As of this date, I am no longer an author with a publishing house. Due to differences both creative and financial, I have decided to go it alone and look for a bigger, better arrangement. To that end, I have begun to contact publishers and query agents. I was told by pen pal, New York Times bestselling author James Rollins (Subterranean), that even he had to make fifty attempts before landing a representative. Now, I am no James Rollins, but I have taken his message to heart. So far, I am fifty percent between the two. Half of the agents I forwarded a query letter, synopsis and the first two chapters of "Shadow of the Thunderbird" to have yet to send back a kind rejection letter. One of the publishers has asked to see the manuscript, while the other has yet to refuse the one sent to it. I hold out hope that there is a place where I can write my thrillers, and establish a carer that will last the rest of my life. I have had many successful endeavors, in terms of a deep well of creativity. Where I have not yet prospered or gained benefit is in the commercial aspect. Critically, I am always well received, but I am of an age now where I yearn to put my life experience and skills to use. When I published "Shadow of the Thunderbird" in 2002, I spent the following year reaching incredible heights that culminated with the critically acclaimed "Track of the Bigfoot". I was interviewed by the media, hosted two highly successful radio shows, and even organized a conference on cryptozoology. My first novel was required reading at the largest technical college system in South Carolina. That was when reality set in, and I had to concentrate on making a living, rather than fulfilling a dream. My third novel, in its final edits, took four years to complete. It is a major achievement in my life, a milestone from which I see the remainder of my days not as what I have had to do with my life to date, but what I want to do with it the rest of my life. I am a writer, and a storyteller. In order to maximize my talents, I need others with influence in the world of publishing to believe in me, as well. I am just getting started in that aspect. There are so many ways to be published, nowadays. Anyone can write and publish a book through digital, print -on-demand technology, and even end up in the catalogs of online and brick and mortar book stores. In my estimation, I will have made it when I am not asked to pay for my dream out of my own pocket, and the fate of my book from manuscript to novel is not ransomed. I have so many other tales I want to tell, and each is more remarkable and thought-provoking than the last. I enjoy cryptofiction, and the favorable comparison to the biggest names in the field. I did an incredible amount of research to make the science right, and never allowed myself to select a species that simply fit the uneducated perception. Gigantopithecus is not Bigfoot; pterodactyls are not Thunderbirds, and pleisiosaurs are not lake monsters. They are each something else, altogether, else where is the mystery? If you have kept up with me through the years, thank you very much. Your winds have been both kind and supportive, offering me constant encouragement in what can surely be an isolated profession. When I wrote and performed music, which I did in my early years, it was 125 words or less that I could gauge in the expression of my audience. I was good at it, and it was fulfilling. Writing novels, especially those as in depth and immersive as mine, requires at least 6 months of preliminary work, and a year in writing. You seldom meet your audience, and the response will not be known until you actually place it out on the market for sale. Full-time authors can complete a novel in 6 months, but then many are not also holding down a 9 to 5 job. It is tougher to set and keep a schedule of writing a book for several hours, in the wee hours of the morning, with the alarm clock as a stern task master. Still, I toil on in the hopes of sharing my gift, and overcoming the stigma of obscurity. Everyone who writes and publishes deserves to be commended, as it is neither an easy nor always appreciated task. You will always have your critics, but even the most renowned authors have them. I have to believe that the difference between me and them is the fame and the fortune. I know that I have talent, and that if given the opportunity, I could be a lucrative commodity for the right publisher and agent. I have a friendly manner and an entertaining way with people. I am seldom forgotten, and I appear to be an extension of my writings. I live much of it, as I endeavor to experience and learn as much as my characters do, in the process of telling their tale. For now, I will allow my editor, Billye McCarty, to finalize her changes, and to revisit my earlier works, if she wishes. Samwise, my longhair Tabby, will continue to drape himself over my monitor, unheeding of the nature of my activities. No matter what I do, or how long it takes me, I feel confident that they will both be there for me. I will spend as much time looking for a permanent home for my books as I did in producing and promoting their previous incarnations. I have done for others all my life. Creativity, in the many shapes it has taken in the expression of my talents, is something I did as much for myself. I am a writer, a storyteller, and a talent yet to be discovered by the masses. Someday, I hope to look back on this posting, and say to myself, that I discovered on this night who and what I am... A writer. ~ D.L.