The Process

 

One of the questions I keep getting asked since publishing Breaking Eselda and 30 Days Without Wings is what did it take to get published? Well, buckle up, because I’m gonna break it down for you.

• Sometime in 2014 (I think)-I wrote a little novella that had promise. I’d always written things. I never usually finished stories. This novella was good. It gave me superpowers, or at least made me feel like I had superpowers. I started writing, seriously writing.
• March 2014-I had an idea of a place just pop into my head. I opened the notes on my iphone and wrote it down to get it out of my head. It was called Fraun.
• May 2014-I start writing the first draft of that Fraun story.
• October 2014-Remember that novella? I decided to take another look at it. Started stretching it out into a book. It’s a romance.
• December 2014-The first draft of the Fraun story, originally titled Royal Blood, is done.
• January 2015-2 Beta readers and an editor read Royal Blood and give advice.
• February of 2015-Royal Blood goes out on query to agents.
• February 2015-I start to work on book 2 of the Fraun series. It gets tentatively titled Age of Maliciousness.
• April 2015-An agent has suggestions, which include a change in point of view. An overhaul of Royal Blood starts.
• May 2015-Another idea for another story entirely pops into my head. I write an entire outline in about 2 days. It’s sci-fi this time, but I can’t shake the idea.
• July 2015-I start a blog and call myself a writer for the first time (YIKES)
• November 2015-The romance is done. I try a few queries to agents.
• November 2015-Another story started. This one would become 30 Days Without Wings. The whole book is outlined within 24 hours.
• December 2015-Royal Blood gets a name change to go with the point of view changes. It’s not what you think. I rename it Educating Eselda.
• January 2016-I finish the sci-fi. I send it to a printer so I can edit and a beta reader has a go at it.
• March 2016-Educating Eselda makes it out to betas.
• April 2016-Age of Maliciousness has a title change and an overhaul to make the point of view and voice similar to the rewrite on book 1. Can’t tell you what the title is now, it’s (kind of) a spoiler.
• July 2016-I decide there will (likely) be 5 books in the Fraun series. Start outlining Book 3.
• July 2016-The sci-fi query starts hitting agents in-boxes.
• December 2016-Educating Eselda is queried out to agents.
• March 2017-A beta reader finished with Book 2 of the Fraun series.
• June 2017-30 Days Without Wings is done.
• July 2017-I start the #30DaysWithoutWings project over on Facebook.
• January 2018-I speak with someone from lulu.com about self publishing Educating Eselda.
• February 2018-I admit I hate the title Educating Eselda and officially change it to Breaking Eselda. Fun Fact: This decision was made over videos on the Marco Polo app and was basically the idea of my 12 year old son. I LOVE this title.
• February 2018-I send the files to lulu.com to start the process of self publishing.
• March 2018-Editor feedback comes in. It takes me a weekend to complete all the changes. The book is better for it.
• March 2018-I start the process for independently publishing 30 Days Without Wings with Barnes and Noble (and, later, Amazon).
• April 2018-Breaking Eselda proofs come in. I re-read the whole book again in about 24 hours and find a few last minute changes (things like spacing, usually).
• April 2018-I get to see the cover for Breaking Eselda for the first time and fall in love!

  

• May 2018-BOOM both Breaking Eselda and 30 Days Without Wings hit the market. Crazy, right?

So that brings me to RIGHT NOW. I’m still working on the 3rd book in the Fraun series (again, title is a spoiler). Book 2 is done, but I haven’t picked it up since before all the craziness with publishing so it’ll need another read-through before anything else happens with it. (Don’t worry, the plan is to publish it someday). The sci-fi and the romance…well they’re still around. The sci-fi will get my attention next, maybe soon. It’s good, guys. Besides that, I have some projects on back burners right now. Don’t worry, this has been a long journey to the start line…but there’s so much more coming.

 

Love you guys, thanks for the support, talk soon.