Because it has been nearly nine months since SO SHELLY’s release, I’m frequently asked, “When is your next book coming out?” The short answer is not any time soon. The creative process, especially for a part-time writer like myself, and the publishing process, in general, moves at a very slow pace. Nonetheless, I thought I would provide those interested with a quick status update.
As I’ve shared before on my blog, I had already submitted what I had hoped to be my second novel; however, there were creative differences with my editing team at Delacorte – which is a nice way of saying, “They didn’t like it.” At least, they did not like it enough to want to publish it. Although this decision stung a little, I totally understood their position and respect their editorial talents and knowledge of the marketplace. At some point in the future, I will pitch that novel again. I believe in it that much.
Since then, I have actually written an entire 250+ page novel, that after sharing an early draft with my agent, I more-or-less destroyed, whittling it down to what I thought were fifteen to twenty pages of solid fiction. After that trashing session, I started to rebuild the novel around those fifteen to twenty pages so that the novel is now nearly three-fourths of the way to completion, and I hope to share it with my agent by the first of the year. If she likes it, we’ll then pitch it to my editor. From there, it could be anywhere from twelve to eighteen months before its release. And that’s only if she wants to champion it. Never let anyone tell you that the publishing business is anything but brutal.
I’m cool with the delay in publishing my second novel because the paperback version is set for release in February, and I hope it will have legs to keep me in the public eye for a few more months.
