Monday, November 22, 2010

First back cover blurb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It has been a long time since I posted, but I have been nursing my wounds after having a short story rejected, only to receive a wonderful vote of confidence in my novel from award winning writer Mark Frutkin. After having graciously agreed to read my book from cover to cover, he provided a back cover blurb which I believe will help my book stand out among all the other books out there vying for the attention of potential readers. He closed the blurb by saying "Finely crafted, this is an engaging, uplifting and intelligent novel from beginning to end." Coming from Mark, an author whose work I greatly admire and enjoy, this was a wonderful endorsement. And I am also still bowled over that the three authors I contacted about reading my book were so generous with their time. I am glad that I slowed down my momentum just a trifle in order to undertake this part of the publishing process. I think it will be well worth the slight delay in getting the novel into print. As for the short story, well, I have to admit that I find short stories extremely difficult to write. As they say -- back to the drawing board. I was also pleased that The New Quarterly sent me the reviewer comments. The story had been shortlisted, but ultimately did not make the 3 per cent of stories received that they actually publish. However I can make use of the comments to improve the story, and that, after all, is what it is all about. Cheers -- next post will be about pagination -- whither widows or orphans....