The Pursuit of Getting Published (and other stuff)

CONSTANCE’S JOURNAL No Date, Random Note Love acts on us all. It binds our insides, unites ends ripped asunder by anger, hate or loss, it gives hope where none was previously. Love propels us; filled with ignorance and fear, to the course of its choosing. Love is strange and familiar all at once. From afar it is known and knowable, we recognize it on the other’s face, we feel it as they feel it, yet once scrutinized and dissected by questions, and hazed by logic, love becomes a weird thing. It’s elemental small parts do not make sense, its binding force invisible, and the truth of its existence contrary to macro version we all want to have. It becomes a mere aberration of the human conscience – the human condition. It is quantum dissonance with an ultimate truth unknowable but to our feelings and emotions. Love is the dome we all live under; its stars sparkling in the darkness of its expanse, giving us wonder and a sense that all is not as simple, finite and fated as

Constance survived the end of the world. Not many did. She's spent the last three years alone in Cold Spring, New York. She sees a few migrants heading south to the city and beyond. She always turns them down when they ask her to go with them. She hears of people turning into savages down there. Her shotgun repelled one that wandered north a short while go. One spring evening, she sees something emerge from the Hudson, lumbering to her door soaking wet. Alexander seems trustworthy at first. He tells her he's traveling south. He has lots of military gear, lots of confidence, and a cute smile. But in the back of her mind, Constance knows no one who survived the apocalypse is untainted; especially a man who's far too comfortable with a shotgun pointed in his face. Alexander's entrance into her life forces Constance to decide if she can do the one thing she's feared for three years: leave the relative safety of Cold Spring. If she does, it's a likely death

Ok, before I continue regaling you of my adventures in publishing, a quick review: The book I mentioned in the last post that wasn't geared for publishing is titled CONSTANCE AND ALEXANDER. Some lucky few of you out there have read this. It's also somewhere in the bowels of Amazon.com as an e-book (under the pseudonym of William Falstaff). Happy digging if you want to read it. The book I will be pitching to agents soon (again) is titled ABBIE'S PLAYLIST FOR HARRISON. The sequel to this book is already in the works. Why am I reviewing? Last night a best friend of mine and I were driving down to see Dunkirk (Awesome war movie! You HAVE to see it in IMAX! Nolan shot the movie in 70mm wide format. You literally get lost in the situation, just like the Brits were in 1940 on the beaches.) We were talking about what we're working on and he brought up CONSTANCE AND ALEXANDER and what my plans were with it. I said no plans, maybe an edit in the future to fix any of my b

I Wrote A Young Adult Romance Novel Set In A Sci-Fi World So, about 2 years ago I felt an urge to write a book for the Young Adult (YA) audience. I don't know why, specifically. There wasn't one "EUREKA!" moment (those came after I started writing it). Not a fan of YA. Actually, I've not read a YA book in almost a decade. I think it was an amalgamation of like events, coalescing into ABBIE'S PLAYLIST FOR HARRISON. It wasn't even titled that until I added the idea of songs into the story. I had written a book a couple of years before this one. That one was not meant for publishing. It was more for 'Can I actually write a book that is readable?'  Like a test. I passed. Inspiration For Writing my YA Novel The events that amalgamated could have been my wife's influence, to start. She is the head of the kiddie section in a public library. If she isn't bringing home picture books or middle grade (MG) books, she's got a few YA boo

The Surprisingly Nasty Process of Getting Published The point of this blog is to write about the publishing process. Do I want to spend my precious free time babbling on a blog? No. I don't really have the cathartic need to release  emotions by sharing my deepest thoughts with the world. I'm definitely not a "blogger" and never will be. I finished a manuscript (MS) about eight months ago. I wrote it to be published, figuring if the story is good it's a sure winner and I'll be picked up in a heart beat. Wrong. Being Naive About Your Chances of Getting Noticed What followed was the process of learning the publishing industry insanity and how most writers have a snowflake's chance in hell of getting their MS published - scratch that - a snowflake's chance in hell of getting picked up by an agent, never mind your MS getting peeped at by an editor at one of the big fives (NY publishers...google it). So, those of you with grand dreams of ge

How To Get Published The purpose of the blog is for you to follow how an active attempt at getting published looks like. It is a no BS account of just how hard the process is. I will also drop any great ideas about the creative process into the bowl of the internet too, as well as throw some free reading your way. Flush as needed. This is the initial floater. ;)