publishing

018. I’m Alive!

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Hey guys!

It’s been a while since I’ve updated and I apologize. September and October (so far) have turned out to be crazy busy months for me. Between writing, keeping up with Big Moon Press, and continue to deal with chronic migraines (with the awesome added bonus of focal seizures), I haven’t had a chance to blog much. I do have a couple of updates I’d like to share with you all though.

  • Dia of the Dead is available for purchase!!!!!! You can get a paperback here or an e-book for your kindle here. Support an indie author and buy a copy!
  • Big Moon Press is accepting submissions. For more about our submission process, please click here.
  • I’m working on a cool project with my business partner/writing homie, Cara. I can’t wait to see how it shapes up.
  • I finally have my idea for NaNoWriMo. Hopefully I’m abale to pull it out.

I’m going to try to get back into blogging since I have a shotty track record with it. I think establishing a routine would help me out.

That’s all for now!

013. Part of Your World

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Hi Guys!

I’m back! My health is about the same but it seems to be improving little by little. My neurologist has switched up my med routine and I’m hoping that third time’s the charm. I still have headaches and migraines but they mostly aren’t as intense as they were back in the winter. It’s the other symptoms that have been kicking my butt. But I’m not here to talk about that. I’m doing better and that’s all that really matters.

I’m actually here to talk about a couple of things that I’ve been working on while I’ve been under the weather.

Over the last couple of months while dealing with severe migraines, I finished the first draft of my second novel! I’m excited about it. It’s a sequel to Dia of the Dead. I’ve decided to make it a series out of my own curiosity. I want to find out what happens to the characters over the course of their journey.

I also came to a decision about what to do with Dia of the Dead. I’ve decided to self-publish. It took me a while to reach that decision because I wanted to weigh all of my options. I queried and realized, what I wrote just isn’t what publishers are looking for right now. And that’s okay. Maybe one of the next ideas I have floating around in my head will be THE ONE that will get me a lit agent and will set me on the path to traditional publishing. If not, that’s okay too. I understand publishing is a business that’s driven by what sells and what can be the “next big thing.”

With this decision to self-publish came some pretty rad things that I’m going to be blogging about in the very near future. I’m teaming up with my writing homie, Cara Davis. Actually at this point, she’s my writing sister to do them. Stay tuned!

This is how I feel about everything:

 

003. The Next Step

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Hi there!

I hope everyone’s still enjoying NaNoWriMo. I know week two’s a doozy but you all can do it. You’ve got this. I believe in you!

I bet you’re wondering why I’m being so encouraging and not mentioning how I’ve been fairing in my own mission to write 50,000 words in a month. Well…as what’s beginning to become a tradition, November has gotten the best of me. I was so swamped with paperwork that I was pretty much dead to the world when I came home from work last week. I was so tired that I could barely keep my eyes open long enough to set my alarm for the next day. As a result, I didn’t get much writing done so my current word count is a little less than 2,000. I don’t want to be completely defeated by NaNo so I’m going to attempt reach 25k by the end of the month. Even though I won’t technically “win,” I will have a solid start on a new project.

Though I haven’t done much work on my NaNovel, I have done some writing-related stuff this month. Last week, my editor Beth sent back the developmental/copyedits for my manuscript. A single thug tear rolled down my cheek after I finished making the suggested changes. I’ve accomplished a goal I’ve had since I was but a wee lass. I wrote a book. Let me repeat that for the cheap seats. I WROTE A FRICKIN’ BOOK! I still can’t believe it. I wrote something that someone else enjoyed (something that a couple of people enjoyed #actually). I get verklempt every time I think about it.

Once I finished beaming with pride and quit singing a writing-themed remix of Whitney Houston’s “So Emotional,” I knew it was time for the next step. I’ve spent the better part of this year working out the kinks in my manuscript and pestering my critique partners in preparation for this moment. The time to begin the querying process has come. While waiting to hear from everyone, I made a game plan. I knew the first step was to make a list of literary agents who are looking for a story similar to the one I wrote. My process largely consists of utilizing QueryTracker, stalking #MSWL on Twitter, checking the MSWL tumblr and other blogs in search of agents.

This process has been oddly intimidating. Not because I lack faith in my manuscript but because I’m not sure who would be interested in my protagonist. See, much like myself, Dia is a woman of color. She is Afro-Latina and identifies as such but the story is not an ethnic narrative. Dia’s story is YA Paranormal. In my years as a reader, I’ve found that genre works featuring PoC leads aren’t something you find very often in young adult literature. The absence of protagonists that looked like me in genres I enjoy prompted me to write Dia’s story. I will delve deeper into my motivation to write young adult literature featuring people of color in a subsequent blog post.

It seems as though the planets aligned or something because as I was searching for agents who may be a good fit for my work (if they’re interested), I came across the Lee & Low article discussing the diversity gap in publishing. It’s an interesting read. I recommend you take a few moments to check it out and when you’re done, check out Léonicka’s response. She offers up excellent ways to begin addressing the problem. Me while reading it:

Léonicka’s suggestions echo things I’ve said to my writing homies Cat and Cara while discussing our projects. They’re in similar boats with their works. Space Time* and reset. both feature PoC leads. We’re just not sure who may be interested.

Yesterday, I retweeted a link to Léonicka’s article along with some of my fears about Dia being deemed “unrelatable” because she is the other. The response I received was unexpected. I was surprised by the number of encouraging tweets from people who understood where I was coming from and identified with me. I was offered information and links to resources, all of which will be useful on my journey toward publication. I can’t begin to express my appreciation. Knowing I’m alone is making this process less intimidating and more manageable.

So now, I’m preparing for the next step. And that seems to be crying tears of blood while trying to create the perfect query. This should be fun!

-Brit

*Space Time isn’t the actual title of Cat’s book lol.