Even though I’m genuinely happy with how my sci-fi dramedy novel is shaping up, there are two massive hurdles I can’t control. Both live squarely in the post-production phase—the stretch between querying and (hopefully) seeing a book on shelves.
The whole point of this project, honestly, is just to see how far I can push the publishing process. Up to now, the farthest I’ve gotten is finishing a novel. That one wasn’t strong enough to query, but at least I got it done. This time feels different. It’s at least possible—not probable yet, but possible—that by late spring 2026 I’ll have something truly worth sending out to agents.
And that’s where the roadblocks begin.
First: the querying process itself. It’s the literary version of development hell. You can query a great book and still never sell it. It could take years before I land a deal—if I ever do.
Second: even if lightning strikes and I sell the book, it can be another six months to a year before it actually hits shelves. That’s just the cold reality of traditional publishing.
Those timelines make me pause. I’m not getting any younger, and it’s entirely possible I’ll be on the far side of 55 before I hold a published book in my hands. Add to that the wild card of technology. Maybe the “wall” I think we’ve hit with LLMs is just in my head, and by 2027 we’ll be staring down the Singularity. If so, some of my carefully built near-future worldbuilding might end up looking laughably quaint.
And yet—fuck it. I love this book. I’m proud of what I’m building. Risk is part of the deal, and yes, the risk of failure is huge. But as my late father used to say, no one ever got anywhere without taking one.
