Milestones

Milestones in life are noteworthy events. Looking back, I don't seem to have many of them. (Or maybe that's just my memory going.) First major personal milestone was meeting Caroline when we were both 18 years old. We've been together ever since.

Then over the next ten years, serious attempts to get published. I'd written since I was 13, but from about 18 on I really started to get serious about it. Finished my first novel at 23. A comic fantasy that I'm still quite fond of and may go back and re-write sometime. It features Nightsoil! a self-proclaimed hero with a cloak that keeps tripping him up. But he won't get rid of it because he reckons he needs it for the image.

Next milestone was my first pro short story sale. I think I was 26. That was to Mike Resnick's anthology, New Voices in Science Fiction. Next was Isabella being born. That was 2 years ago now. (Hang in there. There's a point to this post.)

After that was my first novel sale. To Wizards of the Coast. And that neatly ties in to...

My first book Night of the Long Shadows, officially went on sale yesterday. So it's out there. For people to pick up and read, and judge, and say whether they hate it or not. It's quite a nerve wracking feeling, but it's out there now. One of the few ambitions I've carried with me most of my life, and I got there in the end.

Now I've just got to keep up the momentum.

Moving House

So Caroline and I have finally made the big plunge into the property market and bought our first house. We've been renting for the past four years and just got sick of paying someone else's rent. We now have a three bedroom house (plus study) on a half acre plot of land. And it's got a swimming pool. Very South African.

I also have my own office where I can see the sky again. (Growing up I could see spectacular sunsets from the desk in my bedroom. Since moving away from home I've lived in four different houses and have never had any good views. But now I can see a wide arc of sky from my office and the sun sets directly in front of the deck. Yay. I don't know why but I'm much happier when I can see clouds drifting by outside.)

We moved in last Thursday, so everything is a bit of a mess. The only thing unpacked in my office is the desk and computer. Everything else will follow once I've painted over the strange hint-of-bile color the previous owner seemed partial to. I'll also post pics once I've tracked down the camera