Anthology! And other things

Life's busy. Busy in a good way, but time flies! And I forget to tell the world I still exist. Shame on me, I know. So here's an update!

Editing Sterrenduister (Stardark)

This one is taking its time. Due to force majeure, we are still at the beginning of the editing process, but this will hopefully change. And what is this 'beginning of the process'? Well, the editing consists of several rounds. In the first one, an editor identifies the major problems of a story. With each round, the focus will be on smaller and smaller details, until the whole story is correct. The developmental editing is then finished - but we're not done yet. The line and copy editing follows. This involves checking if all sentences, grammar and spelling are correct. So Stardark is still in the developmental rounds. These rounds can run parallel to each other; for example, chapter 1 has already gone through the first and second rounds but chapter 2 only through the first. The other chapters have not been touched. To put in perspective: Stardark has 22 chapters, so we still have a while to go. That's why I have no idea when Sterrenduister will see the printing press. But there is another book of mine that has seen the light of day!

Fantastic Story Competition at Heroes Dutch Comic Con

So I already talked about it in my previous blog; I entered the Fantastic Story Competition and my short story, Fantastic Pets and Where to Walk Them, made it into the top five! A group of hard-working judges went through all the stories and picked the five finalists. But the ultimate finalist was determined by public vote. Everyone could read the five stories on the DCC website, and then go to a voting booth and mark their favourite with a red pencil - no wait, that's the Dutch elections... Anyway, the ultimate winner was announced at the Heroes Dutch Comic Con. My result: shared third! And a reward in the form of goodies and a book voucher. But the best part was seeing (and receiving) the collection containing all five stories. The book was for sale at the American Book Center booth, and was sitting there right next to books by Miyazaki! I felt honored!

Do you want to order the anthology? You can do so at the webshop of the American Book Center: https://abc.nl/book-details/vrienden-en-vijanden-fantastic-stories-2023/g9789083375106

The artist responsible for the fantastic cover is Robin Rozendal. This is a timelapse of the cover. Very cool!

House

Finally: the house! In my previous blog post I told you that my boyfriend and I were looking for a house. Good news: the search is over! We found a very nice place near Zutphen. It does require some work; after all, its got a typically 1970s decor. Much too modern, of course. We prefer the Middle Ages ;)

We are still getting the paperwork done, but it will be fine. Just a few more months and then we can start DIY-ing! Whoohoo!