Hi there!
So sorry I have not kept up to date on this blog! I recently got a message from someone in Japan (or whose language is Japanese) who wanted to make sure I was continuing to work on it! How crazy is that?! The message, translated by Google, went something like this…
“Every word of this work Ray-Ban sunglasses … is very clear and your passion for this topic shines. I want to see more things from you in the future and please continue to work in this area.”
Well, my friend, rest assured that work IS continuing in this area – a LOT of work. However, I’ve had to come to some decisions about exactly how to make my work available. From what I can see, the literary agent route is just not going to work. I would love to believe that it would, but unfortunately, writing isn’t my only job, and I don’t have the time to dedicate to a full-on frontal assault on the very few literary agents who might be willing to entertain even the passing thought of publishing a work like this. To be honest, the methods of dealing with literary agents – cover letters, etc. – take so long that it could be ten years before I reach someone with an interest in publishing the books. Yet, I still get numerous compliments on the books when I give copies as gifts, so it appears there is an audience of some size out there.
So, what to do? What to do? Well, I’m going to self-publish using the e-book route. I will probably use both Amazon Kindle distribution along with what’s offered by Lulu (Nook, etc), but in order to do that, I need to acquire enough ISBN’s to cover the various versions (up to three per book) that would be released. That’s about $525! Therefore, it will take a little time, but I’m hoping to have everything up for sale by Christmas of this year (everything that’s ready, of course!).
As far as writing goes, I’ve been really spending a lot of time honing “The Fallen”, and it is now out to the editors (hooray!). I also have a cover for that book which I really like. That, however, has not occupied most of my time in recent months. What I’m doing right now is rewriting large portions of Trials. Trials was the very first thing I wrote in college, and sorry to say, it shows it. The book is choppy, and the characters are not as emotionally deep as they could be. I have decided to take the time to correct that, and I believe (as I’m going through the final “listening” phase of the rewrite right now), that this goal has been achieved. Large sections of what I wrote before are just gone – they were not salvageable, and they cannot be kept because they ruin the overall flow of the book (in particularly, the ending). So, I’ve probably rewritten more than a third of that book.
What I’m doing right now is, as I said, listening to Trials to make sure I catch anything else that may be a problem (continuity, etc.), but I have also cranked back up work on Beyond. I was able to pick up on that book easily, and the characters are just as vibrant to me as when I paused on it.
So, to whoever it was that send me the message, thank you. Encouragement is always appreciated. Be sure to reach out to me on Facebook (links at the top of the page). If I have enough interest, I’ll even put a Twitter account up there for more frequent updates…
God bless and take care,
JTL