~Hello, everyone, how are you doing? I'm doing just fine.

~I write now simply because I can. I feel like updating since it's been some time since I've completed The Sword of Tibera and since then I've sent many a query letter out to various agents. So far, obviously, it has been to no avail. However, this is the defining step, this process which I willfully undergo in order to become part of the published world and earn my title of "author." To me, at least, I am a "writer," like so many around me, until I overcome the proverbial gatekeeper and step into that new world.

~So far, it is early in the process, relatively speaking. Twelve queries have been sent out, and I wait upon a few still at the writing of this journal entry. So far, I have seven rejections. No big deal; this is to be expected.

~My goal is fifty. If I haven't been accepted for at least a partial by fifty queries, I will reconsider my current query letter and rework it. That's the plan.

~It isn't an easy task. J.K. Rowling herself faced the R word over 100 times. She had a dream and a desire, and carried with it. I refuse to be beaten by the overwhelming odds which stare me in the face daily; I have every intention of accomplishing MY dream, and it won't matter how many letters I have to send out. I know that, like many can teach you, agents pass on good material all the time. I just have to find that right match, that perfect representation, who would be willing to work with me and get this manuscript out there...

~And so I dream, and not dream, and despair, and rejoice. Lather, rinse, and repeat...This is part of the process. No one ever said it was easy, and I never imagined it would be. Nor did I imagine I'd be spilling my random thoughts out on DA, of all places.

~To anybody reading this who is a writer and envisions publication one day...Please don't give up. The journey will hit you hard from the beginning, but know this: this will all pay off one day!

~...I like to imagine my book in a Barnes & Noble window, a big pyramidal display made of the hardcover books with two large banners, one on either side of the display copy. Whether or not there are lots of people there does not interest me so much. But I imagine myself standing outside and looking in on a rainy day, and I can tell myself that all I've done for the past decade of my young life was not nonsense. I can have it pay off and be more than just a dreamer. I can be more than a nobody on an art site showcasing dreams going nowhere. To have it official and to have a story for other people to sit down and read...That's my life. I can see it already.

~Anybody like to imagine their work like that? Well...I understand full well that I'm relatively early in this process. I continue this journey of mine with Sol at my side and an unrestrainable passion in my heart.

~And now I conclude my late-night truthy philosophical session of rambling. And for anybody who actually read this far, I commend you. It's nice for people to actually look at what you do.

~LordofTibera