I’m in the midst of a professional shift, moving from the queer romance market and into sci fi with a diverse cast of characters.

I’ve always been a fan of sci fi and fantasy, and I got started in mm romance almost by accident. My husband Mark was an avid mm romance reader, and when I came back to writing in my mid-forties, I took advantage of that and totally stalked the Dreamspinner Press website. Back in those days, they had a number of anthology calls, and I wrote a story for almost every one.

Anne Regan and BG Thomas bought one of them – The Bear at the Bar – and my career was off.

My first couple years were mostly in the mm romance market, writing shorts and novellas as I honed my talents. Then I dove in with both feet, and started not one but two si fi trilogies – The Oberon Cycle and Liminal Sky.

Oberon wrapped in February, and in just over a month and a half, Liminal Sky will wrap up with The Shoreless Sea on October 15th.

With the completion of that book in late 2018, I stepped back and took a good long look at where my career was going. I’ve done okay over the years, but my earnings have been, on average, about 10% of the Federal poverty level.

Clearly, if I’m going to keep at this writing thing, something has to change.

I’ve really enjoyed writing the Liminal Sky series, and I decided I wanted to focus on that part of my work going forward.

So I embarked on a two part plan – write a bunch of short stories to try to qualify for SFWA membership, and write a new novel in the Liminal Sky world in a bid to get an agent and make the leap to a big publisher.

So eight months in, where am I?

SFWA, check. I sold a story earlier this month to Galaxy’s Edge, and I am now an associate member. Just gotta sell two more to make it to full membership.

The novel, check. It’s in edits, and I’m hoping it’s as good as I think it is. If all goes well, I’ll be submitting to Pitch Ward, an online mentoring program, in September.

So I’m shifting, and scared as shit. But change is scary, right?

All I can do is lean in, and hope for the best.