New publication announcement, rejections and querying (more rejections)

I believe it is safe to announce that I have received my second 'pro-rate' publication acceptance! One more and I am eligible for SFWA!

The Secrets We Seek will be published by Brigids Gate Press in their upcoming anthology SEERS AND SIBYLS. It was also accepted by another press in Canada the same week, which was a new experience for me! They were both so kind regarding my decision. The editor for the Brigids Gate anthology, MJ Pankey, mentioned several times how much they enjoyed the story, which was just so thrilling to hear! I am still waiting to hear back from Andromeda Spaceways Magazine about my humorous flash piece (they've been holding it since November 2022), so fingers crossed there.

I recently got a disappointing rejection (among others) from Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine after they held onto my story for over 160 days. I really had hope for that one, bummer...

I have been querying my novel AWAKENER since January now and have received a bunch of rejections, but I am doing my best to maintain a positive attitude and keep going. I think the more disappointing ones are from agents whose 'look fors' seem to match my work the most. I know I need to stop getting so excited, but I can't help it.

While I work on shorts and querying, I have also been developing a novella that is a prequel to my novel series. I am 20k words in and am admittedly a little stuck. I know where the story is going, it's scene to scene that is making it difficult. The prose in SCION is a little more literary than the main series, but I am striving to keep the same light tone while exploring darker themes.