Howdy! The new year is here, and my website needs some content, so I thought I’d look back at what I got done in 2021 and what I’ve got planned for 2022.
Agent Signing
The biggest and most exciting development this year was that I signed with literary agent John Baker of Bell Lomax Moreton. I started pitching Song of the Raptors almost exactly 3 years ago in 2019, and as is the case with most writers, it was a long road of rejections. Many were just outright “no’s” while some were more specific: “I’m working on something similar”; “I’m not the right fit”; “I don’t think I can do a Western.” I even stopped querying at one point and hired the fantastic Leslie Hinson to help me get the manuscript in the best shape possible. I was beginning to think that maybe a sci-fi western with velociraptors just wasn’t going to find an agent and that I’d be better off writing a new story. Finally, John replied and asked for a full manuscript. From our first meeting I knew he was the guy; he just got what Raptors is all about. He might be even more hyped about my book than I am.
For the next couple months, we went over some more revisions to give the book that last bit of polish that it needed before sending it off to editors. The book finally got shipped off to editors in July, and it’s been a familiar waiting game since. I’m hoping that 2022 brings some good news on this front!
A Stand-Alone Fantasy Novel
I finished the first draft of Song of the Raptors four years ago at the very end of 2017. My time between then and now has been spent editing Raptors, experimenting short stories, starting and not finishing three different books, querying Raptors, editing Raptors again, and querying the newly revised Raptors again. Somewhere in there I also moved cross-country and became a father.
I beat myself up many, many times over the fact that I hadn’t finished another book. I thought that the six months spent on Raptors was a flash in the pan that would never happen again and that maybe I just wasn’t cut out for writing books. In retrospect, it was unreasonable for me to think this way. Big life events are bound to throw things out of whack, especially when you include a pandemic in there somewhere. Plus, each book has its own life cycle and they all work differently.
That said, I really wanted to get another book under my belt. I finally did back in July and I gotta say completing my first draft in 3 1/2 years felt really good. I won’t go into it too much yet, but it’s a stand-alone fantasy novel. I’m spending the first few months of 2022 revising and editing it.
The Sequel to Song of the Raptors
Writing Song of the Raptors was a lot of fun. It was quick, enjoyable, with only a few roadblocks. Most importantly, I felt good about it, confident I’d written a good book. While riding that high, I decided to get right to work on Raptors 2 almost immediately.
This was a mistake. I should have waited to start but I was a little too impatient and way overconfident. I stopped and started writing Raptors 2 so many times until I reached a point where I was just plain burned out. I did not like what I’d written and had no idea where it was going. So I shelved it, focused on editing and querying the first book, and flexed my creative muscles elsewhere.
When John prepared to ship Raptors off to editors, he asked me to write a synopsis of Raptors 2, including the ending. That made me panic a little bit: I hadn’t touched the book in months! I had no idea how it ended! I wasn’t even sure how much of the book I was going to keep! I also just don’t like writing a synopsis for an unfinished story; I’m not a big outliner. But, I needed to write it, so I did, reminding myself that whatever the synopsis said was not set in stone.
And wouldn’t you know it? I figured out how to end the book and set it back on course. Like I said, the process for each book works differently.
I spent the last 5 1/2 months of 2021 writing Raptors 2, and I finally completed it shortly before Christmas. Victory never tasted so sweet. Now it shall sit for a good long while until I’m ready to edit and revise. It’ll be a lot of work, but at least the draft is finally done.
What’s Next?
There’s no telling what’s coming this year. Looks like I’ll be spending more time doing revising/editing than writing new stuff. Of course, I’ve got many ideas simmering on many different burners, so we’ll see. Otherwise, I’m just waiting for some editor somewhere to pick up Song of the Raptors. Here’s hoping that happens sooner rather than later.
Thanks for reading! I hope I can post some good news here soon.