This is a quick post.  I’ve been mostly quiet on Twitter, Facebook, and my blogs over the past month.  In part this was due to my day job.  The work load there has been crazy, and things aren’t likely to let up any time soon.  So what time that I have left that I’m not spending with my family, or sleeping, I’ve been using to prep my manuscript and query letter.  I’m happy to report that after a year of writing and editing, CHASING AFTER VANITY is agent ready.  We’ll see if the agents themselves agree with me.

You can read the prologue here. I’d love any comments, good or not.

My Other Fickle Editor

By the way, although I’m sure many of you writers are familiar with Agent Query, I want to pitch it here.  I’ve mentioned it before, but as I researched who I thought I should send my query letter to, this resources has been incredible.  By specifying what genre your book falls into, you can search for agents who deal with that type of novel.  It really helps narrow your search at the outset.

So while I’m in this brave new world, where I’m asking complete strangers to judge the quality and marketability of the work I’ve labored over for a year, I’m shifting gears.  I’ve decided to work on two products:

My next work is going to be a fantasy novel. I’ve mentioned before that J.R.R. Tolkien is the author who inspired me decades ago to be a writer, and so I have an obligation to myself to write a fantasy story.  The WIP is called SHADOWS AND BONES…you can get a glimpse of the plot here.  I imagine it’s going to take at least until the end of the year to get my draft out, so S&Bs will be my primary effort.

However, at the same time, I’m writing a series of loosely related short stories.  Many of them are kind of dark…closer to horror than anything else.  I’m excited about these, actually. I’ve found that I enjoy short stories as much as novels, and so I’m planning on putting together a short story anthology, tentatively called DAUGHTERS OF ENDOR…you’ll have to wait to find out why. But this anthology will most likely be self-published, and I can’t wait to get this one completed. I’m shooting for December of this year.

Thank you all for your support.  I’ve been motivated and mentored by family, friends, and the writers that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting over the past year.

WE Linde