Okay, so admittedly… it’s been a while.

But a lot has happened in that amount of time! *Checks for previous post* Yeesh, July 3rd.

Since then I have *cracks knuckles*:

• Been to Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Norway, Russia and Sweden
• Celebrated 9 years of being my lovely wife’s partner in crime
• Went to Sydney for training twice
• Completed yet another stocktake
• Took a writing course with Angela Slatter in Sydney
• Celebrated 7 years of working with my company
• Met up with a writerly mate at his book launch (Invisible Boys by Holden Sheppard, give it a read, you will not be disappointed… emotional yes, disappointed no)
• Went to Conflux, a speculative fiction writing festival in Canberra, it was awesome

*GASPS* All in one long, well… type. But you get it. I’m still catching my breath.

First, I need to touch on Conflux because it was such a highlight of the year that to not talk about it would be a crime (it’s not like it’s fight club, we can talk about it… I hope).

SIDE NOTE: So I’ve been working on my novel for quite some time now and was halfway through a full rewrite when I went to Scandinavia. Upon arriving back I found myself in the middle of a scene with characters I didn’t know and weren’t in the previous draft. This was jarring and I found it extremely difficult to get back into the rewrite.

ANNNND WE’RE BACK: So roughly a week out from Conflux (where I had no idea there’d be opportunities to pitch my novel) one of my excellent writerly mates sent me a message stating the timetables. I looked at my draft, looked at the timeline and did what any writer in my situation would do… Freaked the hell out! I reread what I had written and then toyed with the idea of submitting the last draft, the only problem was that the new draft was just that much better.

Then comes the day, pitching session sign ups are early and there’s a spot on the two I researched and felt like I’d be a good fit for; an agent (Alex Adsett) and publisher (Anna Blackie for Pantera Press). I sign my name and breath a sigh of relief, quickly followed by some quiet hyperventilating. You’ve got to be in it to win it, right? While I’m waiting, because I’m an absolute master of sticking my foot in it, I have the below (parodied) conversation with a lady by the name of Cath who is selling books in the lobby.

Cath: So you’re a writer?

Me: Yep! Been writing for quite some time.

Cath: So you’re pitching today then?

Me: Yeah! I’m pitching to Alex and Anna today!

Cath: So you’re not pitching to me then?

Me *Dying Inside*: Uhh, well, I… *Tries to remove foot from mouth*

That’s pretty accurate actually but I was honest and told her I’d done my research and didn’t want to waste her time as I didn’t think I was a good fit. She heard me out and then told me to sign up for the pitch session, as I’d just practiced my pitch on her, and we’d talk more later.

So! After pitching to Anna via video chat, she was stoked gave me her email address and asked when I would have the rewrite done. “Two months!” I told her. But in my head, the rewriting wasn’t going to be the hard part now that I had a deadline, it would be getting beta readers to make sure it wasn’t garbage.

SIDE NOTE: I wrote just over 44,000 words to finish the draft in two weeks.

ANNNND WE’RE BACK: After Anna, I pitched to Alex who also said she’d love to read my stuff! As Alex is THE agent you dream of in Australia, I was already winning there!

Then I pitched to Cath and it felt like a proper interview. Luckily I’d been through that process enough to know the deal and the passion for my project is always there. Despite my earlier case of Foot-In-Mouth Syndrome, she kindly asked for a headstart over the others and asked for where I was up to ASAP.

So after my first day at Conflux I was both on Cloud Nine and Cloud Stressed. I had the best/worst sleep ever thanks to dreaming about being published mixed with the stress of not having the draft finished.

It was a confusing night.

Anyway, fast forward to having the draft completed and now I’m writing this post while I wait anxiously for my chosen beta readers to come back to me with feedback. I’m excited to send this out, as it is the best work I have done by far, but I’m also very aware that someone asking for a full manuscript is no guarantee. So with that in mind, I’m going to go back over it again in the hopes I can find any last minute errors and wait patiently while constantly refreshing my inbox. Hmm, maybe not patiently then…