Why Are We Here?

And where are we going?

Image by Jacquelynne Kosmicki from Pixabay

I'm sure you clicked on this expecting some existential post about the meaning of life and the theological and philosophical implications it has on how we should then live.

Guys, I've only been on summer break for two school days now. I don't have the brain power for that yet.

Actually, the purpose of this post is a bit simpler. People often ask where I'm at in the publishing journey, what my plan is, what next steps are...so I thought I'd provide one catch-all place to explain where I've been, where I'm going, and why you're here. ;)

For those of you who don't know, I received my MA in Creative Writing and Literature in 2021. For my thesis, I composed a full-length Young Adult novel titled Midnight. In a nutshell, Midnight is the origin story of Cinderella's fairy godmother, Eveline. It has no magic, but Eveline has always said that anything can look like magic through the right pair of innocent eyes. This story focuses on the adoptive mother-daughter relationship, unconditional love, and yes, there is a little bit of romance in there as well.

Anywho, I took a break for a couple of years from moving toward publication as I figured out where the Lord wanted to plant me in a career. One year of full-time teaching later, I decided it was time to pick things back up and run toward publishing. Or crawl. Or bike. Still not sure yet.

The first step in the traditional publishing process is to acquire an agent who likes your book enough to pitch it to editors for you. Most editors won't take work directly from the author themselves. There are many many many many many many agents out there. The trick is finding the one that is right for your book.

The best way to land an agent is by speaking to them face to face (*insert screaming here*). So, I signed up for a Christian Fiction Writers conference that I'll be attending in August. At that conference, I will have the opportunity to speak to two different agents for a total of fifteen minutes each. If they like what they see, they'll ask for the rest of the book. And then they might decide that they want to represent the piece. (There is everything tentative about getting published until you have the book in your hands.)

Now, most agents looking at debut authors really don't like the idea of taking a huge risk. So, they like to see that said aspiring author actually has some followers, some people who are dedicated and who will buy the book if and when it gets published. That is where this website comes in (in conjunction with social media).

The hope is, in August, when pitching to agents, I can present a faithful following on social media and a dedicated and long list of email subscribers. So. Next steps include a whole lot of my summer online. But that's okay! It's a season. And I'm actually really looking forward to it.

The plan is to post three times a week. At least once a week will (in theory) be some snippet of fiction. Be sure to sign up for the email list to know when new posts are up! You may also receive some special content and updates not found anywhere else!

If you are an email subscriber, THANK YOU SO MUCH. You are helping me move along on this publishing journey, and I seriously could not do this without you! You are a huge blessing to me!

So, here we go! I hope you enjoy this adventure with me! Especially now that you know why we're here. :)