Feeding Frenzy Launched at Bakka-Phoenix

Feeding Frenzy: Curse of the Necromancer

On March 10, 2018, Feeding Frenzy launched at my favorite Science Fiction and Fantasy book store. Bakka is one of the most unique book stores in North America, family-owned and delightfully supportive of SF&F writers. I was invited, along with seven other  authors, to take part in the store’s first Indie Literary Market.

I was a bit nervous, since my throat was very sore that morning and I didn’t want to lose my voice before it was my time to read. In my haste to get boxes of books and my sign packed up, I forgot to gargle with salt water. As my time to present approached, I imagined dire scenarios where disappointed listeners who couldn’t hear would try to be kind about the fiasco. “Well, she held the book professionally…”

Fortunately, after an emergency dose of salty French onion soup from the café next door, the reading went well. People laughed in the right places but, because of my throat, I shortened my talk on the fly. Here’s part of the story attendees missed.

Once upon a time, there was a little girl. The first story she wrote in school started, “that was the day the barn burned down.” She didn’t know it yet, but that was when her mother suspected she might become a writer. Later, this little girl’s very first book report was rejected by the teacher, because it was based on a science fiction comic book she had written, illustrated, and stapled together herself.

You could say my first attempt at self-publishing wasn’t much appreciated!

Award-Winning Serial Fiction

As a kid, I read mystery novels and science fiction and fantasy novels of all kinds. In University, I studied literature in English and in French, while devouring everything written by writers like William Gibson.

In my twenties, I kept my love of books, but lost my nerve for writing them. Despite winning a prize in a short story contest at University of Toronto, I was afraid to become a writer, because everyone said you couldn’t make a living that way.

After a Masters degree in comparative literature, I left grad school to get a teaching degree. After that, life streaked by in a blur. Teaching at a private school, marriage, teaching at a tough inner-city school, changing schools, motherhood, teaching ESL, French, Library, and finally, taking up writing again.

I joined critique groups, and wrote lots of short stories, but didn’t submit them. They were never perfect enough. Or, if I had a story I liked, I would send it to one market or one contest and if it didn’t win, that was it. I retired the story and wrote a new one. My audience was made up of the critique groups I joined. They were great for making friends and improving , but I wasn’t getting much published.

Meanwhile, age set in and time was running out. I was going to die with filing cabinets of stories and novels nobody would ever read!

I was suffering from fear of submission. (The literary kind.)

An Artistic Dare

Out of desperation, I made an artistic dare with myself. I would write 2000 words a day and draft a new novel in a month. At the same time, I would polish one chapter a week and post it on Wattpad. If anything could get me over fear of submission, this should do it. Once something’s out on the internet, you can’t take it back.

The Prologue went up on Halloween, 2015, with chapters dropping weekly until the story was finished. It never occurred to me Feeding Frenzy would catch on with readers. Wattpad was just supposed to help me over my psychological block, and make it  easier to submit short stories to magazines.

It worked, by the way. I’m delighted to say, “Inside of a Dog,” was published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. This is a life goal for me, since I’m a longtime fan of Ellery Queen.

Dare and Do in 2023

Perhaps the moral of the story is to dare. Don’t worry that it’s too late, or that you’re too old. Don’t worry that your piece isn’t perfect. You can make it better when you know better. Don’t worry about being rejected and having to try again. The world of creativity, and life, belongs to doers. It feels great to have finally joined them.

Winning a Watty award from Wattpad convinced me the story had legs, but that was just the beginning of a long and fruitful editing process. Just as you would in a publishing house, Feeding Frenzy launched after three rounds of edits. The cover was professionally designed. Te only corner I cut was formatting the ebook and paperback myself. Back in 2018, that was challenging.

In 2023, websites such as Draft2Digital, or tools like Atticus make it easy to produce book files in all formats. If you have an idea, and you show up regularly to add words to your manuscript, very little can stop you.