The First Book I Had Published

The first book I had published, the one that has spurred this month-long celebration, was Coming from Nowhere.

Originally, I started writing this book in high school. As a member of the swim team, a few of the other girls and I decided we would have a contest. We would write a story, and then the other members on the team would read it and vote on it.

Unfortunately, I never finished the story when I was in high school--and neither did the others. But I never gave up on it. I kept coming back to it over the years and looking for ways to make it better. After college, when my confidence in my ability to write was completely shaken, I put it away for a long time.

After graduating with my master's, I took a job as a document production specialist at an environmental consulting firm. One of my classmates, who also received her master's when I did, also worked there. I had given completely up on writing at this point in time, but she did her best to suck me back in.

It was a slow process. It started with some short stories, and when I got those published, I slowly regained my confidence. Eventually, I had the courage to work on my novel again, and I finally finished it and readied it to send out to publishers.

The road was rocky. I received rejection after rejection. It was tough. It almost made me give up once again, but I knew if I stuck it out, I would eventually find someone who liked the story and wanted to put it into the world.

I did eventually find that publisher. At first, however, I received a rejection from them. Apparently, this one came from the submissions reader, and she was kind enough to send along some notes. I looked them over and found ways to incorporate her suggestions into the story to make it better.

A few weeks later, I received an email from the publisher, and it was an acceptance. Confused, I asked why there was a change of heart, and she explained that the submissions reader shouldn't have sent me an email at all. She didn't have the authority to make those calls.

As you can imagine, I was thrilled. It was my first opportunity to get published, and I was more than happy--and more than willing--to take it.

Since that moment, I have had a roller coaster ride of publishing. I have been with indie publishers that have closed their doors. I have been with publishers who have done very little to promote and sell their/my books. I have been taken advantage of by unscrupulous publishers. I have gotten rights back to my books and self-published them.

There is a rule in the writing world that you aren't supposed to publish the first novel you write. I (obviously) didn't listen to this rule. I think that you probably shouldn't try to get the first draft of the first novel you've written published, but if you take the time to revise, rewrite, and edit the story, you can do whatever the hell you want with your work.

If I had listened to the rule of not getting the first novel I wrote published, I don't know that I would be published. It gave me the courage to put myself out there. It opened the doors to a whole new world. Has it been challenging? Absolutely. After 10 years and 14 books do I know everything? Absolutely not.

Every day I learn something new. Every day the publishing world changes. In the past 10 years, there have been major changes in the world of publishing. However, I'm glad to be on the ride. It has been full of ups and downs, tears and smiles, trials and tribulations, but it's been worth it.

In celebration of the first book I had published and all the ones that came after, this week you have a chance to win a $10 Amazon gift card. Take the chance to win by entering below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This Week's Books

For the celebration this week, I am highlighting my books Wucaii and Coming from Nowhere.  One of them is fantasy and the other is sci fi, but they both have female characters who are struggling to find their place in a new world.  More info can be found below!

It has been 500 years since Aelana has been home, and a lot has changed in that time--including her. As a half-dragon, half-human hybrid, she has been traveling the universe destroying worlds. Both anxious and excited to return, she wonders what she will find. Her memories of home are filled with pain and loss, especially for her first and only love. She knows he won't be there, but will his memory? Will her anguish remain?

JD does not have a past—at least not one that she can remember—and that makes living life on Mars challenging.

With nowhere to go, she is sent to the local military academy where she is trained to become a member of the elite secret police. While there, she becomes a pawn in Roger’s struggle for military dominance and Chris’s rebellion to overthrow the military regime.

She supposedly holds a secret that will change the face of the soldier, but, unfortunately, she doesn’t know what that secret is. Her only desire is to find the truth of her existence, and finds herself thrust into a realm where the truth of her past and present is more horrific than she ever imagined.

Final Frontier: Space Opera, Military, and First Contact Sci-Fi Book Giveaway

Have you seen this awesome giveaway from BookSweeps?

You can win my book Coming from Nowhere, plus books from authors like Matthew Mather, Mark Wayne McGinnis, and more.

There’s more! You’ll also get a brand new eReader if you win and FREE e-reads just for entering.

This giveaway ends soon, so make sure you hurry and enter!

Good luck!

Join the fun here!

A Great Week Related to Writing

Friends, it’s only Wednesday, but I have to say this has been a great week related to writing. So many magical and wonderful things have happened. I’m giddy with excitement!

First on the list is getting new covers. It has been raining covers in my world this week. The only one I can share with you at the moment is the new cover for Coming from Nowhere.

