I know how I got here. Flattery! When I started my Indie road 5 months ago, I also started my journey down the traditional publishing route. Everyone said you couldn't get a fair shake. That breaking through the wall is impossible for the unknown struggling writer. Well, I started doing all those twitter contests in March, I did them for 2 months and that got me connected with a marvelous agent. A different agent went online and read one of my books and contacted me. So where did this crazy twist of faith get me... misery, hope, and exhaustion.
I was told by someone that The Girl on the Half Shell was brilliant. A brilliant coming of age novel. In fact, this is what the traditional world said about it: "You’ve written an extremely compelling and addictive story and the way you balance drama, the love, the sex and the brilliant elite money as a problem setting is brilliant. There is definitely something here and TGOTHS is such a commercially accomplished debut. There is a huge amount to love about your story and I was completely engrossed. You handle the sex parts brilliantly and they really echo the gentler yet raw and pure passion side of FIFTY SHADES OF GREY, but without pushing the sex too far and that’s great. Overall you have an incredibly dramatic story and I fell so easily into their world and loved being there as a reader."
That was right before sending me to earth with the cruelest of landings, called the edit/change list. All the things I need to change to make it in their opinion a commercial success. So now I am rewriting and seeing where that gets me in the traditional world. It's hard, but I'm doing it. Every author, I believe, has one book that is special to them. Mine is Half Shell tucked inside the 31~~yes I have now completed 31 novels since I last updated my status~~something they share about themselves and a story with meaning they want to tell.
I'm already re-writing a series for someone else, but this particular endeavor is tough for me. I love Chrissie. I want to protect her in all her mess and inconsistency. I want her to be loved for who she is and not who people want her to be. She is strong, she is weak. She is innocent and seductive. She is naive and worldly. She is educated in much and unknowing in too many things that matter. She is a fool and she is a prize. She is nerdy and awkward and in command of her life in so many ways. She is who we were as women in the 80s, a confusing, paradoxical and conflicted time. She is how our daughters got to be who they are. The generation in between that I don't think most people see. It is my youth and history. Is it yours? Why can't a woman be messy and still likeable? Why can't we just let her be?
I was told by someone that The Girl on the Half Shell was brilliant. A brilliant coming of age novel. In fact, this is what the traditional world said about it: "You’ve written an extremely compelling and addictive story and the way you balance drama, the love, the sex and the brilliant elite money as a problem setting is brilliant. There is definitely something here and TGOTHS is such a commercially accomplished debut. There is a huge amount to love about your story and I was completely engrossed. You handle the sex parts brilliantly and they really echo the gentler yet raw and pure passion side of FIFTY SHADES OF GREY, but without pushing the sex too far and that’s great. Overall you have an incredibly dramatic story and I fell so easily into their world and loved being there as a reader."
That was right before sending me to earth with the cruelest of landings, called the edit/change list. All the things I need to change to make it in their opinion a commercial success. So now I am rewriting and seeing where that gets me in the traditional world. It's hard, but I'm doing it. Every author, I believe, has one book that is special to them. Mine is Half Shell tucked inside the 31~~yes I have now completed 31 novels since I last updated my status~~something they share about themselves and a story with meaning they want to tell.
I'm already re-writing a series for someone else, but this particular endeavor is tough for me. I love Chrissie. I want to protect her in all her mess and inconsistency. I want her to be loved for who she is and not who people want her to be. She is strong, she is weak. She is innocent and seductive. She is naive and worldly. She is educated in much and unknowing in too many things that matter. She is a fool and she is a prize. She is nerdy and awkward and in command of her life in so many ways. She is who we were as women in the 80s, a confusing, paradoxical and conflicted time. She is how our daughters got to be who they are. The generation in between that I don't think most people see. It is my youth and history. Is it yours? Why can't a woman be messy and still likeable? Why can't we just let her be?
Chrissie~THE GIRL ON THE HALF SHELL
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