I should have made a firebird post earlier, but it’s been a crazy last month, with unfortunate coincidences. My debut novel The Firebird’s Tale, is now available for purchase. Check it out, get a copy if you haven’t! If you’re a new reader, hello and welcome. If you found me from my previous short stories, or from fandom, hello again, and thanks for your support all this while.
Life, Firebirds and Everything
A week or so after submitting the final draft, the dedication, and everything, I split from my partner of 11+years. It was an amicable split, at the end, if a surprise to me when the first cracks happened. There was anger and disappointment before it and just disappointment and heartbreak after. I never really fully understood irreconcilable differences until it actually happened. And I guess at least it was a friendly split. He’s a lawyer and I used to be a lawyer–the urge to be logical about everything feeds in here and there. So the dedication is what it is, on the book, and it’s perhaps ironic that my debut novel is effectively a romance. And that’s pretty much why this blog post has been delayed a month. I’m all right, but not really in the mood to write the sequel for now, though I do have other projects in the pipeline.
The Process
I read a lot of horror stories about first novel submissions when I finished the Firebird’s Tale, and so I thought given the subject matter I might be better off trying small presses. It was rejected once before being picked up by the lovely people at Less Than Three Press. Things I’ve learned:
- I first studied English over two decades ago in Singapore, back in the days when you still had two spaces after a sentence. I didn’t realize how many other habits/quirks/outdated mannerisms I had until going through the editing process. The editors have been super patient. Thanks again, everyone! It’s a far better book now than it was when I first submitted it to LT3.
- Editing really does take a lot of time. The book was accepted early 2016, and went through several edits before finally being slated for publishing in December.
Things to Come
A handful of other short stories have been accepted for publishing, coming up this year, and I’m still trying to get a novella maybe accepted somewhere. And of course, maybe a new novel, about something else. I’m still thinking about it. Happy New Year everyone! Hope all of you have a great year ahead.