Before Being Published and After

My writing life (dare I call it a career?) is divided into two parts: Before being published, and After.

The time Before spanned a great deal of years, from around age 10 through my teens when I was writing stories strictly for fun, and then from my mid-twenties to age 31 when I decided to really hunker down and focus on the craft, which involved the output of dozens of short stories, a bunch of flash fiction, a few novellas, and four (trunk) novels. I was 27 when I met the girl who became my wife, who also took on the mantle of my muse and inspired me to finally chase down the dream of publication with the utmost seriousness and putting forth my best effort.

Perhaps needless to say, I did it. Besides a few small tales and non-fiction pieces published on the Net, two of my short stories were chosen for issues of RiverLit magazine in early and late 2014. Seeing, my first novel (a coming of age story), was published June 27, 2014. The Painted Lady, my second novel (a paranormal thriller/romance), came out August 5, 2015. And my novella An Unexpected Visit dropped recently on November 16, 2016.

And so, from age 31 on, I've been living in the After.

And, to be honest to those still seeking their first book contract, there is no Happily Ever After when you sign your name the first time. I'm not trying to dissuade anyone from seeking a publisher and, instead, going it alone, but rather commenting on a reality. I'm not set for life. I'm not making enough to do a multi-state bookstore tour. I'm still working a day job. I've also discovered what once was a singular goal to just be published has exploded into many more objectives in the literary world I want to achieve.

A few weeks ago I put the finishing touches on a novella I absolutely love called Something Above the Stars that I've sent out to numerous publishers who focus on novella-length works. One of my newer goals is to branch out and work with different publishers, different editors, to learn more about the industry via how others do the work from handling the manuscript to putting out the finished book. I want to get more experience, more comfortable with promotion, and I want to feel I've earned it again. I also have a deep admiration for the novella, so another of my new goals is to get my work in the hands of a publisher who specializes in that particular form. If Stars isn't destined for acceptance, waiting in the wings I have six other novellas in different draft stages ready to continue working on once I finish with my most recent undertaking.

I'm currently in the first quarter of the first draft of a new novel called Mystery Garden. I don't want to put out a lot about this project right now because it is so new, but if you follow my Twitter for the month of April, you'll get bits and pieces by way of the hashtag #WIPjoy (WIPjoy is a wonderful event held every few months that encourages writers who are at work to share about their projects and to support others).

When Mystery Garden is done... I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do with it. One of my larger goals has always been to get in with one of the top tier publishers. To do that, I unquestionably have to get an agent, which isn't just difficult and stressful, but very time consuming, and requires me to raise my game. With time never standing still, and never a guarantee, the question I ask myself all the time is when am I finally going to pull the trigger and go all in on the agent search, especially considering it takes me about a year to do my four drafts of a novel (and that's with no side projects). Saying I could begin the search with the novel following Garden means I wouldn't even begin putting out queries for another two years.

Right now, that feels like too much time.

I know it may be hard for my readers to accept that they may not see another publication from me anytime soon. Yes, I always have Winter Goose as a home for my work, but I never want to use them as a back-up. They were my first publisher - my first YES! - and if I do publish work through them, it'll be work I intended to give them.

So, this is where I'm at. Both exciting and uncertain times, for sure.

Stay tuned.