I did it! After searching lists of e-publishers, checking websites (lurid covers with naked bodies--no), reading sample contracts, etc.-- on May 12, 13, and 18 I submitted the Dark Lady's Stone to three likely ones. I tried to send it to a fourth but my submission bounced. (Scratch them!)

To my amazement, one editor got back to me in an hour with a question. I mean . . . when I've submitted other things to NY publishers, agents, and even e-zines it can take up to a year for a response. Fortunately the editor took the trouble to ask, she liked my answer, and didn't reject my mss out of hand. I should hear back in a couple of months.

I don't know why I've been shy about posting this but I guess it's kinda scary to send my baby out into the world. It's not that I'm afraid of rejection, it's more like I'm afraid of success--and the concomitant loss of privacy. I just Googled my name and was horrified at all the places it showed up on the web. I even found an artist and a poet with the same name! I'm thinking of taking a pen name.