The Next Big Step

I have some very exciting news! Before we left to spend last week in New Hampshire where we’re building our retirement house, I made sure I got everything back to my agent. I put together a marketing plan, I wrote my blurb, and fixed those last few editorial changes. I wanted to make sure I had all my ducks in a row before we headed to New England to determine the fate of numerous trees on our land before the construction guys came to clear it.

This morning, I got an email from my agent telling me she had sent out queries on my behalf to a bunch of different publishers. I found that so exciting. To think we’re taking the next big step!  Then, I got a second email not long after saying that an editor at Random House, one of the big ones, wanted to read the entire manuscript! I was absolutely dumbfounded. I had to reread that several times!

Okay, I know this doesn’t mean they’ll want to publish it, but it’s one of those cases where it’s an honor just to be considered. It means someone thought my synopsis sounded interesting enough to make them want to read the entire story. To me, that’s huge! I guess I still have trouble imagining someone actually publishing it, but to get even this far is just so amazing to me.

My agent asked me if this book was going to be part of a series. Frankly, I hadn’t actually considered that as a possibility. She told me before she sent off the queries that maybe I should give it some thought in case an editor liked it enough and would like some additional similar stories. So, I think that’s going to be my next project: try and come up with a sequel to Gangster’s Gold. Hmm...another ghostly time-traveling mystery...can I do it? Only one way to find out!