6:00 AM
Everyone has their own story about the
road to publication. Here’s mine:
I wrote devotions beginning in 1972
and continuing through 2009. At that point, I lost contact with the editor who
had been giving me annual assignments. I took that as God’s hint to concentrate
on fiction. Prior to 2002, I had been working on a YA science fiction novel but
was still struggling to beat it into shape.
Sometime later, maybe 2006, several
of my critique partners suggested—kicked me in the rear—to switch to adult
science fiction. That’s when I started Dark
Biology.
I had been attending writers
conferences beginning in 1996 with Colorado Christian Writers Conference and
2003 with American Christian Writers Conference. I kept learning, kept pitching,
and kept getting rejected. For sixteen long years. No one took the bait until
2010 when Terry Burns, an agent with Hartline Literary, asked for a proposal
and later for a full manuscript.
One problem: I hadn’t finished the
novel. Word to the wise: Don’t do that.
In May 2012, one day before
Colorado Christian Writers Conference, I submitted the manuscript for Dark Biology to Terry. I didn’t sign
with him, but only because another agent offered me a contract first. Terry
encouraged me a lot over the years, and having his request hanging over my head
helped me finish the novel.
At that year’s conference, I met
Steve Hutson of WordWise Media who offered me a contract in August. Later, I
learned that Steve had been a client of Terry’s before Steve went into the
agenting business.
The ink was barely dry when Pelican
Book Group offered me a contract. I became a Pelican author two days before the
ACFW Conference. I attended the conference in a daze.
Pelican put me to work. My first
assignment was to eliminate three POVs, which was a condition of the contract.
Then I got the first round of edits, which cut whole chapters and macro-edited
the novel.
Next came round two. For this
round, I worked on a more detailed edit while incorporating comments from a
former astronaut candidate. That edit seemed brutal because I was juggling so
much. The Pelican people were kind enough, but I had to re-work whole scenes. The
result was a much better book.
A line editor then checked the
work. I read through the galleys for any typos that had somehow escaped. We
completed this phase in January.
Pelican scheduled the release date
for October 25. However, I got a huge surprise when my sister emailed me that
she’d received her order from Amazon. My baby was six weeks early! I called
her. “What do you mean, you have my book? I
don’t have my book!” My shipment arrived the next day. The print version is
available now. The e-book version releases October 25.
I’ve barely started the marketing
process. That’s another side to writing that I’m learning about: appearing on
this blog and others as part of a month-long blog tour, handing out bookmarks
and pens, talking about the book on social media. I haven’t even touched book
signings and (shudder) speaking.
The gestation period for Dark Biology was at least six years and
probably more. I didn’t keep good records back then.
The road to publication for my
debut novel involved conferences for seventeen years, several writing and
critique groups, loads of shorter pieces that I wrote, pitches, rejections, tears,
and heartache. Sometimes I wondered why I continued. I won the Perseverance
Award in 2006 from CCWC, but it was another six long years before I signed a
contract.
Every author has a road to travel. Thankfully, most are shorter than mine. I’m convinced, however, that
Don't forget to stop by tomorrow, when you can enter to win a free copy of Bonnie's debut novel, Dark Biology!
