mmmmm...beer

I had the story kicking around in my head for awhile. It's essentially writing about what I'm the SME in, Indian Country law enforcement, so it wasn't overly hard to write. But I have a much better appreciation of people that can crank them out.

Good question. No. On purpose. There's a pretty big thing about AI vs Non-AI right now. The lit world is huge on no AI, which I can understand. That being said I've been reading trying to figure out what that means? Grammerly sure seems like AI to me anymore, or at least their add on you can buy is for sure. Updated MS Word etc have options for it. I think it's something that will go away as far as the adversion to it. But for now... You have to keep it at arms length.

Had my first meeting with an editor today. First one ever. I went in not knowing exactly what to expect from the process. What I got was a genuine two way conversation. An editor who had clearly done her homework and cared about the manuscript. Real editorial notes that made sense. Real questions about where the series goes. Real questions about who I am and how I work. I am new to this specific lane. 27 years in federal law enforcement did not exactly come with a publishing manual. But it turns out the skills that matter in any professional setting translate pretty well here too. Listen. Collaborate. Know your material. Be straight with people. We talked about the book. We talked about the series. We talked about what working together would look like. We talked about media and panels and what I bring to that side of it. I walked in as a retired federal law enforcement officer who wrote a novel. I walked out feeling like maybe I belong in this conversation after all. Nothing is decided yet. There is still a process to run. But today felt like the right kind of progress with the right kind of people. Cautiously optimistic. More when there is more to share.

I'm in. What's up?

I have a zoom meeting scheduled with my agent and a publishing house senior editor on Monday. "Thanks for getting back to me! I'd love to set up a time to chat with you and Mmmmm...beer about this project. Can you let me know what availability you have next week?" Exciting!

All I can tell you man is that late last November I got done reading a book. I thought the ending sorta sucked. So I thought, wonder if I could do better. Sat down... And came up with a story and started writing. I stopped myself about halfway through chapter one because I figured out, wtf am I doing? I'm not a free flow guy. I'm horrible at this on the fly. I'm an ops plan executor. I plan shiz out. So that's what I want back and did. I planned out a spine. Here's sort of the idea to start. Here's sort of the ending I want to get to. Maybe this could happen in the middle... Oh and this part could be cool too. Created a sort of skeleton outline. Googled... How a triller works... The beats of it. How it flows. How a story arc works in that world. Then I went and added those beats to my skeleton. How each part would fit. How long should it be? How many chapters for each "beat" of that arc? Then I started writing the chapters to those beats. About half way through I figured out a cool prologue. Went back for it. Absolutely 2/3rds of the way through I thought oh shiz... This would be a cooler ending. As I was writing I changed all sorts of stuff. But I had an overall plan and beats. Now working on a separate different book and started with the outlined beats. So much easier. If I was going to give any advice I would say, start there. Get a game plan together. Figure out what genre you want to be in. There are templates for storyline out there. For each genre. Also... A HUGE thing I learned. So many people worry about the Grammer, syntax, structure, but a I've found, if your story is good. Nobody gives a shiz. That's what editors get paid to do. I wrote stuff I know about so I don't need to research it. It's a bit of a cheat, but we all have a ton of life experience. You a realtor? Write about a guy who's a spy who's cover is a realtor. Shoot I dunno... I happen to have had a career that was interesting. Just start I'd say ..

The waiting. This is probably the part I have the hardest time with. The writing seems to go fairly fast. I'm writing from memory really, and thus far haven't had to research much. But traditional publishing moves glacially. Think seasons, rather than days. When I sent out my query letters and sample pages to agents, that process took several weeks in itself. Now, my agent has the manuscript out on submission to acquiring editors at publishing houses. We're still very early in the process, two to three weeks in. This part can take months as well. If everything goes right the first round. If there are no offers, we submit a second round, or however many rounds are needed. It's an interesting process. But it definitely tests the patience. There's also this inner ego that plays into the whole thing. Like, if they reject your manuscript, they're rejecting you as a person, because what you write comes from that inner place. Learning to separate those two things is an entirely different matter, though I've had quite a bit of practice over the years with warrants, briefings, and case reports. Judges can be very judgey. It's all good. I'm not just sitting on my hands though. I'm neck deep in the next project! An investigative procedural set on reservations. I think you all are going to dig it. Thanks for hanging out with me on my journey.

