2012 - The Year of Alorya

This is not one of my favorite holidays, in fact I think New Years is the most overblown holiday of the year. This doesn't take away from the fact that it's good for all of us to have new beginnings. In 2011, it was a year which brought about many new beginnings for me. As I think back to this same night last year, I thought of Alorya.
I had given up on publishing. The biggest problem I had then, was the same problem I have now. I admit, I get completely tongue tied when people ask me the simplest question: What is it about? It took me roughly 248 pages to tell the story and it would be about half as many pages to explain what it's about. Last year, I set as my resolution to get Alorya published.
On top of every rejection letter I had received, I placed a note which told me what I had done wrong. I learned to do this with job interviews and I found that it really helped. Over the course of the last few years, I had received correspondence from vanity presses which would basically take your money and give you a book. The one thing I knew more than anyone was that I was not a good enough writer to just have my book printed. I wanted to go the independent route, but I needed to go through the same trials that any author would go through to get published. I needed that round of editing, in which a professional would tell me how much they hated the story. The silver lining around that cloud was that they would also tell me how to improve it. I also needed someone to help me take the original problem I spoke of and find a solution. How do I explain what Alorya is about in under 120 pages? With the help of Matthew Ashdown, the task became more simple.

I once heard someone say that if they had a time machine, they'd go back in time and kill Hilter. I thought, if you had a time machine, why not go back in time and make sure Hitler was raised properly?

My little story of the birth of my son was built on the frame of an old Star Wars story I had been writing. Then I tied that question of what to do if you had the knowledge to prevent a disaster.

With the view inside the head of a madman with a laptop over, I thought I'd wrap this up and explain what I want to do next.

My next book has to do with the Sorcerer who holds dominion over Time.

This year, I want to market Alorya to the best of my ability. I want all of the marketing to pave the way for my second book. I'm also going to take part in a contest which has been a nemesis of mine for the last few years. (More to come on that).

I wish all of you a Happy New Year! I hope 2012 gives everyone a chance to make their dreams of 2011 come true.

Publishing Timeline









I suspect we are nearly there, so I wanted to share with you a set of tentative dates as to when Alorya will finally be published.

By the way, I just had a couple fortune cookies and had the best fortunes!
1 - The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.
2 - All your hard work will soon pay off.

I submitted my first proof revisions yesterday morning, so this is what I think the timeline will look like.
11/1 - 11/4 - Finalize Proof.  This leads to the book distribution process.  (Actually, finalized 11/14)
11/7 - 11/21 - Book Distribution. 

I have said I wanted to do a publishing party and I certainly will.  It will be in Staten Island and most likely will be in December, but if worse comes to worst, it can be pushed out to January 2012.

Final thoughts as I submit my manuscript

In 2006, when I asked the nurse for a couple sheets of paper, and a pen, I knew that I should take the time to remember that moment.  It was a big moment.  Today, I feel the same way.  I wanted to get this down so that I may look back at it and either cringe or smile.  I seriously expect to cringe though.

First, let me describe my nightmares.  I've had dreams all week about searching for my book on the Internet and finding it listed as the worst flop in literature since the most interesting man in the world decided to write his memoirs in invisible ink.  (Blackadder moment)  For him, I guess Dos Equis would say that it still hit the NY Times Best-Sellers, but I'm obviously not him.  Another nightmare was that I got my proof back and found that I left random notes and highlights in the manuscript.  Were those people giggling because they saw my book trailer on Tosh.0?

I hope that I come back to this blog in the future and smile though.  I've worked hard on Alorya.  At this point, I just don't want to be embarrassed by the story I was able to get down on paper.  I say that because I know the story is amazing.  Somehow, when the story gets from my head to paper, things get a little fuzzy.  I've found myself saying, "Why did I write it that way?".  After 18 Edits (3 by Editors not personally related to me), I think I have the best possible story that I can get on paper at this time.

I'm also trying to convey my worry as best I can because I want it to be evident when I read this six months from now.