writing again

About two weeks ago, God kicked me off the forum where I spent the bulk of my internet time, and after I got done feeling tasty and stupid, I proceeded to keep living.

I have my suspicions about why leaving was the thing to do (*sigh*) and it wasn’t entirely time. One of the side-effects of going has been that I’ve paid more attention to my writing.

In the last two weeks, I’ve written and submitted two brand-new short stories, written two-thirds of another one, and re-edited two-thirds of ♥My Book♥. Also, I got back the second round of edits on The Boys Upstairs (my upcoming Christmas novella with Lilley Press) and spent a couple of days working on those. I’ve also spoken to the publisher of Seven Archangels: Annihilation to discuss publication of another book in the series, Seven Archangels: An Arrow In Flight.

In other words, I’ve returned to being a writer. Kind-of.

Then yesterday, I took my kids to the park. We returned home to bake cookies, and when I got my email, I had a message from the editors of Chicken Soup For The Soul. I’ve had a short piece accepted for “What I Learned From The Cat.”

Isn’t that awesome?

Even more, the piece revolves around what one of my cats did when Emily Rose was diagnosed with anencephaly, and how the cat then went on to “protect” my pregnancy with Kiddo#2. And I found out about it three days after Emily’s ninth birthday. How cool is that?

But wait! There’s more! (Of course there is.)  I also got an email from the artist who will be designing the cover for The Boys Upstairs. At the time I signed the contract, they asked for my ideas about cover art, and after I finished saying to myself, “Dammit, Jim, I’m a writer, not an illustrator,” I had come up with a few ideas. The artist was asking me to clarify some of the details (ie, when I said “house” what kind of house did I mean?)

All of a sudden, the writing is going on again. Very strange. Very good, but strange.