A.L. Sowards's Blog, page 19

Special delivery

So remember yesterday's post? The analogy of how getting a book published is a little like having a baby? Well, sometimes deliveries come sooner than you expect.

Like my twins. I had a scheduled Cesarian for a Saturday. So naturally I went into labor Thursday night and the twins entered the world on a Friday morning. That meant that all the stuff I was planning to do on Friday—wash the laundry, water the houseplants, watch my husband install two car seats, take a picture of my very large 38-weeks-plus-a-few-days-pregnant-with-twins self—never happened. A few of our houseplants perished soon after the twins came along, but I think I made the right choice when I decided to take care of the babies and ignore the ivy.

Today I got another earlier-than-expected delivery: my box of comp books from the publisher. It's a very exciting day at my house. Watch out, houseplants. You've just been delegated to low-priority, again.

My book, in the paperback and book-on-cd forms.

Filed under: Espionage, Writing

Q&A: When will your book be out?

Thank you to MG for asking this blog's first question (I'm hoping there will be many more).

The ebook comes out on Saturday, March 3. (Here's a link to the Kindle edition: Amazon.com) The paperback comes out as soon as the printer gets it to the publisher and the publisher gets it to bookstores. I've been told that's usually the second week of the release month, so it's coming soon.

Getting a book published is a little bit like having a baby. You know what the due date it, but that doesn't mean you know when you'll actually get to hold it in your hands. Obviously having a baby is more significant, but I am looking forward to getting this delivery by simply slicing through the tape on a cardboard box instead of having my lower abdomen sliced open (twin pregnancy with baby A in the breach position = Cesarian delivery). Oh, and since I already know what happens, unlike a newborn (or a set of newborns), I don't think Espionage will keep me up all night. But I do hope it keeps a few of my readers up past their bedtimes!

Filed under: Espionage, Writing

First Chapter

I purchased an e-reader last year. I love it. And one of my favorite features is the chance to read a sample of a book before I decide if I want to spend the time and money to read the whole thing. With that in mind, I'm posting the first 22 pages of Espionage. I was thinking about cutting off the preview at a cliffhanger, but decided to be nice and let you see the entire first chapter (no such promises when book two comes out). Keep in mind that my favorite chapters are the last three, not the first one, but some stories are best begun at the beginning. You may also want to keep in mind that the book isn't in bookstores yet, so you'll have to wait at least a week before you can read chapter two. Having said all that, here's chapter one: Sample Chpt_Espionage

 

Let the Countdown Begin!

Next month, Espionage will appear in book stores. It's my first novel to go on sale—so to say I'm excited would be an understatement. I think what I'm most looking forward to is presenting my characters to an audience larger than my test readers and publishing house. Peter, Jacques, Genevieve—they've been a part of my life for a long time now, and I'm ready to introduce them to readers.

I started working on this book a long time ago—when I was a sophomore or junior in high school. My English teacher assigned a creative project toward the end of the term. Some of my classmates worked on scrap books; some of them painted or built something. I wrote a short story. We were given a set amount of hours we were supposed to put into our project, so before I started writing, I re-read some of my favorite WWII-era books by Alistair MacLean. When I did begin writing, I was aiming for something like MacLean or Jack Higgins, two of my favorite authors at the time. That short story turned into chapter one of Espionage.

I know saying I wrote the first chapter in high school (fourteen or fifteen years ago) might throw up some red flags. For anyone not interested in reading something a high school student wrote, let me mention that I've re-written those early scenes a few dozen times. I'd be surprised if as many as 5% of the sentences I wrote back then are still in the book. And don't worry, I won't take a decade to write the sequel. Book two is actually already finished—I'm still tweaking it and having some test readers look at it before I send it to the publisher, but it's pretty far along in the revision process.

So why did book one take so long? I had some ideas on how to turn the short story into a novel shortly after finishing it. I even turned a few school assignments into research projects on D-day deception schemes. But I didn't really get to work on my manuscript again until I graduated from BYU. I picked it up then, spending a couple evenings a week writing or doing research. I had a first draft done at the beginning of 2005. Then I revised—a lot. I did some additional research. I revised some more. I added characters, rewrote scenes, deleted bad sentences, and then did the same thing again. I started looking for an agent or a publisher at the end of 2006. No one was interested at first. But each time something didn't work out I went back to my manuscript and made it better.

In May of 2010 I received word from Covenant that they wanted to print it. Working with the publisher has been a bit of an adventure in itself: waiting for the estimated release date, wondering what the title would be and what the cover would look like. And lots of additional tweaking.

This isn't the end of the journey for Espionage, but I do feel like it's a milestone. For better or for worse, there will be no more revisions on Espionage.Now I'm looking forward to seeing my book in print, hearing the audio version, going to book signings, and hopefully reading some positive reviews. I'm also looking forward to the next book, because I've got some new characters in book two, and I'm eager to introduce them to readers too.

Can Peter find a Nazi traitor, help make D-day a success, and fall in love—without getting killed by the Gestapo?