As usual, I don’t have too much time to write in here these days, but since I have something nice to share…

I got an answer regarding one of the short stories I had submitted a few weeks ago, and it was a positive one, which will be… the first time ever for me. No need to say I’m pretty happy about it, because no matter what, whether it is in a paper anthology or in a webzine, I had never been published before (save for a couple of articles in a fanzine, but that was long ago, and it didn’t have to go through a screening process first).

I don’t know how it goes for other authors. In my case, I… didn’t sleep during that night, out of being so excited (I got the answer at 11:30 PM), then lived on a happy little cloud the day after. It’s a small step, yet one that will definitely hold much importance to my eyes. It’s also one of the short stories I’ve had the hardest time writing, because it dealt with a sort of ‘borderline’ theme that could’ve quickly fell into exaggeration, and I constantly was under the impression that I was ‘going too far’. So, I’m sort of twice as satisfied.

In any case, Yza is happy (and may now proceed to decide on a pen name at last, because she’s going to need it * chuckles *).

Y Tags: publishing | short story | submission | writing

I’m not talking about cats or a piece of news, but about a process initiated some time ago, grown in my little mind by what’s left of my brains, fed with the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack, and finally blossomed in full. This is to say that I separated in two distinct entities (in brief, two novels) the first volume of my trilogy set in the world of Eien.

Complicated? Yes and no. I had been hesitating for a long time, fearing that by doing so, I would only pursue new chimeras, but the facts dawned on me rather than I imposed them as a law. Either I’d get rid of a secondary plot that deserved something better than background importance (and I’d then find myself with characters without any reason of travelling any more, and with the need of modifying a general plot that otherwise suited my tastes well), or I’d develop that secondary plot, with the risk of overshadowing the main one. In the end, none of these seemed good in my book.

This may seem odd, but in my case, I think I’ve just crossed a new threshold.

This afternoon, after having made sure that no typos nor spelling mistakes remained, I sent Au sein de la nuit and La Dévorante to the 5eme Saison French publishing house for their free theme. And that was… surprising. A sort of huge change in my little world.

I explain: writing, editing, sending the short story to proof-readers, applying their corrections, modifying the text hoping it’s for the best… all of this is easy. Annoying at times and leaving me with the need to rip my hair off, but easy. On the other hand, what is harder for me is to actually send the texts once I’m done with them. By doing so, I’ll now be running the risk (which is real, I admit) to see them rejected for a reason or another. I’m standing in front of failure, more than of success. And the fear of failing is something one definitely needs to triumph over. It is useless to tell oneself “I want to be published” if it’s to keep all those short stories bundled up in a drawer or on the PC, and if it’s to end up not sending the texts. (Note: I am indeed able to pull a “oh, what a shame, I had completely forgotten the deadline, now it’s too late! It’s such a shame, indeed!”)

So, it’s official: I’m ready to accept failure, and it has helped to increase my chances of getting published. Because if I don’t take part in and don’t send my stories, said chances drop to 0 anyway, right.

And even if my short stories are crappy without me realizing it, which is probably the case, at least I’ll have won something treasurable: new knowledge regarding all those little writing quirks and mistakes I should correct. (And good pals, too: the people who accepted to proof-read my stuff.)

In other words, progress came with those short stories, and I’m not afraid anymore.

Y Tags: short stories | writing

It is a public fact that sometimes, I am a real millstone. In order to illustrate that rule, I had of course to put stuff online, mention it everywhere, and… totally forget to write about it on my own blog. Ain’t I dumb!

I’m thus taking a few minutes this morning to post a belated notice here, and announce that, after mulling and pondering the thought, I finally decided to put a story online—namely Unsung Heroes, which those who’ve been here since 2005 have surely heard of (a sci-fi/cyberpunk novel I had started for NaNoWriMo ‘05).

As the title easily enough reveals, it’s written in English (I just don’t have the time to translate it into French), hence I feel entitled to blab about it on the English version of the blog as well. The rest of the website is in French, though.

I’ll update accordingly in the weeks and months to follow, and don’t be surprised if I also rewrite a few bits here and there, especially if we take into account the fact that studying English in college always causes me to spot new mistakes these days. For the moment, at least, the first chapter is already available here.

(Critiques and the like are to be left on the forum or through e-mail, unfortunately: I don’t want to activate a comment system on too many pages of the website, since it seems to attract many Russian people who seemingly love football and bedroom sports a lot. Sorry about that…)

Y Tags: chapter | novel | unsung heroes | writing

Once again, I failed at keeping this blog updated… well, not as much as last year, that is. This time, it was for a good reason if there’s any: as you can notice in the sidebar (warning, it’s boasting time), I’ve finished three short stories answering to themes proposed by a few French publishing houses and magazines. Truth be told, I’ve actually written four of them, but the last one is more a rewriting than something completely new, and as such, I haven’t put it in the list.

Will these short stories be published? Nothing is certain here. This said, once I’ve properly proof-read them, I will send them, which will cause my chances of publication to soar through the sky—as stupid as it seems, before that, I’ve always been too shy to send anything, silly me!

I’m however resuming classes now, and will write more slowly… Nevermind, I already have caught sight of a couple more themes, and I’ll do what it takes to write some more by then.

Note: For those of you who read French, on Yzabel.net, I’ve added a page dedicated to keeping tracks of my submissions, nicely nicknamed “the rake list”. There, I’ll note down received comments, rejections, portential approvals, etc.

Y Tags: short stories | writing