Paradigm Shift

I've been at loose ends for quite a while, since I finished the revisions on For Two Cents in late October and sent it off to my agent.  I haven't heard anything from her, so I sent an excerpt from it to Narrative magazine's fall contest.  When that was done I had nothing else to focus on.  I fooled around with turning For Two Cents into a screenplay (and I still may) but I really found myself at an impasse.  As a result I spent most of Thanksgiving break brooding about my writing.  Isabelle never found a publisher.  I had high hopes for novel #2 but as it stands today I don't even know if my agent is willing to shop it around.  Hence the brooding.  I thought about entering Isabelle in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel contest until I found out it's 17,000 words over the limit.  It might be worth revising (cutting 50-odd pages...dunno) but without a specific historical fiction division I don't think much of my chances.  So back to square one.

After looking around at local agents and publishing houses, I drifted over to Amazon's e-publishing page. Hm.  They have a particularly persuasive little video that got me to thinking.  Well, why the hell not?  Isabelle's not doing anybody any good gathering digital dust in my computer--what's the worst that could happen?  And then it came to me:  I want to grab a little glory for myself.  I want people to read my stories and enjoy my characters as much as I did creating them.  So much of what I do in my day job is ephemeral.  I may never see the fruits of my labors there.  I sure would like to get something from my writing, even if it's just a few kinds words from an enthusiastic fan or two.

So today I'm exploring e-publishing.  Patient husband has agreed to help create artwork for the cover.  There's a lot to learn (Amazon's legalese runs twenty-one single-spaced pages.  Good Lord.) but I hope to have Isabelle read through again for a final buff-and-polish and ready to start formatting by the time winter break rolls around in a few weeks.   For my next post I hope to announce publication.  Wish me luck!