Black Sails, Disco Inferno

A little over a year ago, I was laying in the guest bedroom at my in-laws' house, browsing Facebook on New Year's Eve. Being eight hours ahead of most of my friends made the activity light, but I saw a post from a friend and writer talking about this idea he was playing with - he wasn't sure if he should go ahead.

The idea was, what if you gender-flipped the Tristan and Isolde myth, modernized it, and made it noir? Holy shit, I was not going to let him talk himself out of that one. I had read (and loved) all of Andrez Bergen's work up to that point, and I couldn't think of a person better suited to that story, so I picked up my pom-poms and started cheerleading.

Fast forward to September of last year and the seventh issue of the resulting comic, Trista & Holt, debuted with my name in the slot for guest-writer. I'm a huge comic book fan, and a huge fan of Andrez, so this was absolutely surreal. When our first review for the issue came in, and it was overwhelmingly positive, I actually cried. I couldn't have been happier with our collaboration - or so I thought.

Because Andrez never sleeps (he says he does, but I don't buy it), once he wrapped up the comic series, he moved right on to the next project: a novelization of the comic series with a different ending.

Completely unexpectedly, it turns out that the first novel with my name on the cover will be Black Sails, Disco Inferno, set to be released this summer.

This is HUGE.

This is AMAZING.

This is INSANE.

I don't even know how to process the turn of events. For my part, I stumbled through my collaboration on the comic with Andrez, held my breath, and hoped for the best. I am so proud of the work I did, and how beautifully the collaboration worked out, but when Andrez sat down to write the novel, he promised I'd be credited for my part, he assured me the story would not have been the same without my work - but to have my name on the cover? To have a dedication to my husband in the front and acknowledgements in the back? To be planning a release party? HOLY SHIT.

This book is amazing, the previews I've seen for the cover are beautiful. This collaboration is absolutely the high point of my (admittedly short) career. I'm a bit stunned, but overall bursting with excitement to share this work with everyone.

I'm sure I'll come to grips with how to fully take the credit for my part (I'm not there yet), after all, it did suddenly feel real when I started writing acknowledgements but for now I'm trying to savor the excitement of seeing something I was a part of come out into the world with my name on it. Andrez is, as always, a wonderful person to work with, and has made sure I feel like this is mine, too, but I've been calling it, "The novel I collaborated on... well, I mean... I didn't write it..." which is a bit of a mouthful. I'm open for suggestions on something a little more succinct.

In the meantime, I bought myself a cool toy and am having a drink to celebrate.

Do Give Up The Day Job (but only when you're absolutely, completely, totally ready)

By Russel D McLean

So... *deep breath*

Last week I made something of a decision. A rather big decision. A rather terrifying decision. What I did was hand in my notice at the day job.

Why?

Not because of a million pound deal. But because I realised I was on the verge of making a choice. Lately, you might have noticed I've been doing a lot more work with newspaper interviews and chairing authors on a more professional basis. I've been doing work behind the scenes, too, working on readers reports for small presses as well as various other gigs. I've also been writing my own novels.

And working the day job.

Which takes its toll, and sooner or later a decision had to be made. So I took the foolish one. Its terrifying but exciting. And it was definitely not taken lightly. I see the ugly side of freelancing, too. Living with the Literary Critic has opened my eyes to the reality of a writer's life. But still, I have a plan and I need to give it a shot.

Fact is, most writers don't make enough from writing to live on. I've known this for  long time, but I've also worked out that if you have a sellable skill set maybe, just maybe, you can start to make regular income from activities related to writing. Which is why you'll be seeing a lot more of me in the near future in newspapers and other places Which is why I'm pimping my chairing skill out to libraries and festivals. Which is why I'm doing other work for other people, all of which are related to the written word,

In other words I'm not relying on the genius of my muse or on one particular thing happening to sustain me. I'm relying on the fact that I have a skill and a facility with words and that I am willing to do a helluva lot of things with that facility.

So it begins:the adventure. I could fall flat on my face, but I'm doing everything in my power to stop that happened.

And I'm looking forward to the future.