Nearly 5 years after its inception, a novel is born

This week, I hit nirvana. After 54 months of diligent writing and endless editing, I submitted The Phantom Wife to a selective literary publishing house in Texas. And they said ‘yes’ to the script! Having decided months ago that I wished to avoid the agent/traditional publishing route, this is nothing less than a perfect marriage. Our contract is signed, and suddenly, we’re full steam ahead.

My paranormal dark romance—told in three voices across dual timelines—will be accessible to readers within six months. A long-awaited dream: so close that it catches my breath each time I imagine book launch day.

Four-and-a-half years after accepting a challenge to compose a first draft in just 100 days, the 94,900-word manuscript will now embrace its new creative team. I’ll miss The Phantom Wife terribly, for she was my go-to following nearly two decades of teaching secondary English. She remained my respite during the COVID-19 pandemic and provided consistency amidst whatever storm was raging around me.

I’ve learned a thing or two along this unpredictable trek, so if you’re still rocking and rolling your writing/publishing journey, here’s some heart-felt encouragement:

• Accept from Day One that you don’t know everything you need to know. Change this dynamic immediately. Connect with other writers at different stages of their careers. Sign up for seminars (yes, even online freebies have merit because you never know what nugget may await). Go to publishing conferences and learn about the business side of becoming an authorpreneur. 

• Your most important job is to compose a first-rate MANUSCRIPT. Nothing, I mean nothing, takes precedence. Why would it? If you lack an excellent product, there’s not an agent or publishing house in the world that’s going to represent you or promote your novel.

• Join a writers’ group and be supportive. Attend writing conferences and cultivate friendships. Follow-up on that chance encounter at a book fair. And be eternally grateful for social media interactions that may lead you to where you’re supposed to be, though you may not know it yet (sadly, #PitMad is a thing of the past). These encounters may not be happenstance after all.

• When you type The End for the last time, proudly acknowledge what you’ve accomplished: only three percent of would-be authors actually publish a completed novel. Relish this moment before rushing into your next project. And when you’re ready, a second novel awaits your attention. Because you know what to expect, there’s no reason to waste time or knowledge. Apply it a second time, then a third. And on and on….

So, I’ll sign off for now and attempt to follow my advice. As publication moves ahead, I’ll share updates about manuscript tweaks (and how I react to that!), book cover choices, and musings over audiobooks, novel promotions, and, yes, tweaking this website. Good times await.

Between now and then, keep writing, but most importantly, keep dreaming.