Goodness! Has it been that long?

Wow, I just logged onto my blog, and even though I know it’s been a while since I have updated it, I must say – I was shocked at how long it has actually been.

I hang my head in shame and apologise to my followers, all five of you. (If I haven’t already thanked you, let me do it now: thank you for not leaving me all alone out here.)
So where have I been and what have I been doing? Some of my time has been taken up with life in general, you know, family, friends, dogs, etc. However, the rest of my time has been spent following my Manuscript Assessors directions as I reworked my book.    

My MA made it painfully obvious to me just how much I did not know about the art of writing, and as a result it was a major rework.  I tidied up my characters to make them more consistent and/or believable. I was made aware of things such as Head Hopping, View Point, Info Dump and World Building, amongst others.   Things that, in all honesty, I should have known about before I even started to write.  I didn’t know about them then, but I do now, and my storytelling is much the better for it.  Mind you, my editing still leaves a lot to be desired - but that’s what the professional editors are for, and who am I to do them out of a job.
So I started in January and finished my rework by the end of March, I then sat back to read my book cover to cover.  Guess what?  I was still making changes (sigh).  Bring on rework number two.  This one was not so drastic, I tightened up the story, got rid of some more Padding, and some duplication. Now the story flows nicely, the pace is fast, the twist and turns are less complicated to follow, but just as exciting, the characters are real - and I still love the ending. 

So, all of that work brought me to June, and another round of publishers. To be honest, I don’t know if I will find a publisher who is willing to take a leap of faith in my work, (but if you are out there and are reading this – you won’t be disappointed).   For a start, out of all of the Australian publishers that I have come across, I could only find 6 that are taking unsolicited manuscripts. I cannot stress enough that it is extremely difficult to get your work published, no matter how good it is. Let me know if you agree or not, but I would guestimate that writing a book is about 30% inspiration 70% hard work, but finding a publisher is 10% hard work 90% luck. You have to find a publisher who is taking unsolicited works, who is looking for work in your genre, and who likes what he/she reads in your 1 -3 chapters, plus synopsis and cover letter, more than the other thousands, yes thousands, of sample chapters that he/she has to sift through a month.

But I will not give up. If no publisher is willing to give me a go, then I will go down the Indie path, but before I do that - I have to build my online presence, and that’s a topic for another blog.

I will try to blog on a more regular basis, if not on my attempts to get published, (there’s not a lot to write about when you are playing the waiting game).  Still, I can update you on the antics of my beautiful girls, Willow and Alba, or our impending trip to Alaska.  I can’t wait for that.

In the meantime, to all of my fellow writers; may your imaginations roam wild through the landscapes of your mind, and your fingers fly free over your keyboards.