Relationships…the day after tomorrow

Technically, I sold my first piece of writing just before I turned 13. My local newspaper was having an essay contest for Father’s Day and my essay won. I think the check was $25.

It wasn’t fiction, though. My father was pretty cool.

Then I got a job on the student newspaper during my second year of college. I was paid the grand sum of $3.50 per hour for editing and a dollar per column inch for writing. That wasn’t fiction, either.

After five years of work as an analytical chemist I became a technical writer, writing help systems and manuals for clients like Microsoft, HP and Dell. The HP Color LaserJet 4550 Service Manual was my bestseller. Only a few parts of that were fiction.

I started seriously writing fiction in 2001. Last month, I sold my first book, to Angela James at Samhain Publishing. The story is a science-fiction romance and my fourth completed manuscript.  I accepted the offer on St. Patrick’s Day, and now I have a publication month and a revision letter and a deadline and everything.

I feel like a real writer.

–Val