The Second Year Begins

Adapted from tonight's posting on my LiveJournal: Today was the one year anniversary of my three chapters, synopsis and cover letter for Heirs of Mâvarin arriving on the slush pile at Tor Books in New York. I was reminded of this fact in a dream this morning, in which Patrick Nielsen Hayden got annoyed with me for temporarily storing ham and cheese in a Tor mailbox, and announced he would have nothing more to do with me. For months I've been fantasizing that I could mark this occasion with an anniversary card, something like the graphic on this entry. Actually sending such a thing would be unprofessional, though, so I'll post it online and leave it at that. I'm not really upset at the long wait; I once sold a logic problem to Dell two years after I submitted it. Having spent a few decades turning my derivative high school efforts into a rather decent first novel (she said modestly), I don't really mind waiting to get it published. On the other hand if this long wait ends in a form rejection slip, the depression that follows is likely to make this past week look like a Jolly Holiday by comparison. If that happens (and I kind of don't think it will at this point), I'll probably cry for days...and then send the manuscript to another publisher.

Karen