This is one of those blog posts I’ve dreamed about writing for years. To be able to say the words, “I have an agent–a great agent!” is unreal. Even reading those words now, knowing it’s true, I’m still waiting to wake up. I’m getting ahead of myself. I guess I should start at the beginning.

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Ten years ago I got knocked over the head with an idea for a story. I had written poetry before and always fantasized about writing a novel. But having a background saturated in art and education, I assumed fantasizing was all I would ever do. I could draw and paint. I could teach… but writing? It seemed like an impossible dream, even though it was one I desperately wanted. The idea for the book refused to leave me. It tapped on my shoulder, a constant reminder that there was a story I had to tell. So I did. I wrote the first draft by hand, slowly transferring the pages I wrote on my lunch break to a computer each night. It took me a year to write the complete manuscript. A year of staying up late, holding a sleeping baby with my left hand, and typing with my right. A year of bringing a notebook with me wherever I went just incase my characters decided to show up and talk to me. A year of having a secret I was terrified to share.

When the story (which I’ll refer to as Distance) was done, I didn’t know what to do with all 128,000 words of it. I wasn’t even sure what genre it was. I had no friends that were writers and nowhere to get advice from. So I printed a hard copy of Distance and stuck it on a shelf. It would be a few years before I revisited that manuscript. But, having successfully written a story from start to finish, I was bitten by the writer bug and excitedly began writing my second novel. That one took me six months. My third took me three months. My fourth, three weeks.

I discovered early on that the query trenches are pretty much like the Cliffs of Insanity from The Princess Bride. A struggle to climb and a sword fight waiting for me at the top.

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I won’t bore you with the details of my rejection letters. I’ll just tell you that there were A LOT. While my second novel was deep in the query trenches, I was making writer friends. I was learning, but most importantly I was ready to revisit Distance. I rewrote it, trimmed it by about 20,000 words and decided to send it off into the query trenches.

Two things happened immediately after:

I signed with a small press for a three book deal. (The Darkness Saga)
I met my editor, the amazing Kara Leigh Miller.

The book deal fell apart, and for this reason I took matters into my own hands and went Indie. But four years later Kara and I have had an amazing journey together. She’s been more than my editor. She’s been my rock and helped me birth several book babies into the world. I look forward to many more “barefoot on Bourbon” nights with her. Kara was the first person I met in the “literary” universe to fall in love with Distance. Her determination to help me get Distance into the world is just one of the reasons why I’ll never let her go.

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By the end of 2014 I had partnered up with the fiercely talented S.P. McConnell who  helped me relaunch The Darkness Saga with incredible new covers. He became a solid sounding board for me, and I asked if he would read Distance so I could get his opinion. He loved it. Like, crazy loved it. And to this day has been one of Distance’s biggest fans. His inspiring words of encouragement have made me cry on more than one occasion. Plus he always knows when I’m stressed and can use a sexy Scotsman in a kilt pic. I mean, that’s what friends are for, right?

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By now I had become comfortable in my own skin as an Indie author. I had released several titles, and was writing the books I wanted to read. But the dream of Distance having a traditional deal remained my ultimate goal, and I knew the only way I could achieve that was with a literary agent. So, I rewrote Distance again, and sent it off into the world. That’s when things started appearing in my inbox that I never saw before: Requests for the full manuscript. Like, more than one. Like, several. I even got an offer of rep. But something told me this wasn’t the right agent for this book. Do you know how hard it is to get the call and say no? I mean what if this was my chance and I was blowing it? But, I went with my gut.

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In 2015 I went back to work full time. I was able to release a series of fantasy books, and a spin off for my New Adult novel before I got swallowed up by my new career. By the Summer of 2016, I was itching to get back to my dream of traditional publication. I spent August-November rewriting Distance. This time I did it the right way. It had been nine years since I first wrote the original version. I was different now. I had learned so much, and it was time to apply what I had learned. All the advice I had collected from agents and my beta readers through the years would not be wasted. It was time to let go. I tore out 200 pages and laid what remained on the surgical table. It was like surveying a soldier who was badly wounded in battle. But I knew how to fix him– and I knew he’d pull through. For three months I worked on Distance giving it everything I had left.

Kara swooped in to edit and helped me polish the manuscript to a high shine. It was sent to new beta readers and by the end of January 2017 I was ready to query.

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This time I knew what I was doing. For starters, I even knew the genre of Distance, Women’s Fiction and Magical Realism.