Good things come to those who wait

Remember my two little stories “Burn” and “Deliverance”? They were, after Special Forces, some of my very first works in the m/m space. They got packaged into anthologies and off they went. And while I was proud of them at the time—they did represent my skill level and my themes at that point in time—it only took about two years for me to grow to a level where I wasn’t happy with them.
So, recently, I’ve been clawing back rights (Scorpion, Risky Maneuvers, Transit, Clean Slate, First Blood) to fix them up and fix them up good. End-May, you’ll see Scorpion Redux, the others follow when I have time (and the co-writer, too).
Now, both Deliverance and Burn were short stories (6-7k each), but from early on I realised they weren’t.Now, they still had about 3-4 years on their contracts, but I’m an impatient one, and Burn screamed at me, wanting to be a novella (30k+), while Deliverance insisted it’s a novel (and the third part in a series of a three).
Cue me lying awake at night, grinding my teeth over the rights to them. I just hate having stuff out there that should be different, that could be better. I’m the type of author who loses sleep over missed chances and unused potential.
So after a process that took a while for several reasons (me dropping the ball a few times), the publisher of both stories has agreed to me purchasing the rights, and today I received the signed agreement from the other party. While we’ve both agreed not to disclose the terms—wow, it’s weird using one of my old journo phrases for my personal life, but I couldn’t help myself—I’ve bought my rights for the stories and am now sitting on those stories with lots of ideas where to take them. These stories are very close to my heart, so I’m incredibly relieved to have them back.
Riptide has already offered contracts for both (no, they do turn my stuff down sometimes, I don’t get a free pass), so I’m hoping that both will be out in 2014 in a way, shape and form that’s taking advantage of the full potential in those stories. They’ll be longer, shinier, and completely re-thought and re-worked. I’m really glad about that development and look forward telling you those stories as they should be told.