Okay Posty here we go... My agent submitted it 3 weeks ago to acquiring editors at publishing houses (sent the manuscript and a pitch). We had 7 editors for legit publishing houses acknowledge receipt (industry speak for we liked the premise. We'll read it.) Early last week like Tuesday I got an email from my agent. She will usually email me a couple times a week saying no news or whatever. So on Tuesday I get a no news emaiI. Curious as to how this all goes I asked asked her. So... how long before we start hearing yeah or nay? She said 4-10 months usually. Oh... Alrighty... I guess I'll keep writing other stuff. I wasn't disappointed really, just way longer than I thought. Like glacial... But then... On Friday I get an email. Well this is exciting and quick she said. And forwarded me an email from one of the editors saying, "She was looking for something just like this. It's right up her alley. She's sending it to some other folks for a 2nd read. Ask Mmmmm...beer is he sees this as a series, or if he wants to write another thriller in this same vein." NOT an offer quite yet... But definate interest! And she only had it 16 days! So... I said I didn't know at first... It was a bit of a slog writing it. There was some internal arc stuff for the main character that was hard to write. But .. if they wanted to back a truck up with money I would sure figure it out! Haha .. Friday night I really sat down and started brainstorming. Do I want to write this guy again... And came up with a ten book arc... Some good stories and a way forward with the main guy. I wrote her on Saturday telling her I'm good to go for a series if they want. My agent doesn't correspond on the weekends so I'm sure I'll hear back from her tomorrow but yeah! Exciting stuff boys! Maybe...

Awesome glad you dug it brother! Feel free to give your real honest review with no spoilers if you're good with it.

Hope you get well soon bro.

So my agent emailed me this yesterday morning... "Good morning Mmmmm...beer! I have gooooood coffee here and have been at work for a couple hours now. You’ll hear from me again today (especially with that nonfiction proposal)… And, until then, we have our first editor who has confirmed receipt of YOUR BOOK… - Editor of XXX Publishing has is in her queue to read YAY! Cheers and more soon, Agent Lady I acknowledged saying oh cool... Thanks. Then later on yesterday: And two more for us: - Editor at XXX - Editor at XXX Both have the book in their queues to read. YAYYY! Cheers, Agent Lady I acknowledged again... And asked what the submission looked like. I'd like to learn about the process. I got to thinking about it. Wonder why she was so happy about them saying they got it? I mean... Okay so you sent it. That's nice. So I looked it up. Apparently in my naivete I didn't realize, when an editor gets a manuscript from an agent and "confirmes receipt", that apparently means it's passed the first hurdle. That's like when I sent a few pages to an agent and they came back saying they wanted to read the whole thing. It's super encouraging. It means they read the pitch... Liked it enough to acknowledge they are going to read it! So three of them... two are in the "Big 5" publishing houses and the other is apparently a really strong independent that's pretty much there as well. Sooooo.... I still don't know what I'm doing! Hahaha... But it seems to be working out.

Hey... I'm all fairness I didn't know that was in the table. Check your inbox and give a review on here bro.

I signed with one of them. Went through the contract last night. There was one suggestion I wanted for the contract but she addressed it in an email, I think is binding so, it will work. Pretty wild.

I discussed this with each and both are okay with me being a hybrid author. I give them the "literary" stuff that could get awards... etc. The stuff I want to publish fast... I'll do on KU.

So... very interesting conversations with both ladies. It turned out differently than I thought. The first one was very enthusiastic and got the story. The second one was more commercial and wanted to change several things before we sent it out. I told them about the other books I'm writing/have written. One balked because they were different genre's. She wanted me to stay sort of in one lane. The other leaned in and was interested... really interested. So... I'm going wit the one who is enthusiastic and liked my story for what it was. She didn't want to change anything... ready to submit to houses now. I have a couple other interviews, but I've already made my decision.