I've been called a TEASE.

I find it funny to be called a tease. Because for the most part, isn't that all I've been doing for two years? I have been teasing my readers with the promises of more books only to tell you the wait is longer. And  longer, and longer. I has been a very difficult journey for me because I wanted it as bad as you all did! Believe me. I tried to get The Cost of Loving (TCOL) published as soon as When Love is Not Enough (WLINE) came out. I promise I did. And then when it was rejected. And then it was rejected again by a different publisher. And then again by another. It was really disheartening. Still, this story is too personal. I could not let it go untold. Just like WLINE. Writing WLINE came out of personal pain. And I think I produced something beautiful out of pain. I'm glad I went through my small degree of fire because I would have never known I had it in me to write Jimmy's story. And Jimmy touched SO MANY people! I love him. And consequently, when TCOL was rejected repeatedly, I found it in me to persevere and keep working on the manuscript (MS) until it WAS accepted. I was a nats-wing away from self-publishing when Dreamspinner Press accepted it.

What I learned: 1. Keep the MS under 115k.* (less is even better) If the MS is too long, and needs work, then it is not worth the publisher's time and money. It needs to be CLEAN! (Or as close as possible.) *Of course, this is MY rambling, not from a publisher's mouth. I am sure that if I had a following like Tolkin I could write a book 515k and someone would want it. lol... anyway...

2. NEVER GIVE UP! Do you hear me, aspiring authors? If it is your dream, and it means that much to you, never give up!

I may have learned more, but I am actually out of time at the moment.

Update: I have gone through the first round of edits from the publisher and it looks awesome! I am going to read through it one more time before I e-mail it back, but I am so stoked! This story is incredible. No deaths, but you will need tissues.

And as I was writing, Darian was screaming at me. Melissa told me I'd find my muse. Well, I did. Darian want me to finish his book. So that is what is next.

I also was working on playlists because music inspires me. The last blog had the playlist for WLINE. Later this week I will post the playlist for TCOL and an excerpt. OKay?

Gotta dash,

Wade