Finally Finished…

Honestly, the idea of finishing my novel felt like a dream. I don’t remember the exact date, but sometime last year, I finished what I thought was the final draft of my novel. However, after some encouragement from my wife, I undertook the challenge of adding more description to it. I hadn’t agreed with her at first and thought maybe I’d add a few hundred words throughout. Boy was I wrong. Instead, I added nearly 20k. She was right on with her assessment.

As of August of last year, I left my full-time job to pursue writing as my career. It was a big decision, but one that my wife and I were both happy with. I’d heard many other older writers mention that they wished they had started their writing careers much earlier in life. I guess, when all was said and done, I didn’t want to have to say the same thing.

From September until today, 02/09/22, I’ve worked on edits provided to me by several people I trust with the task. Admittedly, I hadn’t expected them to find so many errors. It was quite the eye opening experience.

Starting tomorrow, I intend to send out query letters all over again. It usually takes 4-8 weeks and sometimes as many as 12 to get a response. It’s a very frustrating part of the process, but I feel that I owe it to my wife and myself to pursue traditional publishing again. Honestly, as I reflect back, I realize the novel wasn’t ready when I first sought publishing. Now, with a much improved product in hand, I’ll try again.

For those interested in reading A Picture of the Heart, I’d love to tell you it’ll be ready soon, but that’s likely not true. It’s as complete as I can make it, but now another challenge awaits me. However, we have not dismissed self-publishing, and even lean in that direction.

I will add updates here and on my YouTube Authors page throughout the process.