2012 and looking to 2013

2012 was one heckuva a year for me publishing wise and personal wise.

* I published four books

 

*Made some new friends in The Indelibles and the girls of NA Alley

 

*Redesigned my book covers with help from Steven Novak

 

*Made enough from writing that it paid for my daughter's daycare and all writing expenses

 

*Finally saw the New Adult genre take flight (after sitting on an NA manuscript for almost 3 years).

 

And then there was the personal stuff...

 

*Started a new job that was a pay raise, but changed my work hours completely

 

*Found out I was expecting my second child

 

But there is even more excitement coming as I look forward to 2013!

 

*Publishing a New Adult Stand Alone, THE ONLY EXCEPTION (April)

 

*A second novel in The My Paper Heart saga

 

*A science fiction young adult novel (hopefully before years end)

 

*The birth of my second daughter

 

*Hopefully keeping up more with this blog

 

*Praying the market isn't saturated with New Adult and science fiction and you all still want my stuff!

 

What are you looking forward to in 2013? Are you glad 2012 is over?

 

 

The How-I-Got-Published Post

Usually everyone posts these 'How I got my Agent' stories and I admit that I was looked longingly on these posts wondering when I'd have an agent of my own.

I sent out 53 queries.  By some standards that isn't a lot and I actually got a lot of positive responses.  But it was the positive responses that were driving me nuts.

"I love the story, but it just doesn't fit in my client list."

"I love your characters, but I just don't see where it fits in the market."

"It's just too quirky for my book of business."

I was getting frustrated.  I had been querying for the past two years (two different stories) and had come so close, but everything just seemed so far away.  Then my wonderful critique partner, Leta, suggested going for a small press or Indie publisher.

I thought, that wasn't what I wanted to do, that I wanted to see my book in the bookstores.  So I talked to my husband and another critique partner and they said the same thing.  "You've been waiting two years, why not give it a shot?"

So, I really thought about it.  Did I want to sit around another two years and wait for an agent?  Or even sit around another two years after that while I waited for a publisher to pick it up?

I then decided that I wanted to submit directly to publishers and after reading SoulKeepers, I decided that Darkside was the place that I wanted to be.  I sent in my manuscript, crossed my fingers, and hoped for the best.  I got a message from Gen saying that Megg Jensen loved my first five pages and requested a full.

I was so excited, but then my husband took me back down to Earth, saying this wasn't my first full and the other ones ended in rejections.  So I waited.  But I kept getting messages from Megg and Gen seeing how I was, asking if I read their work, so I started to really get my hopes up and prayed that it wouldn't end up in a big fat R.

Then I finally got it, THE CALL (or the text) from GP Ching asking me to join Darkside.

And the rest is history.

I've joined the Darkside

For those of you that didn't figure out after this video, my novel is going to be published with Darkside publishing!  I'm super excited to bring my alien into the world and looking forward to having all of you read it!

More info will soon be coming, but you can always check out all of my girls at Darkside.com until then!