I was both honored and terrified when Marie and Paul approached me about contributing to The Secret Romantic's Book of Magic. Would you believe that I had never written a short story prior to "The Larkspur"? You would think that drafting a few thousand words would be a far easier task than coughing up tens of thousands of words for a full-length novel, but building a fantasy world and making a believable love story happen in a handful of pages seemed daunting if not impossible to me. Well, the thing is, anytime a writing challenge presents itself, a competitive streak within me comes roaring to life, refusing to be defeated, a sensation akin to playing Catan like it's a bloodsport, even when I'm competing against my own children. I said yes.
Then I found out about the other authors contributing to the anthology. Katherine Arden? Tasha Suri? Are you kidding me? Imposter syndrome is real, people, and it quickly settled into my bones. I was consumed with self-doubt and the imminent threat of failure. And yet, I had already committed, so I set about writing a short story that would likely pale in comparison to every other story in the collection. And you know what? I'm proud of "The Larkspur." I love the main character's big sad feelings and his joyful HEA. I set out to do something I hadn't done before, and I did it. Mission accomplished.
In a way, that's what art is, the willingness to take risks and fall flat on your face and humiliate yourself in a rather public way. I mean, when I wrote a formulaic romcom in a fantasy setting with zombies and a drunk talking rabbit, I wasn't thinking, "Ah yes, this is what the reading public wants." But taking chances and risking failure is the only way to create something that is uniquely your own.
I keep thinking of what my agent said to me when I was first kicking around the idea for The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy: "Go nuts. Get weird." And she was right. Go nuts and get weird, my friends. You might make a hot mess ... or you might create something really wonderful. There's only one way to find out.