My First Time

I’m going to talk about firsts today. Nope, this isn’t going to be crass or me blathering on about naughty bits like I did in the previous post. This ‘first’ is about my experience involving me getting published.

So…my first book accepted for publication was “Call of the Hunted” a m/m fantasy novella. I was thrilled to pieces to get the email with the contract attached to it, let me tell you. I had been trying and trying for years with no success.

In fact, I was so thrilled I had ‘hit the big time’ and could now afford those dinners in Paris *chuckle* that I had to call my Mum. Unfortunately, I don’t remember phone numbers as such. People I call are just a single numbers on my speed dial. Mum is number 3.

I had pressed number 2 by accident without knowing.

So here’s me jabbering on about how great I felt that my book would be out soon and that I had been accepted and it’s a male/male romance blah, blah, blah! There was then silence and I couldn’t figure out why. It’s not like Mum to not say something. She would have been happy if I had tied my own shoes back when I was living at home. To hear of me having a book published should have sent her into a fit.

“Hello, Mum? You there?” I said, rather cautiously at this stage.

“Sir, I don’t think you have the right number,” a squeaky pre-pubescent boy’s voice stuttered.

“I don’t?” By this stage I could feel a wave of embarrassment wash over me. Who was this young lad who had answered my mother’s phone? And more importantly, I hope said young man understood I only write homoerotic fiction and I wasn’t coming onto him in any way shape or form.

“This is (insert pizza company name here). We only make pizza here.”

Oh darn! It clicked. I had pressed number 2 on my speed dialler and got the pizza shop by accident (You can see my priorities right away now, can’t you? Number 1 on my speed dialler is work, then the pizza shop, then Mum…LOL)

I then ordered pizza. What choice did I have? The poor boy at the pizza shop probably thought I was a raving lunatic…But there you go. That’s the life of a writer.

Mind you, eating pizza and downing a couple of beers is a great way to celebrate an upcoming publication, isn’t it? Cheers everyone. Hopefully next acceptance I don’t press number 4 on my dialler by mistake…that would be embarrassing *giggle*




*hugs*

Mark Alders.