The Publishing Journey: Step 1 – Write a book
The first novel I wrote took me ten years to finish. I had expected once I retired that I would whip it into shape in six months from the fragments I had generated during my off hours at work. Vain dream. I had hoped that once it was finished I would find an agent, who would find a publisher, who would find an audience. More vain dreams. I ended up publishing that first effort online (see ajmccready.com) where instead of going viral it sank like a dime into jello, without a ripple.
Undaunted, I’ve written another book. This one took me only about two years, as I had a historical framework to start from – the fragmentary story of my paternal great-grandmother. And I got a lucky break: a previously unknown relative contacted me, hoping to complete a genealogical record she had been researching, and she ended up being my personal research savior, digging up details of my great-grandmother’s story from census reports, cemetery documents, ship’s passenger lists, and poorhouse records.
There were still enough gaps in the history to allow my imagination free rein. My great-grandmother lived in New York City during the Gilded Age, so there was a wealth of historical possibility I could insert into her story. E.L. Doctorow had inserted Teddy Roosevelt and other historical personages into his classic “Ragtime”; I could do the same. I had fun. I put together almost three hundred pages. I imagined the book being published, with a cover featuring a photo I had recovered of my great-grandmother looking resolute and intrepid.
Onward!
[Graphic on imagined cover of “Fox Spirit” is copyrighted by artist Meredith Dilllman]
Allyson Johnson 