13 Years Later - an author's journey

I feel like it's time for an update! 

If you're a new reader of this blog, you'll see the aspirations of a young author, and you may be curious about my journey so far.

Did I ever "make" it in this biz?

That answer is yes! But not in the way I expected.

It took me until last year, 2022, to sign with an agent after making a name for myself as an indie author (that's 13 long years if math's your thing.)

My agent has been fantastic. My best-selling series, Mystic Inn, recently sold its audio rights, earning me a 5-figure deal and ongoing royalties. I'm now excited to see what the future holds for the film rights.

Reading back on my older posts, I love how optimistic I was about the industry. But despite the ups and downs, I'm still just as optimistic and excited about the future of my writing career.

The best is yet to come.

If you'd like to stay updated on my journey, you can visit my website at https://stephaniedamore.com and join my reader group on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/paranormalcozymystery.

Cheers to the future!

xoxo,

Stephanie

Update time!

And I've got nothing. Nothing new to update that is. Ah, well, you know what they say, no news is good news, right? I'll take it. Beauty Secrets has been in super agent's hot little hands since July 30th, which isn't  that long of a time. And I've been busy. Like super busy kicking off my photography business. Want to see what I'm talking about? Visit stephaniedamore.com and let me know what you think.

Cheers!

Beauty Secrets is out there again

I'm happy to report that über agency was kind enough to request a partial again. I'm super grateful for the opportunity as I know finding an agency to read your work a third time is a rarity in this business. How do I know this? Because in the past more than one agency has told me that they have a "read once only" policy, which to me sounds so limiting. Don't you want to see how a writer implemented your suggestions? I mean, give a writer a chance! I could go on here, but I won't. Right now I'm just happy that my work has been given another chance and good or bad, I can't wait to hear what the agency has to say. And of course, I'll be sure to keep you posted.

Seasoned query pro here!

And now the wait begins. I must admit that I'm very proud of how I've handled the query process this go around. Who's the seasoned query pro now? Second thought, I'm not sure if that's something to brag about.

I have a few theories about the way my resubmission(s) could go (after all I did have 4 agents request fulls before ultimately passing). They are as follows:

1) Agents will see my name in their inbox and think, "Gah! Her again? How many times do I have to reject her?!? Poor girl, she just doesn't get it. What will it take to make her go away?" 

2) Or perhaps they'll think I'm a total slacker and be like, "Wow, it's taken you almost 2 years to resubmit your work? Are you kidding me? Who are you again?" 

3) Last up, and what I'd love them to think is, "Talk about determination. This girl has what it takes. I'll give her a chance and look at her rewrite." After that I'm golden because the book is AWESOME. It's embarrassing how much better it is this go around. Like I said before, the first draft agents saw wasn't bad, but it wan't great either. Nothing like debuting with mediocrity!

Should we start taking bets as to what response will trump? Don't worry, I'll keep track and let you all know what I hear. That is if I ever hear anything back...

I'm Bored!

For the first time in years I don't have a current WIP that I should be working on. It's bizarre. Mind you, it's only taken me 24 hours to become BORED with not having anything to do. I laugh at that statement because not only am I married, but I have a 16-month old, I'm 5 months pregnant with #2 and own a photography studio (which I think it's funny how subject photography is. It compliments writing to a tee. At least I'm consistent in my passions). But I'm still bored. With my resubmission queries out and no writing project to work on, I'm feeling a little empty. I guess that's how you know you're a true writer--you need to be working on something. The only question now is what?

Finally Finished!

It's been a year since I set outlined my plan to rewrite Beauty Secrets and I can finally say that I'm done--again! That's probably the third or fourth time I've said that. We all know that a book is never really done, but right now Beauty Secrets is as good as I can make it. I'm proud of what I've written. If you believe in a story or concept enough then you owe it to yourself to see it through. Not that I'm hung up on the idea. I just felt like I owed it to myself to make the work as good as it could be--to have it reach its full potential if you will.

Now what?

Well, if you remember I did receive some good feedback from a couple of really cool agents. I've decided to resubmit the work to the one agent who'd provided the most feedback first to see if they're still interested. After that I'm going to tackle the rest on my list and go from there. If I say so myself, I think it's awesome that my story idea is just as good today as it was three years ago. I think that says something. It gives credibility to the saying, "Great writing isn't timely, it's timeless." Not that all rewrites should take years to complete. Gosh, I could never make a living if I wrote that slow. Truth be told I can bust out a first draft in 3-4 months and I have worked on other books since Beauty Secrets, but I always came back to this story because it never felt finished. Until now!

You guys probably all thought I'd given up, but nope, I'm still here. It's just when faced with the choice of blogging for an hour or writing, I chose writing. I hope you're all doing well and have met much success in recent months. Guess I better start reading some blogs to get caught up!

It's getting there

Hello my loyal readers (you're still out there, right?). How's all your writing coming along? It's been a slow painful process here, but I finally see the light at the end of the rewriting tunnel and it is bright! (Okay that was a terrible cliche, please forgive me.)

Anyway, I'm eager to hear how you're all doing. Hope the publishing business is being good to you and you're all still plugging away. I'll try and stop by your blogs when I get a minute and catch up.

Until then, happy writing.