“Patience is a virtue”
This was something that I grew up hearing. I also heard it much more than I wanted.
Angry mob: “Where is this book that you’ve promised? Why is it taking so long? What else do you have to do?”
These questions are worthy of starting a FAQ section on this site. Here’s an update.
While very strongly considering self publishing, I opted to do one more read through of the book on my own. This was, importantly, well after my editor had called it good, I paid her, and I was sending out query letters to both agents and publishers.
After noticing a few minor glitches with the text and grammar, I worriedly began to skim ahead. Unfortunately, there were still more than a few obvious errors, and it was then that I realized that my manuscript (downgraded from what I thought was a book) required a fresh set of eyes. Thankfully, a close friend was quick to my rescue. Through acquaintances and contacts, I was put in touch with a proofreader at a firm in New York. Despite having a full time, demanding career doing this kind of stuff, she agreed to take me on the side for freelance work.
Scouts Out! is currently receiving the final, very fine and professional polish that it deserves. Grammatical errors, broken sentence structures, and non-sensical/contradictory paragraphs (ie- “I was glad that it didn’t rain. After the downpour, I walked outside.”) are being addressed and corrected. We are far along in the process, and I couldn't be happier with the results thus far.
I have learned an absolute ton in this writing process, but the chief lesson among them is that you can get too close to the text, causing you to miss things left and right. I’m not willing to self publish, or submit to a traditional publisher, until I have the rock solid confidence that the reader will not be disappointed in Scouts Out!. To do anything but would be a disservice not only to the reader and myself, but also the entire Kiowa Warrior community as a whole.
If, after all of this, someone still dislikes my story, at least I’ll know it’s not due to poor writing. In the end, Scouts Out! will absolutely benefit from this perceived setback. It really is amazing how unexpectedly things work out sometimes— especially when at first it feels devastating, but then ends up being for the better.
In order to keep up with people and get more of the word out there, I have also established an Instagram account as 'ScoutsOutBook.' Please feel free to check it out here. Don't worry— I'm not blowing it up with constant posts and content, but instead put up a picture and brief description once every week or so. A few photos may be familiar from the gallery on this site, however I am also going back through thousands more and finding some pretty neat ones that I had forgotten about which you may find interesting. Plus, it's helpful to my cause if I can demonstrate real interest in my project, so please share away!
If you missed the podcast, you can also start here and choose to listen with whatever service you prefer. If you're a die hard YouTube fan, then here it is on that site as well.
That's all for now. Stay safe and healthy— I got COVID in mid September and took almost a full month to get back to myself again. It sucks, so wash your hands.
Thank you for your continued support, and for also heeding the wisdom with me:
“Patience is a virtue.”
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