Amazing How Far The Journey Has Gone

As the year approaches its end, I look back and am amazed at how far I've come with my journey as a writer.

The excitement of finding somebody who was willing to take a chance on my novel, that runs through my body as I write this (my thanks to Clean Reads for giving me that opportunity!). Not only do I have a publisher who gave me the opportunity, but I've met a few other writers who are part of that publishing family and a few have agreed to be beta readers for my planned second novel.

On top of that, I've got ideas in mind not only for the third book in the series, but a potential spinoff book and an idea for a different novel that would not be associated with the series at all.

With the new year, though, comes the task of finishing whatever final edits are needed to my first novel and what I need to do to promote it. I will say that I have some ideas in mind that should not only allow me a chance to talk about my book outside of the blog, but allow others who have published works to talk about their novels. (Regarding that, I will have more details in the weeks to come, I promise!)

It's hard for me to believe sometimes how far I've come with my adventures in novel writing. I had a chance to meet some good people with the Kansas Writers Association, get some ideas and feedback, learn what it took to craft a good pitch, then try it out during Pit2Pub earlier this year, and explore what tips and advice other writers have. Along the way, I've sampled the works of other authors who have either self-published or had works published by Clean Reads, not only finding out what ideas go through their minds, but how they craft voice, dialogue, pacing and everything else that's important to a novel.

Where the road goes from here, who knows, but that's part of the excitement of novel writing. You never know where the journey in publishing will take you, just like you never know where the journey in writing a novel will take you.

I won't have a blog post next week because I'll be spending the holidays with my family, but in two weeks, I'll let you know more about some of the ideas I have in mind.

In the meantime, best wishes to you, no matter how you celebrate the holiday season.