When a story sells…

One of the fun parts of writing and selling stories is the sense of renewal I get when I sell stories. Each sale is basically a kick in the pants to go and write more. I’m not sure about more established writers but I still get quite a thrill whenever an editor accepts a story.

Here’s a brief glimpse at some of the milestones I hit — each one giving me that extra jolt of energy I needed to reach the next.

• My almost-first sale ended badly, the market folded but my consolation prize was that Dragon had accepted my article ‘Give them Pidgins.’ Between that almost-sale and the article I was kept motivated for the next stretch of 5+ years before my next sale.
• My first real story sale, with money being given to me, was to the website Quantum Muse.
• “The End of the Road”, my first print sale, came a couple years later to Not One of Us
• When “A Ragman’s Vow” sold to On Spec I really freaked out (in a good way). Not only was this my first sale to a magazine I had been reading for ten years and respected greatly but it was the first time I had a story sell the first time I submitted it. When I sold my second story to On Spec I was equally thrilled — realizing that the first had not been a fluke :)
• Selling to my first anthology “Through Blood and Iron”, though as such things go I’ve placed two other stories at anthologies since then and both have went to print already. Very eagerly awaiting the day when “Through Blood and Iron” arrives!
• Getting the phone call and learning that “Digital Rights” had placed first in the Writers of the Future contest.

Each of these are memorable events — I still remember walking down the stairs at my old house and opening the envelope from Not One of Us telling me my story had sold to them. I was in shock for a good hour.

And I won’t tell you my reaction when I found out about the Writers of the Future win.

And I have many more milestones left — two more sales to pro markets to qualify for the SFWA, there are other magazines I enjoy reading that I want to place stories in and there are anthologies that I’m determined to break into.

Anyways back to work, building towards the next big sale…