Perspective

by
Scott D. Parker

I had it all planned out.

Last week, I wrote about the smooth and seamless acquisition of my DBA for “Quadrant Fiction Studio” and the business checking account. By the end of last weekend, I had successfully published on Barnes and Noble after previously publishing on Amazon and Kobo. I had even set up my new monthly newsletter. I was ready for the Big Announcement on Wednesday. I was going to announce via Twitter, Facebook, and everywhere else.

Well, things did not go according to plan.

This past Monday, my boy was admitted to the hospital with abdominal pains. The doctors and nurses quickly zeroed in on a possible cause: appendicitis. After three different folks conducted painful ultrasounds, the general consensus was that of a ruptured appendix. He had a successful appendectomy and is recovering very well.

What was great, especially for my wife and I having to keep the worry at bay, was how efficient everything went. I got the call from my wife at ten, we were in the ER before eleven, and he was in surgery at half past three. There were no other surgeries planned so we had the pre-op room and waiting room to ourselves. A little over an hour later, he was in recovery and soon moved into a cozy private room where he’s been ever since. With good test results, he might be able to go home on Saturday.

Needless to say, the announcement of my first published book was pointless beside my son’s health. He’s already one up on me in life experiences as I’ve never had surgery other than the removal of wisdom teeth.

Sure, I wanted the Big Announcement to be this past Wednesday, but, then again, I wanted to have the book published in January and I missed that mark, too. And the only person, at this stage of my fiction career, who cares about publication dates is me. To the rest of the world, it’s just there.

Perspective. It’s a good thing.

Be that as it may, WADING INTO WAR is now available, live and worldwide, at Amazon, Kobo, and Nook. The new cover link over there on the right takes you to the book webpage at Quadrant Fiction Studio. The author page is also up and running. It'll be the place from which I blog from now on. From there you can sign up for the monthly newsletter.

The best thing about making the announcement today? No longer does it just fall on a random Wednesday in February. It now coincides with my son returning home after a week’s sojourn in the hospital.

The magic code

By: Joelle Charbonneau

This weekend I was at the fabulous Murder and Mayhem in Muskego, which is a gather of readers and over two dozen authors.  Fun, right?

These events are great because they allow authors to connect with people who love books.  They also give writers a chance to talk shop.  We exchange news and industry gossip.  We talk about the books we’ve recently read that we loved or the to-be-read piles that are about to topple over on our nightstands.  And it never fails we talk about the questions we get at events or the e-mails we receive asking us about how we got started in publishing.

Every published author (or at least every published author I’ve met) remembers what it is like to be searching for an agent or an editor.  We’ve all faced the rejections and the concern that our writing might not be good enough.  Perhaps that’s why we all get along so well.  Despite our many differences, the experience of creating a book on a hope and a dream then sending it out to dozens, sometimes hundreds of people in the small chance someone would love it links us. 

On the ride to the library, one author was able to tell us exactly how many rejections he’d received from agents on his first published novel – 118.  Others explained that they didn’t sell a manuscript with their first agent.  It took two or more agent experiences before they found the right fit and things finally locked into place.    And once you sell…well, authors dream of a long, fruitful relationship with one editor and publishing house, but more often than not that doesn’t happen.  Editors take other jobs.  Authors’ option contracts are not picked up.  Things don’t always go according to plan.

Which brings me to the point of this little blog post.  The road to publishing is a bumpy, long ride that beings after you hit THE END.  Once you finish a manuscript, there is no magic button to push that gets an agent’s or editor’s attention.  There isn’t a magic code to be cracked that will put you on the road to publication and let you stay there.  There is very little mystical or secret about any of it.  The only thing there is – is work!

We are all writers, which means we write.  For good or ill.  No matter whether we hear a yes or a maybe or a no.  We sit down in front of our screen and write.  Almost every author I talked to this weekend found their agent through a query letter.  They didn’t have a magic wand to wave that got the agent to read the book.  They just wrote the best letter they could and hoped for the best.  And not a single author was universally loved by editors.  Rejections abounded.  Heck, I have lots and lots and lots of them!   

The only secret to writing is book is making the commitment to sitting down and writing it…beginning, middle and end…no matter what.  And the only secret to getting traditionally published is realizing that it’s filled with lots of no thank yous.  But if you are driven to keep writing and at it long enough (and for me it took 5 manuscripts) you might hear a yes.

For all NaNoWriMo writers – I hope you are having a great writing month!  Go!  Go!  Go!