Welcome to the Drollerie Press blog tour.  Today I’m hosting Cindy Lynn Speer, author of Drollerie Press titles The Chocolatier’s Wife, A Necklace of Rubies, and Every Word I Speak.  Cindy has also edited my story “Red Hood” for an upcoming young adult anthology for Drollerie Press.  I’m particularly eager to read The Chocolatier’s Wife (don’t tell the folks at Drollerie, but I sometimes like to wait until things are available in print). 

 

Once you’ve read Cindy’s post, be sure to check out my entry on Fraser Sherman’s blog, and to read the posts of other authors in the tour.  Thanks to Angela Korra’ti for organizing the tour.  And now, without further ado, Heeeeeeeeere’s Cindy!

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I’ve been writing since I was in my early teens, but I never felt like a real author until I took a class in college called “Publishing the Magazine.” It was exactly that – a class that took its staff of students (a mix of volunteers and people taking the class…) through every aspect of publishing a magazine. We had to get ads, write a story, sit without twitching while someone edited the story, everything. It was even listed in the Writer’s Market, and there was an actual slush pile.

I remember sitting at the round table, presenting my ideas to the gathered…mostly the professor, Dr. Alan Natali, and the student editor. I kept presenting ideas, and Alan kept rejecting them. “There has to be something interesting…something that only you can write about.”

At which point, shyly, I put forward the fact that my father was a blacksmith and that we used to go to craft shows. This was the first time in my life that a) I felt like maybe I was an interesting individual, and b) that yes, people would think the fact that my father was a blacksmith was really COOL.

It was an amazing experience. I learned that editors are your friends. That I have a voice, and it’s a good one. That non-fiction can actually be a lot of fun to write. And I got to experience that feeling, that pride one can feel, the relief and joy and “OMG ieeee flail!” at seeing one’s words in print.

And I stayed part of the magazine (called Flipside) for the rest of my college years. All my really good memories start from that story. It also taught me a ton of things that I use in my everyday life – how to do design and layout, how to copyedit, and how to get rid of passive voice. So, while it’s not the first real publishing experience, or a story about finishing my first work, I think that it’s the first, honest step I took to where I am now.

Recently:

• Where to find me online
• Drollerie Blog Tour: Anna the Piper on Dangerous Writing
• Upcoming publications
• Straying from the Path
• Drollerie Press book sale
• Drollerie blog tour: Cindy Lynn Speer talks about music
• Call for Submissions: Trafficking in Magic/Magicking in Traffic
• Updates to appearances
• Because nothing goes with chocolate like excess…
• Celebrate Chocolate Day–20% off The Chocolatier’s Wife