MS is off!

So, here is an interesting, marvelous story. I met one of the publicists for Deseret Book at Lisa Mangum's book launch about a month ago. After a genial conversation, topics turned to what we each do. I mentioned that I'm a senior editor and writer for an international magazine with a subscription of over 900,000 (Ok, I just said the name of the magazine; some of you know what it is, but I'm trying hard not to use that 'name' as a chip--wouldn't be prudent), which she already knew, and that I write epic fantasy.

So she asked me to pitch my book to her. I did. She was intrigued and asked me to send it in to her to review. When I asked how much, she said the entire thing.

Ok, I was very excited at this point. But, as she was very honest with me that Deseret Book and Shadow Mountain don't have an epic fantasy line or any plans to, I wasn't sure what would happen. She is an avid writer herself and very talented, so I hoped that at least she'd give me good feedback.

It was better than I could have even imagined. This is the part where I convey the facts as related to me, not tooting my own horn, but sharing what was a fantastic and humbling response.

She shared my work with her boss. They both concluded that they couldn't convince the powers that be to go into epic fantasy publishing. They also both agreed that my book was very good and was worthy of more. So she offered for the two of them to send it on to other publishers on my behalf.

This is the point where I'm certain Heavenly Father is involved and I am being blessed. How often does something like this happen? I mean, aside from the fact that my new publishing contact and her boss are just totally awesome, and I hope my work is good (what self-respecting author, aware of all great talent in the world, really feels 100% confident their work is really, really good? Well, maybe you do, but I'm always worried about it and not certain. Some of you have read my work and can comment better than I can.), but they are going beyond the call of duty here.

Perhaps my work speaks for itself. Perhaps they are just really that awesome. Perhaps they were inspired to do this. Perhaps this is one of those once in a lifetime deals that just sort of happen.

Lots of perhaps's. I don't know exactly why it happened, except that I know I'm receiving some extraordinary blessings, and my faith leads me to believe that the big guy upstairs is smiling upon me. It certainly is very unusual, and I certainly don't think I 'deserve' this kind of treatment. But, boy, it feels really good.

Ok, so I'm not published yet, and that is a long road, and a ways away. Still, this is doing wonders for my happiness meter.

Editing whirlwind

So I have this wonderful publicist who believes in my book and wants to promote it to other publishers. I knew it needed some serious proofreading. So how do you proofread 185,000 words in just a few days? Call in your friends, writing buddies, and critique group!

I'm a very, very fortunate man. My alpha readers were busy, and my small critique group was busy. But my other writing friends and critique group were not. So I was able to recruit 13 readers to do a crash proofread from Friday to tomorrow. Now that is amazing. When I think about it, I've had about 25 active readers provide feedback in the last few weeks. I just hope I can sell that many books! I may have tapped out all the possibilities... ;-P

Still, I can't believe the awesomeness of these folks. Really, to pull together like this, at the last minute, when I can see how busy they are. Truth is, I've cashed in a lot of favors, and now am indebted to the gills. They've been extraordinary, and have proven to me that no matter how many times you read something, you can always find something else. So at some point you just have to put the pen down and let go.

So, I finish this tomorrow, off it goes, and then I can concentrate on my trip to the Marshall Islands and Tonga. Come July, I'll have some serious critiquing due for others...

To post or not to post...

This is one of those posts that is not really a post. I mean, you have to post to keep people, like you, amazing readers, amazed and reading. But sometimes there is really not a whole lot to post. So what do you post when there is little to post? A post about there being little to post about.

I wonder if this is annoying, or actually some totally cool chiasmus that I wasn't aware of???

Anyway, my Mom was here for the weekend. She's a wonderful southern lady originally from Tennessee, now from KY, and so we of course had to watch the Preakness this weekend! It's in the family blood! What an amazing race, too. The filly won. I don't care about the odds--that was extraordinary and not necessarily a clincher. What a horse.

Well, since this is really a post about nothing in general, just to keep tantalizing you, I'll finish writing nothing about something. Or is that something about nothing???

I Submitted My MS to a Publisher!

Yep, per request, I sent it in. Now I'm totally on that roller coaster of freaking out and not knowing how to handle this awesome experience. Of course, this is a special circumstance, and though I pitched the book successfully, the publisher doesn't currently publish epic fantasy. But there is the tiniest possibility this could be their first endeavor into that genre. If not, I'm still amazed at my good fortune and grateful for this person's interest in my work. At the very least, she will provide professional feedback and may have more to offer.

How awesome is that? How tremendously blessed I feel!