Writing in the Wilderness

What to do when you're caught in the ... Hard Pressed, but Not Destroyed

Writing in the Wilderness

Erica here:

This last week, I received an extra special blessing. I turned in a manuscript.
I wrote this manuscript during a time of drought. In a two-year period where I had no writing contracts and was wondering if I would ever have another one.

I wrote this manuscript because my agent was on my side an encouraged me. During this time of drought, she asked what she could do to help me. I said, "Give me a deadline. Tell me you want a manuscript on your desk by a certain date."

So she did. Without this goal, I probably wouldn't have finished anything. Knowing she had expectations of me kept me writing.

And then, nothing happened with the story. She submitted it to the targeted publisher, but there was no movement on it.

So it sat on my hard drive.

I moved out of the season of contract drought (Thank you, Jesus!) and wrote other stories. I had new deadlines.

Then, a few months ago, my editor emailed asking if I had anything that might fit a new line of books they were hoping to launch.

My mind went to my 'writing in the wilderness, please give me a deadline' story.

To my complete joy, the editor liked the story, only asking for a rewrite of the setting. And this last week, I turned the story in.

There's a tentative release date of January, 2017, which sounds like a long way off, but is only 14 months.

I'll have more details on this release when I can, but for the moment, I'm saying a big thank you to my agent for helping me stay on task, and to my editor, who now has the story and will be working her magic on it.

Thank you, Rachelle and Becky!