Ink-Stained Scribe

Open Windows - I Quit My Job and Suddenly There's Better Stuff to Do

I used to love The Sound of Music. I watched it over and over again when I was a kid, and one of the quotes that always stood out to me was "When God closes a door, somewhere he opens a window."

As a kid, my initial reaction was "But windows are smaller and harder to walk through. And they all have screens." Because I live in the South, where windows have screens.

Anyway, I get the point of that quote now. I recently walked away from my job, and while that was scary, I had to close the door on that workplace. As soon as I did, a window opened. Then another.

Yeah. They're smaller windows. Neither of these opportunities is going to pay the rent, but the amount of light they let into my metaphorical office is incredible. I apologize in advance for failing to name names, but I don't want to put anyone on the spot if either of these falls through. When/if they are officially announced, I will scream it from the mountain tops...because they're pretty cool.

Opportunity the First

My last day at work was the 5th. The previous weekend, I attended StellarCon with Skrybbi and we spoke on a few panels relating to podcasting, writing, and publishing. It was a pretty chill weekend; we relaxed with knitting and drawing and watched the crowd for familiar faces. It just so happened we ran into one.

I was a little surprised when he said he needed to chat with us about something and even more surprised when that "something" turned out to be an offer. The magazine he edits has an opening for their bi-monthly fantasy book review column, and he thought one of us would be able to take over. The exposure alone is great, let alone the fact that it's paid writing.

Needless to say, I jumped on that offer like I was Benedict Cumberbatch and someone was asking me to do any project at all ever.

He also asked if we had the audio quality set-up to do a sporadic recording for the magazine's stories. Needless to say, I will be recording a sample and sending it in, because I'm trying to get more voice acting done. Which reminds me, I should probably do those lines for Bryan and Bigg and Hugh and Marshall and Scott........*cough*

Opportunity the Second

I recently wrote a (debatably) short story for some friends of mine, who invite their writer friends to play in their world via a collection of podcast fiction. I turned it in around New Years, and this past weekend, one of the friends contacted me to chat about the story.


There was a bit of discussion about changing the main character's background, and while I was a little hesitant (because I wasn't sure where that request was coming from), I was willing to consider the idea. Then he told me the reason for the request: it wasn't because there was an inherent problem with the character, it was because they wanted to put the story in the anthology they're planning and the character's background would have to fit.

A couple of things went through my mind at this point mostly just SQUEEEEEEE, but I try to keep my dignity.


  • I was immediately worried I wouldn't be able to pull it off. Part of what I love about the main character is his voice, but his voice isn't necessarily inherent to his background. His accent could change without the character himself changing, and that seems doable.
  • I would have to come up with a new background. Right. Because that's not something I do all the time. Sit down, Lauren.
  • The story's point hinged on the conflict between the two countries. Five minutes of google confirmed there were enough wars at the time to comfortably shift the main character's country of origin without make significant changes to either his backstory or the cultural conflict.
  • I needed to do research.
  • Wait a goddamn minute.
  • I love research. (No, really)
  • Anthologyyyyyyyy...*grabby hands*
  • Tie in with a popular, traditionally published steampunk series.
There's a famous line by a famous writer that goes, "Sell when you can; you are not for all markets". I gotta say, I'm with the Bard on this one.

What does this mean?

It means I will get paid for my writing, and it means I will have some exposure for my name. It also means I can put these shiny things in my query letters.