I’m excited to say I have a story in the forthcoming Lesfic Eclectic, an anthology that came about via the fabulous EllCon conference last year, but which has developed even further and now includes lots of great authors, from newbies to established writers. It has been pulled together and edited by the fantastically talented Robyn Nyx.

And the cool thing? It’s free, as a taster of new authors you might like.

I edited my story today, one I’ve had languishing in the proverbial drawer. It was turned down several years ago because it had too much going on. But editing an old story can be a lot of work. You have to be ruthless and critical and willing to strip it down to the bones. Sometimes it’s easier to start over.

But today, it was so much fun to read it through and see how true it was that it had too much going on. And then to be able to play with it, to finesse it, to hack away the unnecessary stuff and pull a consistent thread through it. I’m also aware that it has potential as a novel, and that idea is percolating.

Even better was the recognition that my voice was missing from it. The humor, the flow. And those are things you develop the longer you do it, so it was really inspiring to see how I could fix those issues to make it more recognisably mine.

The anthology comes out next month. I’ll have a download link here, and it will be available via smashwords, too. I hope you enjoy the story, and I hope you find lots of new authors you like.