The Book. Ahhhhh yes, my book. Over the past year, I’ve enlisted multiple beta readers and made invaluable changes to the book based on each person (thank you soooooo much!!).

Subsequently, each reader has been more pleased than the last, which means my edits have moved in the right direction. When I finished the seventh full draft (seven!), all comments were extremely minor.

Therefore, for all intents and purposes, the novel is done.

PRAISE JEEBUS!

It’s been a longer-than-expected road. Just to give an idea of what I went through, here are some fun facts about the book.

2 Fun “Facts” About My Novel

1. If you lay each page together, end-to-end, the book reaches from San Francisco to New York.

2. If you read the novel, cover-to-cover, in one sitting, the Aurora Borealis will appear in your living room.

OK I made those up. Or did I?

Yes, I did. Here’s the real list.

4 Real Fun Facts About My Novel

1. I’ve completed seven complete drafts of the book. I’m not talking about small edits (of which there are millions); I’ve combed the book, front-to-back, making extensive rewrites, seven times.

2. I’ve rewritten the first chapter exactly eighty million times.

3. I have 24 versions of query letters (one-pagers you send to agents) and have tweaked each one endlessly.

4. I’ve taken most of the book to writers groups – twice – and made extensive edits based on feedback.

The list goes on and on. Lots of blood, sweat, tears, belly button lint, eyelashes, toenails, and maybe a few drops of pee have been put into the book.

Some of you may remember I said the book would be released this year. Now, if I might direct your eyes to the date/time on your screen, you’ll notice it’s December and the book isn’t out. Needless to say, it’s not going to be released in 2014.

Why?

Well, my goal was to self-publish the book and market it myself. If I’d proceeded down that route, the book would be out and I’d have already sold at least 3 copies (all to myself!).

However, my editor thinks I need to at least try submitting my book for traditional publication. At the very least, I can get some relevant feedback and potentially make a few more tweaks to the book before self publishing.

What does that mean?

It means I’ll spend several months circulating my query letter. If/When it doesn’t pan out, I’ll self-publish and jump down that rabbit hole.

Help Me Out Here, People (Please)

In the meantime, I can use as much mojo as everyone can muster. If you’ll all join hands, please chant:

MMMMMMMMM Please let Cody’s book get picked up MMMMMMMMMM Please let this dream come true MMMMMMMMMMM Let’s send frosted gingerbread cookies to Cody MMMMMMMMM

Thanks!