Nothing fancy here. Just a chronology of the steps in my journey to publication.

January 27, 2023

Today, A Future and a Hope is still ranking in the top 100 of New Releases for Christian Contemporary Romance. It ranks #96 in paperback and #90 in Kindle edition. I haven’t been following this because I thought it had dropped out, but a fellow-author clued me in. It all depends on the category chain you follow to get to the list.

I’ve begun to work on the sequel, so I’ll be posting about that. I’m very thankful to be a published author and thankful for every reader and their feedback. Blessings to all in Jesus Christ.

January 15, 2023

Release Day took me by surprise. Deb Gardner, editor in chief at Elk Lake got ‘er done and the book went live on Amazon on a Sunday morning (or late Saturday night)

January, 2023

Good news! I was sent the galleys for proofreading. This is like reading the book in digital format. Everything just like it will be printed. That was fun to see. They’re back with Elk Lake now and we’ll see what happens next.

A wonderful volunteer who helps Elk Lake authors, is researching key words and categories for listing my book on Amazon. Choosing these makes a difference to how a book is listed and found in searches. My helper is a fundraiser for Salvation Army and an online marketing professor for college courses. So thankful for his assistance!

December, 2022

My novel has been critiqued from first sentence to last by a few faithful writers in the American Christian Fiction Writers Association Scribes group over the past several months. An email exchange with one, a widow herself, brought an introduction to an editor who could do a professional edit. It just so happens that she is also the Acquisitions Editor for a publisher. I’m excited. This is big!

January 2022

I went to my first Word Weavers meeting! I can tell it’s going to be great. At the recommendation of the other writers, I signed up for the Asheville Christian Writers Conference next month! I signed up for a mentoring session with Edie Melson for advice on my website.

After a couple of long talks with Cristel Phelps, I am working on my proposal. She has read my manuscript and feels it would be accepted if I submitted to Elk Lake Publishing, Inc. The proposal is hard, but I can hardly believe I’ve been given this open door. No agent. No query letters. It’s amazing and so encouraging.

March 2022

Woohoo! Major Landmark. A Future and a Hope, the novel. It’s been accepted by Elk Lake Publishing, Inc. a wonderful house that courts and mentors new authors through the process of birthing a book. My contract is signed and returned. Tentative release date is late fall 2022.

April 2022

I’m enrolled in a four-week course through Author Media called The Book Launch Blueprint. I’ve learned a lot about branding and all kinds of promotional things that will help in the future. Right now I’m drowning.

May 2022

It’s announced and official. A Future and a Hope has been named a semi- finalist (top 7) in the Romance Category of the Genesis contest of the American Christian Writers Association! Genesis is for unpublished writers which I qualified for because I had no contract as of the entry deadline.

June 15, 2022:

I received a phone call that I made the cut to the finals of the Genesis Contest. Top 3. In the meantime, I’m working on another round of edits under the supervision of Jeanne Lynch of Novel Improvement hired by Elk Lake.

July 8, 2022:

I just finished and sent in my edited manuscript to Jeanne Lynch, the editor assigned to me for this stage of the process with Elk Lake. Jeanne had many things to say about my writing! Best, was that my plot structure was good. Yeay! Harder, was that I had some bad writing habits and comma ignorance! I learned a lot from the work she did on the first 100 pages and her Fiction Fundamental sheets before she turned me loose to finish the job.

Jeanne’s feedback was hard, but it challenged me to go to the next level and I did! What a blessing to have a professional tutor me this way. As a newbie, it’s one of the reasons I chose to go the traditional publishing route.

August 30, 2022

Patience is a virtue. I got word yesterday that Jeanne will start on the final edit of what I sent her. Breathe out. Unfortunately, what I saw a few days later upset me greatly. I called and we discussed the situation through my tears. Jeanne is going to call Cristel.

On the other hand, I received an email from the cover designer with my homework so I’m a happy and energized with something helpful to do again.

September 2022

My, my, my. There’s been a shake-up. The bad news is the earliest my book can get a place in line for release is spring of 2023. April, supposedly. The good news is that I’ve been given the choice to work with a new editor OR be released from my contract. This is big, because I basically have no rights. Once I signed the contract, the publisher owns my work. If they don’t publish it after FIVE YEARS, then I get it back.

The winners of the Genesis Contest were announced at the Gala in St. Louis.

September 25, 2022

Landmark! The 2022 Genesis Contest Winner was announced and I didn’t win. I found out later that I was second! This is great. I’m delighted I got that far. The contest (again for unpublished writers) allows entrants to receive comments from judges to provide comments to help them improve.

More September News

A Future and a Hope is back on track for a November release. Yeay! Cristel and I have been tearing through her review of the editorial process that Jeanne began and I finished on my own over the summer. I’m excited.

October 4, 2022

Another step in the process: A Future and a Hope will receive endorsements from other authors. The last one is reading the book now. I’m trying to apply some of the Book Launch training as I write a few blogs and think about what this promotional stuff means to me.

I know that God is in this because of the extraordinary favor I’ve had, but I also know I can’t be someone I’m not. I miss the fellowship with the Scribes, but Word Weavers is wonderful once a month.

Late October, 2022

This landmark is fun. My Book Cover is Ready. It’s beautiful. Watching what other authors do when they get a cover doesn’t seem to work for my situation. So, I’m saving it for those who decide to subscribe.

November, 2022

Another writer I met through the Book Launch class is re-vamping my website to make it more functional. I loved how pretty it was visually, but it wasn’t good for the purpose of visitors wanting to know me or my writing.

I’m composing and sending individual emails to people who know me, asking them to subscribe to my newsletter for updates on the release of A Future and a Hope.

December 2022

I heard from Deb Garner, the Editor in Chief at Elk Lake with her review. I must fill out a Corrections Sheet by going line by line through the entire manuscript. I listed everything I saw that needed correction by page, paragraph and line number. It was actually fun to review so closely and see how it sounded after being away for quite a while.

At the end of the month I heard via the Face Book Authors page they are running behind. I’m not the only one affected by the delays.

January, 2023

More lessons in patience and trust. I’m sending my first update to those beautiful souls who’ve subscribed to my newsletter. They will receive two backstory scenes from previous versions of my manuscript, not included in the final version. I can’t offer the book yet (no date), but they can get a taste and reward for their loyalty.

Stay Tuned for more.