So, some stories leap out of you for seemingly no reason, and this was one of them. It was the middle of summer, the weirdest time to have a mythical exploration into a remote, wintry fairy tale. Except this story came roaring out of me in the span of two weeks, this slow sense of creeping fear that had me watching the mirrors as I walked around the house.
Except, after I wrote it, edited it, and kind friends beta read it for me (and then I edited it some more) the submissions were just hitting a blockade. I submitted it to place after place and accumulated a massive pile of rejections in the process. This was back in 2015. Last year, I started working with After Glows Publishing, and they opened Opal Moon Press, their YA imprint. A Reflection of Ice popped into mind, of course, but there was one problem–their minimum word count was 30,000, and the original story was 20,000. However, I hadn’t touched the story in a couple years, and my writing has changed drastically in that time, so I figured it was worth retooling.
I went through the entire manuscript, fleshing out weaker sections, honing the word choice, and really just bringing it to life. When I finally submitted it to Opal Moon Press and got the acceptance, I was thrilled. And now, three years later, this book is finally coming out today. Every story has a different journey and a different purpose, and I’m just so happy that this bone chilling tale is now out to the public!
Buy your copy of A Reflection of Ice today!