When Draven first asked me to do this, I wasn’t sure I could
come up with a good Aha! Moment. I didn’t think I had one. But upon reflection,
I realized that many Aha! Moments are subtle, happening without us even
realizing it. I actually have several Aha! Moments I could discuss, my first
story sold, being a winner of the 2011 Cemetery Amateur Writing Contest,
joining the HWA, but I would like to talk about my first significant contract.
That is when I really thought I might be able to succeed in the horror
industry.
Having written for most of my life, I never considered
submitting to a publisher until after I’d hit my thirties. My first short story
written as an adult was accepted by Dark Moon Books in March of 2010 for the
premiere issue of Dark Moon Digest. I placed a few more stories during the year
and was fairly proud of my progress. When Dark Moon put out a call for an
Extreme Horror anthology, I sent my story in and went about the wait. Two
months later I got an email from the publisher, praising the story and asking
if I could write more in the same vein. I said I could, proved it with two more
stories, and a year after my first acceptance, signed a contract to write the
whole book myself. I had envisioned years of occasional acceptances and many
rejections before I would be able to bring out my own collection, but in March
of 2012, Dark Moon books released Ad Nauseam: 13 Tales of Extreme Horror.
No two writers walk the same path and no two journeys are
exactly the alike, but if you set your heart to it and do the work, those Aha!
Moments are out there waiting for you.
A member of the Horror Writer’s Association and the 2013
Bram Stoker Awards® Committee, C.W. LaSart has been published by Cemetery Dance
Publications, Dark Moon Books, Nightscape Press, Evil Jester Press and many
more. Her collection, Ad Nauseam: 13 Tales of Extreme Terror was released by
Dark Moon Books in the Spring of 2012. Find out more at CWLaSart.com.
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