I Killed A Tree Today!

In order to submit my book, The Keeper of the Crystor, to DAW (Penguin) Publishing, I had to print the entire manuscript out on paper. I've always wanted to do that, to see the stack of pages all crisp and clean lying there on the desk with my name printed under the title. But the one thing that kept me from doing it was EDITS. I felt it was a waste of paper and ink to print something when I wasn't finished with it, when there might be one more scene I could add, or word I could change. It never seemed to be DONE . . . until now.

So here it is, all 467 pages of glorious fiction, all of which came from my twisted little mind.

Okay, so I have to give SOME credit to my writing friends and critique group who told me what to change and what stunk, and I also have to give a lot of credit to an editor and her partner in crime (you know who you are) for asking all the right questions and making me work my butt off to get this book to where it is today. And last, but definitely NOT least, there's the voice that constantly whispers in my ear, telling me just what keys to press my fingers to. My muse? Nope, I'm talking about a much greater influence in my life. My Heavenly Father, without whom I'd have no talent at all.

But for the most part, it is MINE . . . ALL MINE.

So now what do I do with it? Well, first of all, I'm sending it off to DAW and then I may do the same to TOR. Why not start with the big fantasy publishers? I mean, if anyone knows what good writing is, they do, right? Besides, it will take up to 6 months to hear back from them, so that will give me plenty of time to query agents, work on book two, "Death's Betrayal" and write the fun little romance I started a few months ago. I've got plenty to do, however, there is a little snag in my plan. When I do a search on "Query Tracker" for those agents that represent authors who write fantasy/romance, it comes up with 51. That's right. ONLY 51. When you take away the ones that work for the same agency, don't accept queries at this time and just don't look good, I sent out a whoppin' 12 queries. Woo Hoo!

Now what?

Well, to start with, I'm doing a more intense search, reading all there is to read about each agent I come across and narrowing it down as best I can. The problem is having a book that borders two genres. When I first wrote the book it was supposed to be a romance with a touch of fantasy, but with the help of others I've been told it's really fantasy with a little romance. I've also been told to market it as ONLY fantasy, but when I look into that genre I don't find any other books like mine. There are a few in Young Adult, but next to nothing in the adult catagory.

*SIGH*

I keep asking myself if I've done something new and wonderful that will take the publishing industry by storm, or something stupid that will give me no place on the bookshelf and no one who's willing to represent me or believe in my book as much as I do. I guess time will tell. In the meantime, I will push forward and do whatever it takes to get Kira and Octavion the audience they deserve. Their lives, no matter how ficticious, are wonderful and beautiful and deserve to be shared with the world.