Journey of Becoming a Published Author

The last 3 1/2 yers have been something I never could have imagined growing up. Neither could any who have known me. I have been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, which is a mild form of autism, and one of the aspects that came with it was a strong lack of reading comprehension. I could tell you exactly what was on what page, but no clue about context, why, or what was going on. One example was insisting a goose was in a story when the character had goose bumps. No clue. It wasn't until I was 12, when I began to start connecting the dots and reading comprehension began to take place.

God has pulled me out of nowhere into somewhere since then. Almost 4 years ago, a friend suggested I try writing after I helped him critique his novel and I gave it ago. After writing a medieval action thriller to try it out, I discovered I had something going. God told me to work on a spiritual warfare novel, which was my main goal when this took off and that began in April 2007. After a series of drafts, getting feedback from several friends, I began to explore the possibility of publishing.

I found a Christian critiquing service, Writer's Edge Service, that acts as a pre-scanner for a multitue of publishers. In October 2008, I tried them out. They said I wasn't ready yet, gave me excellent feedback, and I went through two more drafts (really more like editing phases) and in July 2009, I resubmitted to them. They absolutely loved it and sent my listing off to 100 different publishers.

I first heard from American Christian Writers, Virtue Ministries, Inc, and WinePress, all self-publishers. They wanted me to pay them to release my book. God told me to wait and in March 2009, I got a chance to go to a Christian Writer's Conference, where I got a 15-minute consultation with one of the speakers. She told me I was ready for a big publisher and recommended Marcher Lord Press who specialized in Christian speculative fiction. They had a massive backlog of submissions, so I have been waiting since to hear from them. But something happened a month ago I never expected: contact initiated by Lighthouse Christian Publishing.

They wanted to look at my book, so I submitted it to them after a final phase of editing and just this past week, I got a response. They offered a contract. After nearly a week of prayer, asking God for a legitimate reason not to accept it and I never got one. So I am submitted the contract in the next day or two and my book will be on the way to final editing and releasal. I will post the release date when that become more clear but it will be a short time before you can start to look for Battle Cry: Adventures in the Kingdom of Heaven to be available for sale.