I’ve also re-released this book, so if you are interested, you can find it on Amazon. This is some of the other exciting news for this week. I’m also re-releasing Finding Eden. It’s a long story why I’m self-publishing these books, but I’m really excited to be able to have control. I like having control.

Finding Eden will also be getting a new cover, but it hasn’t been finalized yet, so I can’t share it with you. Don’t worry, you’ll know when it’s done.

I also received the cover for Humanity’s Hope. However, we’re planning a cover reveal, so I can’t share that with you yet either. I know, I know. It’s not nice to tease. I want to share it now too. It’s freaking amazing!

My friend (hi, Tamara!) and I are going to be co-authoring a work together. We met about it yesterday, and we’re both excited to get started on the project. All I can really tell you right now is that it’s going to be sci fi. I’m not trying to be obtuse, we just don’t have all the details worked out yet. We both love this genre, so we thought it would be the most fun to create a story in. I’m finishing some things up, then I’ll get to work.

So, speaking of finishing things up, I’ve been making a lot of progress on the sequel to Humanity’s Hope. I’m hoping to be done with the very rough draft by the end of the week. It’ll still take a lot of editing, but at least I’ll have something to edit. It feels so good to be making progress on this project.

Humanity’s Hope is getting closer to publication. As I said, I have the cover, and the text is going to the next stage of editing. I don’t know how long it will take, but I’m still hoping for an early 2017 release. Again, you’ll know when it comes out.

I’ve also received some amazing reviews for my work. One of them was for A Rancher and a Warrior, but Amazon took it down. Here’s what is said:

Intertwining history and a family saga, this book informs and delights. A man of many talents, Dale has survived WWII, although not unscathed, and goes on to flourish as a rancher and consultant. Well documented, the book focuses on Dale's contributions to the cattle industry and the state of Wyoming. Filled with archival gems, this book celebrates and honors a rancher and a warrior.

The other two were for Wucaii. If you’re inclined to check them out, you can find them here and here.

All of these amazing developments have got me jazzed. I’m riding the wave of creative excitement and can’t wait to see where the rest of the year takes me.

Another Book Under My Belt

I can't tell you how excited I am that Booktrope is going to be publishing Undead Obsessed.  They are the ones who put out The Appeal of Evil, and they are fantastic to work with.

I was a little disappointed that the agent route didn't work out, but I honestly wasn't surprised.  How many books have I queried for?  At least five, and not one of them enticed an agent.  But I'm not letting it get me down.  I can't.  If you think about it, I have quite a lot stacked against me.  I live in Wyoming, I don't have an MFA degree (although I do have my Master's in English), and I write genre.

These may seem like inconsequential things, but when agents want you to have a platform (which is just a fancy way of saying they want lots of people to know/follow you), I'm at a disadvantage.  I'm not near any major cities.  And I'm definitely not near New York.

Having an MFA degree would mean that during my education I would have had access to the publishing industry and famous writers.  Sadly, when I was getting my master's, the university I attended didn't have a formal MFA program.  They do now, but I'll be damned if I'm going to go back to school.  (And yes, I'm well aware that this is a personal choice that could affect my career, but I'm OK with that too.)

Writing genre is really difficult.  For one, there aren't necessarily a lot of agents who represent that genre.  For another, the genre can be so saturated with authors or have greats that still dominate that it's hard for a newbie to break into.

Now, don't get me wrong, new authors with less connections than I have make it big in the publishing world. I have a close friend who landed an agent.  All I'm saying is that I have a lot stacked against me.  But, again, I'm fine with that.  It doesn't bother me.  At least I can say I tried.

In addition, it's not going to stop me from writing.  I've come a long way since 2009 when Coming from Nowhere was published, and I really enjoy creating books.  Just because an agent doesn't want it, that doesn't mean I'm going to stop.

Wow.  I kind of got off on a tangent there for a minute.  Let's get back to Undead Obsessed!

I spent a year writing this book.  In the scheme of things, a year really isn't that long, but it's also really long.  I dedicated a year of my life to this one project.  And I'm damn proud of it.  I've always wanted to write about zombies, but I never knew exactly what I wanted to say.  When the inspiration for this book hit, it just took off.

There were ups and downs along the way, some criticism that cut deep, but in the end, it all contributed to making Undead Obsessed what it is.  And I can't wait to share it with the world.  And I can't thank Booktrope enough for agreeing to help me share it.

As I mentioned yesterday, we are currently looking for reviewers.  You don't have to be a formal reviewer or have a blog, you can be an average reader with a love for zombies and access to Amazon.  A secret group was set up on Facebook, so if you're interested, let us know and we'll add you.  You can download the ARC from there.

I didn't need another reason to enjoy Halloween, but now I really can't wait for it to get here!