Today, I did two things I’m proud of: met a deadline and submitted my first short story to a publisher of Erotic Romance. And I only had to hit Send once.

I didn’t see the call at Dreamspinner Press until after the writer’s conference that kick-started my writing (exactly as I’d hoped it would). The first weekend in August. The fact that I wrote, edited and submitted an approximately 10K word piece of fiction in less than one month is amazing. Even if it’s not accepted, I’ll still be proud of that accomplishment. But I’ll be blown away if it’s accepted. I’ll be so blown away I’ll be giving away a related short to everyone who follows this blog, so stay tuned.

Now that the Christmas story is finished I’m turning my attention to another character I’ve known for a while. He’s had a supporting role in another project and now he’ll be the star of his own, which I plan to submit to DSP’s “Snow on the Roof” anthology. After all I’ve put him through, he deserves an HEA.

As with most stories, I’ve had to do a little research. This time it’s Irish slang. My main character, Jake, is in his late forties, he moved from the village of his birth in Ireland to Los Angeles in his early twenties. He’s fairly Americanized but his diction leaves no doubt where he was born (I hope!), especially when his blood is up. I’ve known quite a few Irish folks, but came up empty in one case. Many, many ways exist to add verisimilitude with a single word or phrase, but this one is my favorite today: I will in me ring. It means “I won’t”, and I just like the sound of it. It sounds like Jake.

I’ve always been most productive with a deadline.  My goal is to submit Jake’s story at least a week early.  And then find a new one.