I'M BAAAAAACCCCCKKKK!

It seems impossible to believe I have not updated this blog in, well,  in WAY too long. I apologize for that!

I could make excuses like "I've been busy" or "My body hates me and has had me under the weather with all sorts of weird ailments and it's still acting oddly", but excuses don't matter.  However, I will be adding to this blog each week from now on.

Last year gave  me some great ups and a major down for my writing. A publisher asked for the full manuscript of J.T. Middleton: Time Traveler! What a rush! The publisher liked it and sent me great emails. Then the senior editor contacted me and let me know HE loved it and was sending it to a focus group. I was thrilled and hopeful that publication was in sight when the marketing director asked for my ideas to add to his marketing plan! WOW!

Then...they decided abruptly not to publish. The whole process from the request to the rejection took seven months. To be honest, after all the encouragement I was crushed and took a brief hiatus from writing everything, including this blog. (I know that doesn't cover the ENTIRE time I've been away. Oh, well.)

Now, thanks to NaNoWriMo 2012, my book is published. Sort of. And not the way I want it to be in the long run. You see, I wanted my free copies of my book, and winning NaNo gave me the ability to get 5 free copies. Oh, to hold my book in my hands! The culmination of my dreams and six years of working with J.T.'s story! So I combined book one and book two and uploaded it to Createspace. What I didn't realize is that it would suddenly be available on Amazon.com! (I had read several NaNo discussions where some people received their free books without having it for sale. Obviously I didn't figure out how to do that.) Once it was up on Amazon, I had a few people ask if it was available as an e-book so I uploaded it to Barnes and Noble through Nook Press.

My next goal? To market this book and sell some copies!

I have been back at writing, and the trolls are well into their quest with Airam the sprite. The dwarves are getting involved and so is the black unicorn. Due to an opportunity that has arisen, however, I am resurrecting The Curse of Josiah's Orchard in anticipation of entering it into a first crime novel contest by the end of this year. I wrote Josiah back in 2001 and sent it to a publisher a bit too early...however, the publisher liked the idea and made suggestions for some changes. Those changes were MAJOR and took me awhile to figure out how to make them work without losing the essence of the story. By the time I finished, the editor had retired and his replacement was not accepting manuscripts without agents. That's okay, because I refuse to give up my dream of being an author! That is why Josiah is being dusted off, edited a few more times, and readied for the contest. I am looking for some readers to give me honest opinions. If you're interested, then let me know!