Reese Ryan Romance

Colorful characters. Sinfully sweet romance.

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Because the Longest Journey Begins with the First Step

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I know what you’re thinking. That’s one of those lame pieces of advice well-meaning friends trot out when we’re bitching and moaning about how hard life is, or why we’ll never obtain some goal. A career change. The ideal relationship. Going back to school.

South Kaibab Trail - All rights reserved by Walt K.Our friends mean well, but the truth is, for a moment, even if it’s the tiniest moment, we just want to smack them. To make them understand why our case is the exception to the rule.

But there’s a reason these lameisms continue to rear their unwelcome heads. It’s because they’re true. Plain and simple.

This particular thought–that even the longest journey begins with a single step–came to me while on a journey of my own.

It was sunny and warm, more than 75° in the middle of winter, here in North Carolina.

I set this space up months ago, and I’ve been meaning to post something here for just as long. But every time I intended to post, something else would come up. I’d be overwhelmed with work, or school, or writing my next book. Or maybe the thought of sharing my intimate thoughts and feelings with you was a bit intimidating.

Whatever the real reason, my delay caused me to miss sharing with you all of the wonderful moments I’ve experienced as part of this journey to publication thus far. But no more.

I committed to not only starting the blog, but revealing those earlier experiences.

Is there something you’ve been meaning to do, but just haven’t gotten around to it? What is holding you back?

Photo: All rights reserved by Walt K.

A Different Road

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Fork in the Road in the Forest - by creativelennaRomance University collaborated with an emerging digital publishing house, Entranced Publishing, for another pitchfest. So, I thought I’d try my pitch again.

I’m glad that I did.

I got some great feedback on my pitch, and my first request for the full manuscript. Totally doing my happy dance right now. (Envision Snoopy dancing as Schroeder plays the piano. Now imagine someone far less graceful doing it. That’d be me.)

I’ve still been submitting to agents, but this second experience with a digital publisher has opened my eyes to this latest, and quickly growing publishing medium, as a viable option.

While I prepare to submit my full manuscript to this e-publisher, I will be researching and submitting to a few others.

Sometimes our journey gets altered a bit, but a new and exciting road can still get us where we want to go. Have you ever been faced with the option of altering your journey to get where you wanted to go? Do you regret that decision or did it work out better than you imagined?

Photo courtesy of creativelenna. Some rights reserved.

Close, But No Cigar

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Journal of Universal Rejection Mug - Some rights Tilemahos EfthimiadisOne of the promises I made to myself this year is that I was going to go for it. Really put my work out there, because after all, isn’t that the point of this whole exercise?

So I started submitting to a few agents. I’ve gotten back several responses, which was exciting, even though they were polite, ‘Thanks, but no thank yous.’ Still, I felt good about making the effort. Taking a risk.  Getting closer to my goal.

I am still begging querying agents. After all, my list of rejections is a mere handful, compared to the robust drawers full collected by my writing heroes and heroines. However, recently there was an announcement on Romance University that opened up another option–digital-first publishers. Romance University was hosting a pitch-fest with Entangled Publishing.  So, I thought I’d give it a shot.

I’d never considered going with a digital-first publisher before. After all, in my dream there is a six-figure book deal, a spot on Oprah’s book club list, and a coast-to-coast book-signing tour.  Never mind that those have become exceedingly rare, and that the chance of an unknown newbie snagging any of that is certainly delusional the exception, not the rule. Still, a girl’s gotta have dreams.

Even if nothing came of it, I figured it would be a good experience to post a short summary and the first hundred or so words of my story. The Entangled Publishing editors provided great feedback. And though it was the ‘Hells yeah!’ I’d hoped for, I found it valuable just the same. More importantly, it opened my eyes to a new option.

So, I’ll keep plugging away, looking for ways to improve my story, and always, always work to improve my craft.

Have you experienced a disappointing rejection that taught you a valuable lesson? What was it?

Photo of Journal of Universal Rejection Mug courtesy of Tilemahos Efthimiadis. Some rights reserved.

Sharing the Journey

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Mountain Hiking. Courtesy of woowoowoo.

Hello, gorgeous (or handsome, as the case may be). Welcome to my internet home.

I’m aspiring author, Reese Ryan. I started this space to share my journey to publication as a novelist, and my musings on life in general. I started writing stories as a kid, but I abandoned the dream of being a published author of fiction for two decades before I began writing again, a little more than six years ago. Still, I wasn’t ready to commit to the process. That took a few more years. But over the past two years I’ve become more serious about my craft, more determined to make the dream of being a published author a reality.

Creative writing classes. Books on crafts. Writers workshops. All of these tools have helped me to progress as a writer. The thing that has helped me most is joining a critique group. One with smart, insightful members who want to see each other succeed, who aren’t afraid to be honest, but can do so without being unkind.

All of that has prepared me to the next step in my journey, submitting my work.

Where are you on your journey?

Photo courtesy of woowoowoo. Some rights reserved.