Better late than never

Have you ever shown up late for a party only to discover your friends are five or six drinks ahead of you? It is the same whether your friends are sipping glasses of wine, guzzling bottles of Shiner Bock, or downing shots of tequila. Regardless of which setting fits you best, coming in late is a drag. You can bet something you missed, -- a joke, a song, a funny story -- will be brought up over and over, and with every confused frown from you, somebody will say, "You had to be here."

That's a bit how I feel starting this blog. I have a long list of worries on top of showing up late to the party. Number one, what will I say each day. Number two, will anybody care. Number three, where will I find the time on top of starting a new novel, tweaking the one I'm currently trying to sell, composing query letters, corralling my two young sons, not neglecting my wife, and working my regular job. Okay, enough whining. I'm late but I'm here and that's what counts.

Now the late arriver has a couple of options. One, start pounding the booze until you catch up, or two, try to act as if you'd been there all along. If your not careful the first option will leaving you praying to the porcelain gods. the second requires a bit of bluffing. I could say lying, but liar is such a harsh word and since anybody that writes fiction is a liar by definition I try to shy away from that description. Back to bluffing. Sure you'll have to smile at some lame comments that only a six pack of beer can make funny, you might get stuck talking to Rick, Jeff, Jim, or (feel free to insert the name of your most boring acquaintance here) sure you might have to jump in there and dance to Baby Got Back while you 're still stone-cold sober. I know it's hard but sacrifices have to be made, and trust me bluffing makes it a lot easier to get out of the bed come morning.

So that's what I'm going to do, BLUFF. Act like I know more than I do.
In the six years since I decided, hey I too can become a published author I have learned a few things. A lot of things actually. And over the coming days weeks and months I plan to share what I've learned and as we go along I'll find out that the meager knowledge I do possess is no where close to what I still need to learn. My critique group would beat me over the head with a stick for using the word learn so many times in one paragraph but certain sacrifices have to be made in the name of speed.

Hopefully some of the things I bring up will help a few other writers out there and hopefully some of you will comment and teach me a few things about the craft as well. And of course I hope that this blog will help me to meet new people all across the country who will rush out and buy my novel the very day it hits the shelves. But before that could happen I have to first write an interesting and informative blog that people will actually want to read and convince the publishing world that I am deserving to be called an author.

For me, writers write, but authors get published,so I will only say I'm a writer. I guess I could count the few short stories of mine that have found a home but the focus of my writing goals, and the focus of this blog will be about the the pursuit of a publisher for my novels. Even though I said publisher, right now my goal is to acquire a literary agent.

So if you are a writer, an author, or, just some body who is curious about what it takes to get a first novel published welcome to the party.