Langley Hyde's Blog, page 5
October 9, 2015
What Customer Service Taught Me About Being Edited
Slightly over a year ago, I quit a customer service job. I had never before quit a job simply because I didn’t like it. Simply? Well, it wasn’t a simple decision at all. I hate quitting. I hate giving up. I want, desperately, to believe that there’s nothing I can’t do if only I suck it up and put my mind to it. But I had to give up this one. I couldn’t do it anymore. I couldn’t take it. Some women could, and I wasn’t one of them.
The job was in a health insurance call center. We mostly receiv...
October 6, 2015
It’s Only a Story at QRM
Hello everyone! I wrote a blog post that has the honor of being featured in Queer Romance Month, and I’m ridiculously proud of it. Here’s a little teaser:
Let me voice a secret, a secret that all lovers of books know in our hearts but do not say for fear of mockery: Stories are real.
No, they’re just stories, some might say. They’re not real. That’s the point of them.
Well, let me tell you a story, and this one is real. I promise.
–Read more in It’s Only a Story by Langley Hyde at QRM
Please...
August 30, 2015
Book Accepted
The editor of Blind Eye Books has accepted my manuscript, and she’s gotten back to me with a few revisions. I’m reworking the beginning and the end to her specifications, and I’m really excited about what she has to say.
On a side (yet related, I promise) note, at work we discussed this week what constitutes a “threat.” I believe I came across rather heated (ahem) over an issue of semantics (well, it is important to be precise in language). Is criticism a threat? Is a person who criticizes yo...
August 15, 2015
Why no slavery?
“There is a common misconception that it was the abolition movement, led by upper middle class and wealthy individuals, which freed all of the slaves. This isn’t an accurate picture.” — Krista D. Ball, Hustlers, Harlots and Heroes: A Steampunk and Regency Field Guide, (Tyche, 2014) p. 138
If you’ve read my debut novel, Highfell Grimoires, or even if you haven’t, you may have noticed a glaring lack: slavery. It’s obvious that my secondary world setting, Higher Eidoland, is loosely based on Gre...
August 12, 2015
“It’s not as bad as leaving your baby at daycare.”
Today, when I stepped out of my car at the end of my lunch break and bid my husband (who was driving) and my baby boy (who was not driving) goodbye, I saw a colleague also returning from her lunch. I waved her over, because she’s mentioned wanting to meet my baby, and introduced her. Well, sort of. Does it count as an introduction if one of the parties sleeps through it?
On the return walk to our brick building, she asked, “Where did you go out to eat?”
“Oh, I’m coming from home,” I explained...
August 11, 2015
Book Submitted
Today, I had that heart-in-mouth moment when I pressed send. The email itself was brief. The attachment was not. The novel I completed clocks in at 99k. And if the editing process goes anything like Highfell Grimoires did, I can expect to see about 10k cut, 20k completely rewritten, and another 10k of original text added during revisions.
Naturally, I hope that the editor will tell me, “This is fabulous! It’s perfect. I can’t believe you wrote such an amazing book, and with a few tweaks, we’l...
July 10, 2015
French Translation of Highfell Grimoires
Nicole Kimberling of Blind Eye Books signed translation rights for Highfell Grimoires to French publisher MxM-Bookmark.
Yep, that’s pretty cool.
The post French Translation of Highfell Grimoires appeared first on Langley Hyde.
May 12, 2015
Baby! And Book Pause
As those of you who are friends with me on Facebook may well know, I’ve had a baby! My son was born on April 24th at 3:59 a.m., weighing at 8 lbs 2 oz. He and I are both healthy. I am ridiculously proud and happy to be a parent, and I’m enjoying the time with my new baby while I figure out some of the parenting basics during my maternity leave from my day job. Not that I’ll have it all down pat in a mere few weeks! I expect it will be a continual learning process, and I am excited to share th...
April 21, 2015
Books Aren’t Like Babies
I’m about to have a baby. I’m due May 2nd, which is soon.
I haven’t posted much (okay, anything) about this mostly because I’m superstitious. I keep secret what’s most important to me. I could try to explain why that is–there’s probably a deep psychological reason behind it, one that is most undoubtedly coupled with a fear of public failure and of disappointing those around me–but I expect about fifty years from now some genius psychologist will have a name for this type of behavior as well a...
March 12, 2015
Terry Pratchett’s Work
I don’t write about contemporary authors often, but today I have to. Terry Pratchett has died. I never knew him personally. I never even had the chance to meet him at a signing, and I’ll regret that. To those who did know and love him, I want to say how sorry I am for your loss.
Terry Pratchett’s work meant the world to me. His novels were a professional inspiration and a personal solace. If I was sick, or feeling down, or something terrible had happened to me, I could always open a Terry Pra...
