Calendar Books by Allen James - Daily Reading

Calendar Books by Allen James' posting for June 18th refers not to one of Allen James' calendar books, but to his first novella....Reflections.

Excerpt:  

Beautiful Chelsey Williams is determined to get to her grandparent's from Michigan for the holidays despite finding herself facing a harsh Vermont blizzard. The ailing Volkswagen Beetle she has depended on to travel for so long is no match for the heavy snow and building ice. Losing control of her old friend, the bug, she swerves and is knocked unconscious when she barrels into a snow drift.

Enter Joel Cantrell, an aspiring artist and the man who appears to be everything she's ever wanted; handsome, compassionate, wealthy...yet harboring a horrific secret.

Will she make it home where Granny Mae and Papaw Lincoln are patiently waiting for her arrival so they can give her the news which she shoild have been told years ago, that she...?

You'll have to read the book to find out...
 
Reflections was first published in 1992 through what is called a Vanity Press....or more simply put, through a publisher which the author pays him/herself to publish their book. I was able to do this at the time through the help of "investors" who put up an equal amount of cash as I with the understanding (via contract) they may or may not receive a return on their investment. I had always read to get a publisher one had to already have already been published. This was my "in", I thought.  It was an arduous task going through The Writer's Market and finding publishers and agents who would accept unsolicited (not represented by an agent already) manuscripts.  Hundreds of query letters and hundreds of rejection responses.  This was before the time of email and the internet, so it meant stamp and envelop licking and waiting, waiting, waiting.

It was a great experience for me; the initial investor party where I presented each with a signed copy of the book to a toast of "champagne" (Sparkling White Grape Juice), then book signings, articles, speaking engagements. It was a whirlwind of activity. My investors received a 16% return of their investment and I my dream to become a published author was realized. I then realized what I had read about getting picked up by a publishing house had been a farce; to get picked up by a publishing house one had to have money and celebrity, neither of which I possessed. In order to publish my second novel, Midnight Journey, a follow-up to Reflections, I would have to take the same route as my first novel. The air was let out of my balloon of joy.

Then the years stacked up upon themselves. I continued to write; short stories, novella after novella, poetry, songs, children's books, but all the rules have changed.  There is now MLA 4, MLA 5, MLA 6, MLA 7, APA 6; each publisher requiring their own style to follow. However the business of day to day life prevented me from focusing on what I enjoyed the most, expressing myself through the written word.

I now find it 22 years later, I pick up where I left off; however the world of publishing has changed drastically with the advancements in technology. Reflections is to be released as a 2nd edition in the fall of 2014 with a new cover and edited (It's amazing the difference I find in my writing style over the years). Following soon after my children's book, Crystal the Condor Makes Friends and is already being considered by the National Parks System for placement in select National Parks' gift stores. Blue Hydrangea is scheduled for release in the fall of 2014 with The End and Lady in Black are slated for release in the spring of 2015.

Sounds like a long time off, but we all know as adults how time does literally fly past us. I look forward to the journey and having you along with me.

Keep looking up. : ) AJ