The Story of the Story

April 2009

There's a time in every new writer's career when s/he believes that novel manuscript is finally ready for the world. For me, it's been a three-year process. The first 18 months were spent on the "practice" novel—the one that sits in a closet (and will remain so for perpetuity). The past 18 months have been spent on novel number two, the one I used as my thesis in the MFA program at the Northwest Institute for Literary Arts (NILA), the one that's received praise from teachers, fellow students and my writer friends . . . the one that has a chance (I hope).

I'll use this column to update the book's progress in the publishing world. (Let's hope there is some.) At this writing I've targeted five agents who I believe would be interested in the historical fiction I've written. More later.