Sunday, March 31, 2013

It's been a long time my friend

I'd just about given up doing this blog thing. It was steadily turning out to be a colossal waste of my time but I don't like to quit things. Guess I'm from an older, better generation that what he we have now. Too many people are willing to quit and accept defeat, as if there's nothing wrong with it! I'd be ashamed to quit anything. It's not in my character. I grew up when it wasn't alright to be sensitive, wasn't fine to show weakness. My character was forged from strength (sometimes perhaps a little too much but hey, that's life) and molded by men who'd been to wars far worse than what I saw. Iraq and Afghanistan were hell, but nothing compared to Vietnam or Korea.

That being said, I have received well over 100 thanks but no thanks cookie cutter rejection letters from agents. My drive has kept me writing, that and these darn stories that need to get out of my head and onto paper! I take comfort in the fact that literary agents are quickly becoming irrelevant in the grand scheme of publishing so their 'no' doesn't quite mean as much as it used to. I got taken for a ride by Mark Sullivan and Associates when I was a lot younger and too hungry to do the proper research. They took my money and strung me along with the "I wish I could sell this now but we need to...."

No problem. I overcame and adapted and plugged along. I jumped on the Nook and Kindle wagon and made very poor sales from doing it alone. I'm not marketer or salesman. I'm a writer, an author, a magician of words. So I kept looking. I submitted books to several small publishers and now have two contracts and two novels about to be published. I'm happy and still pushing ahead. I dearly wish to break into New York and take the publishing world by storm but patience has gotten me this far. Now it's time to forge ahead and keep breaking down the walls.

Good things may come to those who wait, but who has time for that? I say attack with all possible force and reap the glory.