It is the Spring of 2018. Raether’s Enzyme is off with the proofreader. I have been over its 117,000 words many times, applying my own eyes and the mechanical expertise of Word and Grammarly until we reached editorial equilibrium. I deeply love the story, characters, and setting. I am at peace with the intricate body of words used to tell the story. I have the resources to hire someone with the diligence to spot the remaining errors and the objectivity to call shenanigans on my stylistic experiments that don’t pay off. By the time you read this, the job should be done.
Work on the novel began in early 2017 with a blank template document and a screenplay. Borrowing nomenclature from my native software trade, it reached the narrative complete milestone on October 7th, 2017. In the intervening months, I have been fixing known bugs, addressing issues identified by early readers, and attending to general fit-and-finish.
Attending the 2018 Seattle Writing Workshop provided an opportunity to get a professional critique of my literary agent query letter. The feedback was detailed and actionable. It moved the meat of my query from teaser to a nano-scale synopsis. The query is better for the changes.
Before I send my first batch of queries into the world, the experts on the Web say I need to have an author platform in place. It should include outposts in social media and an author blog. So, here we are.