There's no place anything like this place anywhere near this place

so this must be the place.

Hi! I'm Barbara (username will let you figure out my last name) and I've been a lurker for some months, (reading the PA thread and the Uncle Jim thread) and finally decided to register.
I'm unpublished, and kind of backed into the writing thing. I've written a book with a friend, that is, we were playing the Letter Game (see Wrede & Stevermer, the origins of Sorcery & Cecelia) and we looked at what we had and said "hey, with a lot of hacking and revision, this could be a book!"
My co-author is the one with the serious furor scribendi - but she also is much more sensitive, and rejection is very hard on her. So I'm doing the research and submission stuff.
Researching publishers led me to finding out about various scams, and I got to the Neverending PA thread via Making Light. So here I am.

What else? I'm coming up on 50, happily married, one son, and work at a university library, ordering out-of-print books. I'm also in the Society for Creative Anachronism, and a fringey sf fan - I only go to a couple of cons each year. Sometimes I write filk songs, and sometimes I paint.

The book is umm ... best described as "a Regency romance with vampires and magic." It could be the first in a series. It has already collected its first rejection.

Hi back!

Thanks for the welcome! I see that there are quite a few Canadians (even quite a few west-coasters) on the boards.

Is there a thread discussing the ins and outs of collaborating / co-writing? I've browsed around a bit and haven't found one yet, but there's so much to browse through that I may have just missed it.
I have learned that just as a long car trip is a true test of marriage, co-writing a book is a true test of friendship.

Hi Maryn! The rejection was from Tor - and I will say, in a very timely manner, at the low end of their estimated turnaround time. A form rejection, and I put the data on Submitting to the Black Hole.
I figure - start at the top, right? (I too worship TNH) Next stops are Daw and Luna.

I've never hung wallpaper, but my husband and I have driven to Pennsylvania for Pennsic (record is 52 hours total elapsed time) several times, including with a standard transmission pickup that I didn't know how to drive very well.
On the other hand, he wasn't there when I gave birth because my doctor said I should have a birth partner I was totally at ease with, and we joke that my husband's signature phrase is "I suppose you know you're doing that all wrong?"

Hi again Sean! Wishing you luck on cutting your way completely out of the belly of PA!