Thursday, September 9, 2010

Part One: Where'd You Go?

It's no surprise I fell of the face of the earth last winter although it might be a surprise I came back.

Last November, I wrote a novel. It was okay. It had some good parts but it had a lot of bad parts. A LOT. It is unedited and sits on my external hard drive where it will spend eternity. Some might consider it a huge waste of time but I call it an incredible learning experience. I learned that I write pretty decent characters that have great chemistry, but I needed to work on realistic plots.

So I wrote a paranormal thriller next. Wait. Wasn't I supposed to be writing a more realistic plot? Here's the amazing part. I did. I love Chosen. The first half was written in a near panic-attack, sure there was no way I could pull it off. But I kept going and before I knew it, I had a completed and edited novel. It only took me five-and-a-half months. I began the query process, the part when you start sending a query letter about your book to agents. I'm ashamed to say I only sent it to seventeen agents. (Ashamed because its an embarrassingly low number) One agent requested to read the full book. Another requested to read the first fifty pages. The partial turned it down, but the agent who requested the full LOVED it. HOWEVER. She didn't think she could sell it.

It was a very sad, soul-searching day the Saturday in June I received that email.

The problem was I didn't know WHY she didn't think she could sell it. The only explanation I could come up with was it's a paranormal book with a romance. There's a glut of them in Young Adult right now, even though Chosen isn't YA.

So two days later I started another book. Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes. A mystery. I call it a cross between the humor of Janet Evanovich and the sweet-southern of Sarah Addison Allen. I love this book too and I think it's more marketable. I am finishing up a round of revisions on it and plan to pitch it to an agent at a writing conference in Denver this weekend.

All of this to say, I stopped writing my blog because I put so much time and energy into my novels I felt like I didn't have anything left to write a decent blog post. Along the way, even though I would think "This would make a good blog post," I was smart enough to know I couldn't tease my readers. Either I committed to writing this blog or I didn't.

In the end, I committed. I STILL had readers email and tell me they missed it. My kids missed it. But the bottom line was *I* missed it. I missed telling funny stories about my kids, our crazy life, and pontificating my crazy views on things. If I write this blog, I want to do it right and not half-ass. If you take the time to read it, the least I can do is make sure I post a half-decent quality blog post. Hopefully better.

I want to thank those of you who still love me and my kids, even if we "abandoned" you. You have no idea how much I love hearing you missed us, because let's be honest, everyone wants to feel loved. Next week, I plan on doing giveaways to show you all how much I love YOU.

Thanks for being patient with me. I hope I was worth the wait.

Tomorrow I'll give you an update on the kids.



Here's the book trailer I made for Chosen. I STILL love this thing. ;-)


(Little known secret-- that's Ross' arm with a Sharpie marker tattoo.)

8 comments:

Kristin said...

I'm glad you're back, even though I like keeping up with you on FB too :) You know we don't care if you half ass your blog posts or not. Haha! You don't have to impress us! One day when you are famous, we can say we knew you back when...... :D

Unknown said...

I have missed you and your humor! Your worse posts are better than my best..so please don't worry about us! Ya Denise is back!

Denise said...

I too have missed you and your posts...they always made me smile, laugh or sometimes even pee my pants!!

Brandy said...

I still love Chosen too! I know in my heart that book will be on shelves one day. It's too good not to be.

Love ya!

Heather said...

I've always enjoyed your posts and I'm glad you're back!! Ps- I too agree with other comments that I think Chosen will someday be on bookshelves and hope to have an autographed copy to show my kids;)
-Heather T

Darcie said...

I think I started following just before you took your hiatus. I have always enjoyed your post and your sweet family. I too will just add...glad you are back and looking forward to being a loyal follower. :-)

I am also so glad you haven't given up on your dreams...you are teaching your kids a very valuable lesson just by your example.

Unknown said...

The book writing and presenting and shopping it and all of that is exciting! But, you as a person and your blog is also exciting so welcome back!

Christina - Rant Rave Roll said...

Wait... you were gone? No, I'm just kidding. I knew you had lots going on. Besides the kids, you were writing and trying the dating thing. How's that going anyway? Glad to see you back writing here again. We did miss you. :-)