What started over 15 years ago as a jumble of thoughts put into some semblance of order, is finally seeing the moment of true birth into the world. I am both excited and apprehensive.

What if all of my hard work, my writing and my editing, my submissions, and my reinventions, turn out to be met with ill reviews and no recognition, or worse, infamy? What if all of my hours are for naught, or ruin my chance of ever being published again?

I have a case of cold fingers, if you will.

There’s also an old adage, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Writers often consider their own books as children, and I guess I am no different. If I think of how long it’s taken me to get Genmos published, and if it was flesh and blood instead of ink and paper, it would be considering college choices right now. It has certainly seen a town’s worth of help to get to where it is now, too.

Here’s a timeline of how Genmos has gone so far,

2002-2003 Initial novel written, 110,000 words.

Submitted to Westwood agency, 2005

Rejected, 2006.

Edited for a more Canadian appeal. Jim Black of Chestnut publishing accepts it, October 2011. 2012, Jim Black leaves Chestnut, and my story is lost in the shuffle. In August, after conversations with Chestnut, Genmos is dropped from the lineup.

2015, I begin ‘murdering my children.’ I trim the fat, get rid of chapters that are useless, and take the story down to 59,000 words.

2016 Submit to Thurston Howl Publications. After reviews, River critic suggests further alterations. We exchange ideas and advice back and forth, more deletions, and I add the beginning of Shadows, the second Genmos book, to bring the word count to about the same, but have added more content, deleted scenes deemed useless, and generally changed the story so it flows better.

September, Genmos is fully accepted by THP.

Charles begins editing of the revamped story. We back and forth, correcting grammar, until we are 58,000 words long.

Cover art is completed, and although Kobalt does not resemble his character physically, the artist has decided to focus on his mental and scientific aspect.

Finally, it goes to review.

Let’s hope it’s all worth it.