It's just an honour to be nominated...

Okay, so I decided that after a handful of really good reviews in Amazon, I might as well bite the bullet and start shopping ‘Barricade’ around.

By nature, I am not a gambling person. I rarely buy lottery tickets, and have only set foot twice in a casino (First time won about $150, second time lost $20). I’m not opposed to any of it on moral or ethical grounds. I’ve just figured out that I’m more likely to subsidize winners than be one myself.

Trying to get an agent is, in many ways, a lottery play. I say this with no small measure of pessimism. 

Please don’t tell me the odds because I know them by heart:

•  Chances of a positive reply from an agent – 100:1

• Chances of a positive reply from an agent asking for a sample – 300:1

• Chances of a positive reply from an agent asking for the whole manuscript – 400:1 or 500:1

• Chances of a positive reply from an agent from a top level agency asking for the whole manuscript –  ???? : 1

Okay, so Friday night, my ten year old daughter went to a chaperoned dance at the local Oddfellows Hall. As my better half had handled the first leg, I took the return visit. Nice drive back, listened to very silly music very loud, and pulled into the driveway. No big deal - it's how we roll.

Get out of the van and as I’m heading to the house, I check my Blackberry and the cause of the little red flashing light. It was an e-mail in response to a query I sent that essentially conforms to the very last scenario outlined above.  Request to see the whole thing, and from an agency that I would never have queried if I had let my feelings of inadequacy rule my head. 

Not appropriate for me to name the agent or the firm, but on one writer's blog, they said getting picked up by them would be the equivalent of  "hitting a home run, with the bases loaded, in your first game in the Majors." Yeah, and that doesn't make me anxious in the least!

Am I going to be on the New York Times Bestseller list? Doubt it very much.

Will I get a publishing deal with a big imprint? Not holding my breath.

Will I get taken on as a client? Would be bloody fantastic, but I have absolutely no clue.

Am I feeling like there’s something in my writing? Hell, yeah! It got my foot in the door. The question is whether it gets all of me past it.

I guess it’s like the Oscars – maybe it’s enough just to be nominated.

One thing for sure, it has distracted me from watching for new reviews on Amazon. Like the rest of it, it's been much better than I expected...

Tom Petty was right...

The waiting is the hardest part!

At this point, there are literally hundreds of people who downloaded 'Barricade Diary' on Amazon last weekend. Of course, that means nothing, and nothing more is going to happen for one simple reason - no reviews.

The typically twitchy personality wonders if they have fallen prey to some dark and sinister force lurking in a Seattle low rise who arbitrarily decided to prevent people from posting on your book. The logical self interjects by reminding that people have lives, jobs, kids, etc. and the fact that people usually will not finish a 368 page book in less than 5 days, let alone give a forthright answer.

Of course, it does not help when one's e-mail inbox is filled daily with messages about "Powering your Manuscript to the Next Level by taking our $89.00 Webinar" or insights of literary agents that sound like you must perform like a circus animal in order to get a treat.

If this whole writing thing is going to work, I need to get two things straight in my head:

1. Give people time to read, absorb and consider (i.e. Don't pester); and,
2. Agents are about good literature, and not looking for ego massaging. You're just on nerve and interpreting it that way.

Oh, yeah, and a third one. Do your best - it's all you can do - no more, and definitely no less.

And yes, after all is said and done, waiting will still be the hardest part.

The 'End of Labour' Day?

So, the book is done - warts and all.

Up on Kindle, and now what?

Well, just when you think the work is done, you realize that you have to actually get people to read this thing you've contrived. Amazing, isn't it. People aren't beating a path to your door (or their Amazon account) to grab it while it's hot.

Oh, how I wish it were the case. I wish I could just fire it out the door and have all of these messages clogging up my inbox. Can we interview you? Can you do a 10 city North American tour?

Okay, so I'm taking it in stride. Ironically, on a holiday styled as 'Labour Day', I face the fact that my work has not ended, but just begun - albeit in a different way. Goodbye, writer (for now), and Hello, Master Marketer!

Anyway, I've done a bit - including listing wherever I can, bending ears and imposing on every interpersonal relationship I have, and doing my 5 free days on KDP Select.

Four days in, and Amazon has 'The Barricade Diary' ranked #9 among free downloads for 'Political Thrillers and Suspense'.

Is there a Booker Prize, or a Giller on the horizon? Seriously doubt it, but it does do one thing - it gives me a small bit of positive reinforcement and encouragement.

Enough to tell me that if my labours have just begun, it will be well worth the effort.

The world at 3:30 a.m.

The world looks quite different at 3:30 a.m.

First of all, it doesn't look much like anything. As yours truly lives in a rural setting, there are no street lamps, etc to contend with. The closest we get is during a full moon, and the accompanying racket of barking coyotes in the field behind, but je degress.

Long story short - could not sleep. Had to finish what I started.

Went out to the living room, to the iMac, and over the next 90 minutes completed all of the last bits of tinkering required for the good folks at Kindle Direct Publishing to say 'Congrats - we'll let you know when your book is up.'

A few hours later, while at the local fair in Parham, Ontario, the message popped up on my phone that it was up and running.

So - what was it?

It's a novel. 368 pages (or approximately 90,000 words in book trade lingo).

"The Barricade Diary" has been with me, off and on, for over 10 years (More off than on). It sat on a shelf for the longest time, and other projects zipped past. Finally, I bit the bullet and pushed forward.

And so, I put my insomnia to good use.

Actually, that's not totally true. After 5:00, I laid on my couch and watched "BoJack Horseman" on Netflix until I dozed off.

Apologies to my wife for having to wake up to that!

Here's the link to the Amazon listing...enjoy!

amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?tag=kb1-20&url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords= mystery + political%2C+ B00MYZ7XD6