by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
I pretty much took a break of a year working on this novel because I was moping because no one liked the finished novel I produced. They generally said it was too spicy — with one person almost being embarrassed that I would even ask them to read it in the first place.
But, after a year of moping, I’m back at it. This latest version of the novel is not nearly as spicy on a consistent basis — even though there are some spicy scenes early on. In general, though, I think I’ve come up with at least an interesting novel, if nothing else.
If I can get people to read all the way through is a different matter. The novel isn’t really a thriller, it’s more of an intriguing murder-in-a-small-town mystery. But I really have enjoyed working on it and this time I swear I’m going to just query it, no matter what.
If it’s clear that it’ll never get published traditionally, I guess I’ll finally put it aside and focus on one of the numerous other novel premises I have rolling around in my mind. But I’m going to give it a few months, if nothing else, before I throw in the towl.
I am well aware that it will be like winning the lottery to get a literary agent. But I would rather fail in a spectacular manner than just write little short stories that can be dismissed.
