OMG!
Yes – finally it hit me (the coffee hadn’t reached my stomach at that stage). It was my one year anniversary. One year ago I signed my first publishing contract! Happy anniversary me!
Yes. Exactly one year ago I was in a state of shock but excited and nervous all at the same time. So here is a look back on my year and the milestones.
26th September 2013: Signed my first publishing contract (ever!) with Dreamspinner for Loving Jay. Freak out!
6th of October 2013: Submitted The Blinding Light to Dreamspinner for consideration. Rather bold of me. Sign my first contract one week, send in another story the next week.
26th of November 2013: Signed my second publishing contract for The Blinding Light. In total shock.
30th December 2013: Submitted The Shearing Gun to Dreamspinner for consideration.
10th January 2014: Finally received my ITIN (US tax file number). The FBI now know that I exist. Will the planet survive?
27th of January 2014: Received my first drafts of the cover of Loving Jay. Paul Richmond is a great guy! Happy to work with me to get it right. We’re serious now! Covers???
8th March 2014: Received the galley proof of Loving Jay.
March 2014: Changed my FB status from “Soon To Be Published” to “Author at Dreamspinner.” Hoping that it will not be changed to “Running and Hiding.”
14th March 2014: Received vellums in the post from Dreamspinner. I’m to sign them so they can be pasted into the paperbacks of my books. A “real” author’s signature? Oh, my.
15th March 2014: Submitted Safe in his Arms to Dreamspinner for consideration.
20th March 2014: Loving Jay appears on the Coming Soon page of Dreamspinner. <back flips>
3rd April 2014: Signed another contract. This time for Safe in his Arms. This is getting ridiculous now. Me? An author? <snort>
10th April 2014: Submitted my short story Bear Chasing to Dreamspinner for consideration in their anthology.
29th April 2014: Receive my paperbacks from Dreamspinner. Yay! Spend the entire day “smelling” the books.
18th June 2014: Submitted my story Shawn’s Law to Dreamspinner for consideration.
7th July 2014: Joined Twitter. My inaugural tweet. (@renaekkaye) Now the world knows I exist.
Un.Be.Lieve.Able.
17th August 2014: Signed a contract for Shawn’s Law. The world is going to change with this one.
18th August 2014: My short story Bear Chasing was released in the Dreamspinner anthology A Taste of Honey.
18th August 2014: Find out that Loving Jay is going audio! Whoo-hoo.
26th September 2014: Sit back and MARVEL at a year of changes!
Wow - how much growth have I come through and how many milestones could I have reached? Any year after this is just going to be anticlimactic.
I wish to sincerely thank everyone who has helped me along the way:
Dreamspinner Press
Liz Fitzgerald - editor extraordinaire
Paul Richmond, Maria Fanning & Bree Archer - cover artists rock
Elizabeth, Rose, lyric, Polly, Petra, Ione, Sue, Anne, Hayley, Ariel, Andrew & all the others at DSP who help - my lifelines
Nic Starr, Robyn Jones, Beany Sparks, Toni Griffin & Jack Byrne - Aussies who keep me sane
Cardeno C. - for listening and helping
BG Thomas - oh, man, we'll get to the hug in person one day
All my friends on FB who laugh and cry with me, and give excellent advice.
BUT MOST OF ALL: to the lovely reviewers and lovely readers who made this all possible.
But I hope to see you all still here in September 2015 - we've got at least two more stories to release in the next 12 months.