youtube she has some vids about the things you can do in FF that don't work in OF that I found very helpful.

Kintara · May 8, 2021 1:54 AM

That's awesome High Five Acres, congratulations!!

Forestshadow · May 10, 2021 8:59 AM

Yeah, I've had to do some world building myself because of how I chose to do my character.

High Five Acres · May 11, 2021 10:00 AM

Fanfic is awesome! I've read some fabulous fanfic stuff over the years and it is such a creative genre. I think some of the fanfic stuff is even better than the original show/movie.

Well, my update on how things are going - apparently I'm going to have to figure out all the 'young people stuff' like twitter and instagram. I've manage to create profiles for them both, but I'm floundering around after that. I have a website (totally basic free site I threw together a while back) and I'm thinking of redoing it to focus on my writing instead of my critters. One thing at a time, though.

I've been given an editor, a marketer/promoter, a sales person and an author/mentor up to this point and I'm overwhelmed without even starting the editing! Life has been a steady stream of setting up accounts, filling out paperwork and sending e-mails for the past few days. I had a little shiver of disbelief when they said they were starting to build my 'author's page' on their website. Holy crap! I think this might actually be real!

annismyrph · May 11, 2021 10:06 AM

the Marketer / Promoter would actually be a go to person for the twitagram stuffs ; more than likely they've done it thousands of times

am really really happy you are doing this and forging ahead ! I dont think i'd have the uhm for it

High Five Acres · May 11, 2021 10:22 AM

Yeah, I was trying not to look like a complete tech boob and figure it out on my own, but alas, I have had to admit defeat and get the info I seek from a nine year old. What has this world come to? lol I'll be contacting the marketing gal soon with eight million questions, so pray for her!

I'll bet you have a lot more gumption than you give yourself credit for! 'Never give up, never surrender!' (Tim Allen in Galaxy Quest)

WhiteValley · May 11, 2021 11:18 AM

=)) I love the idea of you asking serious questions of a nine year old! I also struggle with modern technology and don't do social media, so I sympathise. And Galaxy Quest is one of my favourite films. :)

boredaf · May 11, 2021 12:26 PM

Damn, that sounds like a lot :D glad you made it but whew. The social media aspect actually seems like the worst part, it's why I shy from self publishing. If I ever actually made it I think I'd see if they'd let me create like a goth persona or something. It'd fit the atmosphere of my work and I'm much better at pretending to be a freak than pretending to be normal. *shiver*

Sorry for the tangent that stuff freaks me out. *hides behind keyboard*

High Five Acres · May 11, 2021 11:08 PM

Normal is overrated! For many years, I was sure if I ever got published, I would want to use a pen name and a persona, but I think with age comes the wisdom that I am a weird woman with weird ideas and I might as well embrace it.

I just put together a quick website (complete with a domain name of my own and all that jazz!) that has the first chapter of my three 'finished' works. the Ghost's Host is the one that has been contracted to be published. Wildflower is my favorite so far, but I'm still working on editing the last twenty pages or so before I can submit it. Broken Branch is the horse related novel, the longest thing I've ever written and the one that needs the most work. The story line isn't bad, it just drifts away from the original intent somewhere in the middle, so I need to get out the post-its and do some serious reworking.

https://www.cathleencollins.com/ (<---hehehe, my name is a website! Welcome to the twilight zone.) If anyone wants to check it out and give me some feedback on the layout, what I'm missing or if it is overkill, please feel free!

WhiteValley · May 12, 2021 1:51 AM

I'm no expert in these matters but I found your website visually impressive, very informative, and your expressive written introduction gave a flavour of how your novels would 'sound' (if that makes sense). I really hope this venture goes well for you. :)

annismyrph · May 12, 2021 2:57 AM

just read the partial stroy "Ghost Host" LOVE it ! can't wait for the rest. I looked at the rest of your site " About The Author" ; and had to laff a little ; I used to work for a place called " CountryRun Great Danes" that also had horses, cats, goats, chickens , etc ( it was kinda a farmette ) We supplied the critters for SNL ,Conan and a few other shows. And I am a bigtime foster mom to kitties ; my " specialty" is re habbing ferals / semi ferals into "house" cats. Kinda odd how so many of us are into so many of the same things :outside" the game we all enjoy :) I think you have a hit on your hands with these books, and I think we can all say " we knew her when " in a little while :)

SandyCreekAcres · May 12, 2021 8:06 AM

That's an impressive start. It looks like your career is in good hands. The ending of the first paragraph of your introduction spoke directly to me--I'm definitely one of those bookworm people. In fact I once publicly declared that my ideal world would contain an infinite number of books and infinite time to read them. :D I'm looking forward to following your career.

High Five Acres · May 12, 2021 9:19 AM

You guys are so freaking awesome! I hope all your faith is not misplaced!

I've added more critter pics to the meet the author page - I have a VERY photogenic turkey named Oliver who has been insisting he is part of the team. ;)

High Five Acres · Jul 18, 2021 6:02 AM

Just wanted to post an update about all the madness.

So I just got the book back for editing and my editor only asked for a few little changes. She said it was clean and crisp, flowed well and she really enjoyed reading it! We had a Zoom call (ewww, technology :P ) and I've had to join the 21st century and get a smartphone. We created a book cover and they gave me a release date of 1/1/22. The book is up for sale for preorders as we speak - my mind is blown!

After I had submitted it in March, I was so sure it would be rejected that I signed up to go back to school so I could take my mind off my sadness. When it got accepted, I realized the error of my ways, but you know what they say about hindsight. Now, here I am, a college student for the second time in my life, exactly twenty years after my first degree and I'm crushing it! Okay, I only have two classes this semester, but I've got a 98% and a 99% with only two more weeks to go. If I play my cards right, I'll have an associate's degree in teaching by mid-fall 2022.

And since I didn't have enough on my plate, I figured, hey, why not submit a proposal for my other novella. Now I'm wringing my hands and stressing out waiting for a response from the senior editor on "Wildflower". I've also been researching publishing companies for my poetry, but that is something I'm not sure I'm ready to take on - either allowing it out into the world or having people find out what a dark and depraved weirdo I really am.

I posted the book link on my website ( www.cathleencollins.com ) under the preorder tab. The sale button takes you to the publisher's site where they have it listed for $4.99 as a preorder. It is an e-book at the moment - who knows if it will make it into real, live book form in the future or not. I was excited when they accepted it, but it almost didn't seem real. When I saw it up for sale I nearly floated into outer space!

Hopefully the book cover image below shows up, but if not, you can see it on my site!

SandyCreekAcres · Jul 19, 2021 7:45 AM

Preorder made. I'm looking forward to January. It will be an exciting slightly early birthday present. :D

Humboldt · Jul 19, 2021 8:02 AM

Congrats, what an amazing set of accomplishments!

boredaf · Jul 19, 2021 9:04 AM

Oh man that cove's beautiful, I feel like I know exactly what it's about just from that. I hope I get a cover that evocative someday :)

MiaMoo · Jul 19, 2021 12:07 PM

Wow, congratulations! You are living the dream in my eyes ;) !

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