CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

Okay, I’ve had a look at the data, and I’ve gone over the stories in my cupboard, and I’ve made a few decisions: 1.       I’m going to give this writing thing a red-hot roaring go. 2.       I’m not going to differentiate my genres, beyond splitting my romance away from everything else. 3.       I will pay for professional covers, until I learn to make my own, and even then, because my time is finite and it takes time to truly develop art skills, I will probably still pay for professional covers. 4.       Even though I have been an editor, I will still need beta readers I can trust, to help me pick up the editing points I miss. I am undecided on hiring an editor as well. 5.       I will systematically work my way through the stories in my cupboard, while working on the new stories I am now itching to write. 6.       As each story is completed or completely revised, I will find and commission a cover artist. 7.       I will edit and send the story out to beta readers/

I’m not going to go into too many details with this one—can’t, the stories aren’t written and are subject to change, but the ones I wanted to focus on are those I originally planned for existing settings. Each of these settings has its own set of rules, creatures peculiar to it, and cultures that exist only within its bounds. Because of this, any stories written for them are tied to only one possible publisher, and, if refused, must die stillborn. I don’t want to let this happen. I want my stories to live and entertain for a long, long time to come. With this in mind, I took a look at the work I’ve done over the last ten years, comparing the older work, which I wrote because I had a story I wanted to tell,   with the more recent stuff, which I had been started with a particular market in mind. While I was doing this, along came the news that a new rules edition was in the works, and this meant that the worlds I was writing for would change, since they change with every edit