A Publishing Odessy

Encouraged by a number of readers and friends, today I'm dipping my little toe into the world of blogging. I admit that I know almost nothing about what this entails, but I look forward to learning. I figure that for my first post I ought to explain what it is I intend to blog about.

A little over ten years ago my wife purchased a computer tutorial on novel writing as a Christmas gift for me. Little did she know what a chain of events she was putting into motion. If she had it to do over again I wouldn't be surprised if she returned my gift in exchange for a pair of dress socks and yet another tie. Now it's too late. I've left behind my career as a mortgage banker forever. Good riddance.

I've always loved writing, and I'd been publishing freelance articles for years, so I figured, "How hard can this be?" I jumped right in and eventually created a a very bad manuscript that I now keep hidden in a drawer. That effort will never again see the light of day, but everybody has to start somewhere. I learned a lot about writing craft in the process. A decade and four novels later I'm not merely still fighting to break through, but I've essentially put all of my eggs in one dump truck and and charged forward like a derranged milk deliveryman. I admit that I'm a little bit worried about the shock absorber system on this old baby, though.

Over the next while I'll attempt to relate the story of how I got from where I started to where I am now in dribs and drabs. Hopefully you'll conclude, as some others have, that I'm on the verge of breaking through. I'm crossing my fingers, toes, and "t"s that those wonderful people are right. In the mean time, I've learned an awful lot of things about the publishing industry, and maybe some readers will find my experiences interesting. I'll look forward to also sharing real-time developments as they occur, and maybe I'll post an excerpt or two from my current work as it progresses.

Until then, I want to send out a big thank you to the thousands of people who have helped me in this journey so far, all the way from those who taught me how to write to those who have enjoyed my books and told others about them. One thing all this work has taught me is that in order for an unknown novelist to break through it takes a huge amount of support from early readers willing to discover and tell others about their work. I can never adequately express my gratitude to those of you who have helped me to spread the word. I'm bursting with ideas for new books I want to write. Thanks to you my dreams are coming true.
Tailwinds,
Dave Shields