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Getting My Novella Published Last Year Has Been Like Getting Kicked in the Nuts
Getting a book published after 13 years of trying and failing to do so should be that “Rocky dancing with arms raised in victory at the top of the steps” moment in every writer’s life right? Well, hold on there sunshine because reality is about to swing its concrete shin MMA style right into your jubilant metaphorical nut sack.
I got serious about writing fiction in 1997. In 1999 I started writing my first novel and completed the first draft two years later. Another year and a half of re-writes and I shakily e-mailed off my first round of query letters to literary agents. Two more years of polite “Thank you, but no thanks” style rejection letters and I mothballed my sad little novel.
I kept writing short stories though and would occasionally publish a few in small and mid-level literary journals. Then in 2009 after unknowingly joining a cult based on some very dodgy gurus an idea for a novella popped into my head. Imagine “Illusions” by Richard Bach meets “A River Runs Through It” by Norman Mclean meets “Affliction” by Russell Banks and you’ll have a pretty good idea of the major themes that were spinning around my…
