I signed up to take this course by Angela James of Carina. It’s called Before You Hit Send. And this evening, I’ve been sitting around avoiding writing, because I got off my schedule and I’m a little messed up, when I decided to have a bit more of a peek around the Carina blog. And it was really interesting…

Like any author, I zoom in on the submissions page. For the first time, however, I went all the way down to the bottom of the page. And now I’m kicking myself, because there is a wealth of information in there.

I’ve been following their blog for a couple of months and mostly because I came up with the steampunk story and thought it sounded like it would suit their line. Many of the posts linked to at the bottom of the page are from early in their inception, so I wasn’t ‘around’ when they were posted. In terms of transparency of process, Carina just shot to the top of the list.

Each post covers a specific topic. You can read about their acquisition process, find out what gets you accepted, what gets you rejected (with quotes of editorial comments!),query do’s and don’t and a host of other Really Useful Information. There’s even one on how to respectfully withdraw your manuscript from a publisher without burning your bridges.

Being slightly Type A, slightly OCD and a nervous newbie, finding this was like waking up and having Christmas arrive–again! YMMV, but it was Tesla mileage to me.

Put 1000 words on the werewolves today. I love it when Levi turns things on their head and Glyn doesn’t get to be the boss. Now, to go add another 500 to The Boyler Room. Gideon’s buying some fans. 😀