busy"The Big Crunch"
Candace felt terrible.
She had agreed to consider
the publisher's new contract
because she needed the money
and it was for three whole books
which her agent said was a miracle.
The problem was ...
the story was done already.
She had introduced a problem,
complicated it, and solved it
all in 55,000 words.
There were no loose ends;
the plot was all tied up quite neatly
with a bow around it.
The Calliope of Mars
was meant to stand alone.
Now she'd let people
talk her into sketching out
the plot of a whole new trilogy
"just to see what happens" ...
It was a disaster.
Finally Candace did
the only thing she could.
She looked at the thumb drive
which held the contracts and
and her terrible, horrible notes for
The Organ-Grinder of Uranus.
Then she brought her foot down
upon it with an almighty CRUNCH.
The Calliope of Mars
was finished, damn it, and it was
going to stay that way.
