Happy New Year gentle readers!
I’m sure that many people struggled through much of 2020, I spent most of it working from home (and count myself incredibly lucky to have been able to do so) and found that the year passed very quickly for me. But though many of the days blurred into one, I managed to finally, finally, finish my novel The Blood of the Spear, Book One of the Eye of Eternity!
It’s been a bit of a ride. Ten years ago I finished the first draft – yes, I move slowly – and have subjected my Beta-Readers to numerous reads and re-reads over that time, as well as having put the manuscript through various stages of editing – assessments and structural edits. Now the time has come to stop messing around with the novel and to let it see the light of day.
I have to admit that when I first dreamt of being a published author self-publishing was not part of that dream. Actually, self-publishing wasn’t much of a thing at all back in the 90’s. But in the years it’s taken me to manifest this dream the market has changed – especially amongst the readers of speculative fiction! So much so that self-publishing is becoming more the rule than the exception.
I have submitted the manuscript to a few agents; I only had a response from one, which was a rejection alas, the others haven’t responded at all. Rather than being discouraged by this I believe enough in my own work to self-publish. Yeah, there is always room for improvement, but you must believe in yourself as well or what’s the point?
So, I’ve reached out to a cover artist and a cover designer, and I’m putting plans into motion to release The Blood of the Spear on the 3rd of May 2021 in both eBook (kindle etc) and paperback.
Hooray! Mark your calendars 😉
I still dream of one day being traditionally published (the reach of a traditional publisher is still something to be desired – and I only know a handful of self-publishers who don’t dream of this). But, for now, I will do it myself.
In the meantime I’m moving forward with plans for book two, The Towers of the Stars (working title) – hopefully this book will come along faster than BotS!
