Signed Contract in Hand

I have exciting news. I am officially a writer with a signed contract. Woot! It’s been three lightning fast years. Inklings Publishing, led by the effervescent Fern Brady, has optioned for the first installment of my epic fantasy series: Tarbin’s True Heir.

The paperwork is signed. She can’t take it back! So, I can confess my complete and total terror. Silly, I know. Isn’t this what I’ve been aiming for? A published writer. I can call myself an author in a few months. But when I saw that contract, I couldn’t breathe.

I read each section and took notes, even though I truly had little idea what I was looking at. Luckily, I have a community of writers that I turned to for advice. They went through the contract and shared their opinions based on their experience. As I’ve preached in previous posts, get a community! They will save your sanity.

After much debate and research, I only found one section I felt needed to be changed in order to get a fair deal. I was terrified to ask for the change. I almost called the whole thing off to avoid the subject. When I sat down for our meeting, my hands were shaking. My fear disrupted my normal thought process, making me correct the spelling of my kingdom incorrectly. I told Fern “Tarben” when it’s “Tarbin.” I’ve only been building this world for YEARS. Why would I know how to spell it correctly? Sigh.

I still haven’t told her I got it wrong. Maybe she will read this post and I can stick with my passive aggressive roots and hope we can change it. If not, Tarben is just as good as Tarbin, right?

As you can see, I’m still a bit nervous abut the whole thing. The most terrifying aspect of the entire transaction?

It’s real! The book release will be in August just before Dragon Con 2017.

No more playing at writing. No more saying I’m a writer without a piece of work available for people to judge. No more writing whatever I want whenever I want. No more putting my word count or revising schedule last on the priority list.

It all counts. It’s no longer a hobby.

Writers, I will keep you informed and try not to frighten you away from this creative endeavor. Of course, if you HAVE to write, nothing I say will sway the typing. Maybe I can lead you around a few potholes?

Readers, thank you. If it wasn’t for readers, and I do count myself among you, who could we share our crazy stories with?

Who else has made this transition? How did you cope?