A letter came in the mail right after Friday's blog post from my editor over at SHP. My rights have officially released to me. It's one of those wonderful, terrifying things, and I'm so grateful that I still have a fantastic relationship with them.
'Cuz here's the thing: I was terrified they'd hate me forever. I mean, they had every right even though all my reasons were solely based on my own shortcomings. They had a right. But they don't, and that's how awesome they are over at SHP. It's really a family. And I HIGHLY recommend all you querying writers out there submit to them. They work hard for their authors, and there's real love over there.
But today's Monday for me. Literally and figuratively. It's the first day of my brand new career. I'm starting over.
No more plans for delightful surprises. You're getting it all. No more anxiously anticipating your glee once you find out Elemental is really about space fairies/elementals who can teleport with their wings. And that Ella's worrying more about not killing everyone than she is about a boy. I mean, there's a boy, but she's got priorities.
And Lilly in Almost Night may be a unicorn, but don't expect a sweet tale. She's got scars on her wrists for a reason.
I'd like to write a really sweet tale some day, but that day has not yet come. To Love or Die in a Steamy-reamy World comes closest. Kind of. Maybe. It's dark humor with a Victorian bent. So if you think that might qualify as sweet, there you go.
I guess I'm just not ready for writing sweet yet. I know I come across that way on the internet (and believe me, I do love my exclamation marks and emoticons), but my books are my darker side. I'm like Darth Vader or #10. Yeah...let's go with that. Let's pretend I'm cool. ;)
*waves jedi hand*
This how cool I am
Okay, maybe not...
but when I'm alone and the kids are napping, I *might* pretend to be Darth Vader.
Have a great Monday, everyone!
Congratulations! Wonderful to get your rights back :-)
ReplyDeleteGood luck Emily!
ReplyDeleteBest of luck on the new day!
ReplyDeleteI kinda did the same, writing wise. I started writing what I thought I should. Then, my next book was a little darker but with happy tones. And then I signed with my agent. After our first round of revisions she emailed me. "You write horror," she said. I was amazed. She totally saw through the words and got me. My story, the base of it, was horror, but I'd added glitter and junk it didn't need. So now we're in the process of clearing out the glitter so the scary, dark stuff can stand on its own. :) Love it!
ReplyDeleteMy stuff is also dark. I love me some violence and blood and i'm not ashamed of making things really hard for my characters. But i like a happy ending, too, so things usually turn out okay for most of them (some of them die, though...)
ReplyDeleteAwesome, Ms Dark Emily! Glad you got the rights back; SHP does sound awesome and great to work with. :)
ReplyDelete