I’m not sure how it happened, but I misplaced a year and a half.
In August 2015, I stopped blogging, put my e-newsletter on hiatus and left Facebook and Twitter for parts unknown. Well, not totally unknown. I was working on a first draft of a novel called 48 STATES, a stand-alone piece of fiction that has no connection to the DARK HORSE TRILOGY. There may be someone out there who can run a small business, be a mother to a teenager, stay engaged as a wife, write a novel and simultaneously maintain their author platforms, but I am not that person.
The off ramp to this major detour came in the form of an agent encouraging me to complete 48 STATES. It was a challenge I felt I had to take, even though it took me far away from The Council and Olivia.
By summer of 2016 I was able to submit what I thought was a killer manuscript. Unfortunately the agent decided the book was not for her, which could mean a thousand things – all of which I mulled over in the silence of many a sleepless night in the days that followed. Rather than stew about it indefinitely, I decided turn the MS over to my editor for a critical review. The truth hurts as they say, but she’s given me a roadmap to a better novel, one that hopefully an agent will want to sell. We shall see as they say, but I’m prepared to dig deep and push myself.
Publishing “traditionally” does not mean I will give up on my self-published trilogy or the independent press I founded: Flesh & Bone Books. I’m interested in doing a variety of things with my writing and this is just another challenge I am giving myself for 2017.
Thanks for your continued support. Keep an eye out for a sneak preview of 48 STATES in the next week.
ED