An exciting thing happened for me this week – I signed my first publishing contract.

Now, to be clear, this is to be published in an anthology where the only requirement for acceptance was that I show up and write a story within 24 hours. The payment is a token $1, and the anthology does this simply so that new authors can use it for grant applications (something I’ll be doing in the near future).

I have yet to go through the normal process of submitting a story to a publication and being selected from other entrants – that’s a milestone for another day. But this is still a big step for me, mentally, after a lifetime of being unwilling to share my work at all. Not only am I going to be sharing my work, I’m sharing a piece I wrote and edited over only 24 hours. It’s doubly scary not having as much time as I want to edit, re-edit, and then edit some more until I’m sure it’s as flawless as possible. It’s terrifying and freeing at the same time.

To tell you a bit about the anthology, it’s a collection called Legacy, published through http://tdotspec.com/. A little over a year ago I joined the Toronto Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers group, who are closely affiliated with tdotSpec. It’s been an incredibly helpful, supportive and informative group for me, and critical in my current development as a writer. One of the events they do annually is this 24 hour one-shot anthology. A theme is voted on, and anyone from the group who wants to participate writes a story based on that theme. All completed submissions are included and published through Amazon.

This was my first time participating, and it was a wonderful experience. I don’t think it’s my best story, but it was a good exercise in saying “ok, this is good enough” and in putting my work out into the wider world where a stranger might see it. I’ll post a link to the anthology when it’s published, and you’ll find my story, “Sword of Songs”, alongside the work of many of my talented fellow writers. I hope you’ll enjoy it.