Monday, August 17, 2015

WISH IN ONE HAND - Releases Tomorrow!

Yep.  Finally.  After all these years.  Wish in One Hand (formerly known as Djinnocide, if you've been playing along) releases tomorrow.

This book.  Well, I got the idea I wanted to write an urban fantasy - you know, since those were so hot - and I tried to think of an idea that would separate me from the growing crowd of urban fantasy titles out there.  So, I looked around and realized there was a dearth of offerings about genies.  (In fact, when I started the book back in... shit, 2007?... there was zilch.)  So I made a start over the summer.  And it was... Bleh. 

Then I sat down for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month - November every year), determined to write this book if it killed me, and banged out the first draft.  Over the intervening months, I scrubbed it, polished it, gave it to beta readers, and... Well, that's neither here nor there.  Suffice it to say, it wasn't blowing anyone's skirts up.

I ended up scrapping that original draft and re-writing the whole damn book.  THEN I scrapped that draft and re-wrote the whole damn book again - in first person.  What I ended up with after all those scrappings and rewritings and editings was Djinnocide. (Genocide - Genie-cide - Djinnocide... get it?) 

And I submitted it to agents. I got a couple nibbles, but nothing worth even trying to set the hook.  I entered it in a strange submission period for a major publisher and made it to the final cut, but not past it.  I sent it off as a straight submission to another major publisher and, while I got some nice compliments, was told it wasn't right for their list. 

Okee doke.  I wasn't really all that jazzed anymore about taking this through a real publisher anyway.  Not sour grapes. Really.  By the time I got that rejection letter, I'd already begun self-publishing and I was loving it.  So, I took Wish in One Hand and started feeding it through the machine.  Cover art. Edits. Polishes.

All that new grinding commenced in May.  It's been a whirlwind three months after 8 years of slogging through oatmeal, but it's done.  Wish in One Hand will be out there in the world tomorrow.  (It's up for pre-order, so if you want it on your Kindle when you wake up tomorrow, order it now.)

I hope all of you love it as much as I do.  If you can't manage that level of excitement, I hope you all enjoy it enough that you don't want to find me and throttle that $3.99 out of my hide. 


2 comments:

  1. Oh, yeah. Can't wait! I may have to stay up until after midnight so I can see it pop up on my Kindle so I can pet the cover. I love Jo and all the rest and can't wait for the rest of the Djinn books! And FYI, Ilona Andrews introduced Djinn in her newest Kate Daniels book. I think this will help draw people to WIOH. Hopefully! *crosses fingers* Here's to a big splash tomorrow!

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  2. Thanks, Silver! LOL about petting the cover. You should see it in print. So petable. Neat about Ilona Andrews. I haven't read her yet, but I should probably check her out. Sonja Bateman also did a series with genies, but it's got a totally different flavor. I know the people I've mentioned WIOH to - who like paranormal - were all like 'ooo, genies!'

    From your fingers to the readerships' ears. :crosses fingers, too:

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