Happy New Year

Year End Review

January: I found Blogger. Closed my website. Sent out numerous query letters to literary agents. Came down the flu; missed three days of work.
February: Sent several queries to literary agents and small press publishers. Received a couple of rejections for last month's batch.
March: Fell off a ladder in the stockroom at work and hurt my right knee; missed one day of work. Submitted a short story to several magazines. Sent queries to literary agents, small press publishers, and editors.
April: A literary agent's assistant requested the full manuscript of my mystery novel, Smoke on the Water. Two weeks later, she emailed a form rejection stating she couldn't connect with the voice. The same voice I used in the query and a 5-page sample? That voice?
May: Some things in life are a crapshoot, but you can't have great rewards without taking risks, and you can't move forward if you remain caught up in the old ways of doing business. You have to take control of your own destiny. So…after twelve years of trying to find representation for my work, the time had come for me to stop wasting my time, paper, ink, envelopes, and postage querying everyone under the sun. I stopped sending out email queries, as well. Thought a lot about the pros and cons of epublishing. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
June: I fed twelve years worth of rejection letters to a paper shredder [over 700]. I had saved every single letter in the hope that one day, after signing with an agent, I'd have a huge bonfire and make smores to celebrate. [http://www.ehow.com/how_2000849_make-smores.html] I deleted all emailed correspondence. Shredded nine spiral notebooks containing the names and contact information of agents, publishers, and editors. Shredded every version of my query letters and synopses. Deleted all blog links for agents, publishers, and everything else writing-related. What an exhilarating experience to witness the end of a long and tiring journey through Query Hell. [See Feb. post My Journey To Publication]
July: Began the first draft of Serial Quiller. Unknowingly handled poison oak in the backyard; missed a full week of work. Sheesh.
August: Took a nice break from book stuff.
September: Worked on Serial Quiller. Day in and day out, until it was done. Researched a new location for Serial Quiller 2.
October: Finished the final draft of Serial Quiller. Designed and created the cover art. Put the story on Amazon around Halloween.
November: Rewrote Smoke on the Water. Made the cover. Put the story on Amazon.
December: Never heard back from any of the magazines where I submitted the short story. Never received any good news from agents, publishers or editors, either. I worked on the second books in the Point Jove and Bad Mojo series. Worked on a standalone mystery novel, titled Notch, which I'm also adapting to a screenplay.

January 2011: For the first time in twelve years, I'll wake up on January 1 with the knowledge that I don't have to prepare a new batch of queries to send out on January 2. I'll begin New Year's Day with two books available to a wide audience in the US and the UK.

I am very happy to see 2010 come to an end…because…2011 is going to be amazing.

Cheers

Persevere

Interesting Blogs

International Noir Fiction
http://internationalnoir.blogspot.com/
Murder Is Everywhere
http://murderiseverywhere.blogspot.com/
Crimespree Cinema
http://www.crimespreecinema.com/index.html
Criminal Brief http://criminalbrief.com/
Day Labor http://cfdaylabor.blogspot.com/
Euro Crime http://eurocrime.blogspot.com/
Crime Watch http://kiwicrime.blogspot.com/
AustCrimeFiction http://www.austcrimefiction.org/
Mystery Fanfare http://mysteryreadersinc.blogspot.com/
The Graveyard Shift http://www.leelofland.com/wordpress/
Detectives Beyond Borders http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
In Reference To Murder http://inreferencetomurder.typepad.com/my_weblog/

Merry Christmas

New Hardcover Mysteries for December 2010

THE SHERLOCKIAN by Graham Moore
http://www.amazon.com/Graham-Moore/e/B003DAV0U8/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0
HAITI NOIR: A short story collection by Edwidge Danticat
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3525.Edwidge_Danticat
THE FOUR STAGES OF CRUELTY by Keith Hollihan
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/398597.Keith_Hollihan
CAVEAT EMPTOR by Ruth Downie http://rsdownie.co.uk/
DEAD LIFT by Rachel Brady http://www.rachelbrady.net/
RED STATION by Adrian Magson http://adrianmagson.com/
THE LION OF CAIRO by Scott Oden http://scottoden.com/
SOUTH PHOENIX RULES by Jon Talton http://jontalton.com/
THREATS AT THREE by Ann Purser http://www.annpurser.com/
DEATH DANCE by Geraldine Evans http://geraldineevans.com/
SECRETS TO THE GRAVE by Tami Hoag http://www.tamihoag.com/
THE CRUEL EVER AFTER by Ellen Hart http://www.ellenhart.com/
BUTTONS AND BONES by Monica Ferris http://monica-ferris.com/
WHAT THE NIGHT KNOWS by Dean Koontz http://www.deankoontz.com/
NO ONE TO HEAR YOU SCREAM by K.J. Dahlen http://www.kjdahlen.com/
BITTER LEGACY by H. Terrell Griffin http://www.hterrellgriffin.com/
CITY OF DREADFUL NIGHT by Peter Guttridge http://peterguttridge.com/
DEAD OR ALIVE by Tom Clancy and Grant Blackwood http://tomclancy.com/
THE LEFT-HANDED DOLLAR by Loren D. Estleman http://lorenestleman.com/
UNDER CURRENT CONDITIONS by Kyle Darcy https://kyledarcy.com/Home.html
REAPERS by Frederick Ramsay http://www.frederickramsay.com/ramsaybooks/
KILLER ON A HOT TIN ROOF by Livia J. Washburn http://liviawashburn.com/
CIRCLE OF LIES by Douglas Alan http://us.macmillan.com/author/douglasalan
MUSIC OF THE DISTANT STARS by Alys Clare http://www.alysclare.com/home.htm
THE FINAL RECKONING by Sam Bourne http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/b/sam-bourne/
THE RECKONING by Howard Owen http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/54725.Howard_Owen
MR. HOOLIGAN by Ian Vasquez http://www.ianvasquez.net/www.ianvasquez.net/author.html
NIGHTS OF THE RED MOON by Milton T. Burton http://us.macmillan.com/author/miltontburton
DEAD ZERO by Stephen Hunter http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Stephen-Hunter/1485163
THE OUTLAWS by W.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth IV http://www.webgriffin.com/home.html
NAKED CRUELTY by Colleen McCullough http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/colleen-mccullough/
THE WAXMAN MURDERS by P.C. Doherty http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/d/p-c-doherty/waxman-murders.htm
THE CURIOUS DEATH OF PETER ARTEDI by Theodore W. Pietsch http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/p/theodore-w-pietsch/

Special Introductory Offer

My novels are available on Amazon Kindle for only 99 cents each until Spring 2011.

If you enjoy mysteries with a lot of suspense and a little romance, I hope you'll check out SMOKE ON THE WATER.

If you prefer psychological thrillers with female villains, then I hope you'll check out SERIAL QUILLER.

Thank you