Goodbye to Another Year of NaNoWriMo

Well as November comes to a close so does National Novel Writing Month. To remind all of you, NaNoWriMo is when writers all over the world strive to write 50,000 words in one month. It’s a fun way to either jump-start a career of motivate those who are old to the writing game.

I’m happy to report I did manage to get in my 50K, mostly due to the fact I had deadlines up the wazoo. Not that I’m complaining about said deadlines. I truly consider it a blessing to have a publisher actually wanting my work. I can’t help but reflect about all that has happened in my writing career since last November.

In the year 2007, the small press I had been published with had closed its doors and I was without a home for my books. To say I was disappointed, despondent and depressed would have been an understatement. The last thing I felt like doing was writing. I felt like my career was over before it had even started. I know what you are all thinking. This is the publishing industry and houses come and go all the time. If you’re going to be a writer you need to learn to take such speed bumps in stride. I know that now. But last year, I wasn’t in that frame of mind. I was in a depression that I thought I could never shake.

Then I gave myself an internal bitch slap and let go of the pity. Just because I didn’t have a publisher didn’t mean I wasn’t a writer. So I sat my butt down and started to write Angel’s Blood. I also got out my MS and started to look around for a new publisher. I vowed to myself that I would find a new home for my angels or die trying. Am I ever glad I never gave up.

I found a new home for my Archangel Series, eXtasy Books. Not only is eXtasy bigger and more established than my last house, but the staff there has really helped me and my career grow. In this past year, I have had five of my Archangel Series books published, one from The Drone Vampire Chronicles, One Fantasy Game, plus three shorts in anthologies. Plus, in the next year month I have another FG and a full-length Christmas book coming out. It doesn’t end with that either, in the coming year I have plans for at least three more Archangel Books, two more shorts for anthologies and two Drone Vampire Chronicles.

In retrospect, I now know it was a blessing in disguise when I lost my first publisher, and I can’t help but wonder at the many twists and turns life has for us. I can’t wait to see what this coming year has in store for me.


-Stephani