Acceptance!

My first publication that was not a scientific paper was published last spring around this time. It was a story in a geocaching anthology called Geocaching GPS, Great Personal Stories of Romance, Adventure, and Connection. I had a reading of this story at the Mountain View Public Library in April.

Early in 2016 the publisher talked about a sequel, Great Personal Stories of Geocaching Firsts. This sequel was several months in the making, and I wasn’t sure what to write about at first. What had I done for the first time while geocaching? I ended up writing about my first encounter with a sheep in Iceland. It was a fun story to write, and it was even fun to live through. I even convinced my husband, who is a hard-core geocacher, to submit a story to this year’s anthology.

The official acceptance of both our stories came through this week! and I feel like marking and celebrating that milestone in some way. With two published stories I feel more like a real author. I attend geocaching events.  I’ve been tweeting about my streak (155 days straight now) and following other cachers’ twitter accounts.

It has been a lot of fun pushing my comfort zone both with writing and with geocaching, and I’m happy with how far I’ve come, but I want to transition from being a “hobby” writer to the real thing. That means the novel should be next.  I’ve been spending a lot of time on a Facebook group for SF Writers, joined a monthly critique group, and will be attending a writing retreat in South Dakota in July. I’m also reading and reviewing indie and small press authors. Lots of stuff to blog about!