Why is this here?

I've been a writer for decades (depending on your criteria for the label), but I never seriously consider going anywhere with it until 2013 when I started a novel that was going to be a "fractured fairy tale" or modern fantasy, set in the fictional land of Caelia. I didn't make too much headway on it until I lost my job in winter of 2015, at which point I had a lot of free time to fill. Despite relocating cross-country twice, I quickly finished that novel, and have been trying to get it published since. I got my first rejection in January 2017, but the response was favorable nonetheless, so I turned it around and sent it on to another publisher. That publisher doesn't do rejection letters, so I had to set a deadline in my own mind for when I'd withdraw the submission and move on.

That deadline is imminent, so I need to decide where to go next.

The problem is that the book is very... topical. Despite being high fantasy, I wrote it in part as a satirical commentary on the problems that Millennials have inherited in the United States. Going back and looking at content I cut from the end of the book, if I had published the book in its entirety as soon as I finished it, rather than cutting it down for a publisher, a fair bit of what people will now say is allegorical would have been prescient. The sequel, which is at its first revision, contains much of the material cut off the end of the first book, and what has been added has been very much shaped by world events in the past few months. So, the novel is topical, the sequel possibly more-so, and I feel like if they take too long to get published, both of them will end up quite stale.

Obviously, I'm considering self-publication at this point. Without a publisher or a large amount of disposable income to promote my book, it likely won't go anywhere, but I think watching it lapse into irrelevance would be more depressing. Better to have five people read it when it is timely, than to have 500 people read it when it's become dated.

I haven't completely made up my mind on where to go with it, but, either way, one thing that research has impressed upon me is that I need to step-up and organize my social media presence. It's vital for promoting your book if you self-publish, and it seems that most of the more forward-thinking publishers expect you to have something established before submitting your work (even requesting links). I've been active on Facebook, Twitter, and Blogger (I had another blog before this one) but that has all been fairly unfocused, none of them really representing me as an author.

So, to start getting my house in order, I have decided to start a new blog, just for my author-self. Some of the commentary from the previous blog might carry over, but I mostly intend to use this as a place to publish things I know won't make it into the books, even if I self-publish. I've fleshed out a lot of detail about the world the books take place in, have drawn pictures, etc., but it's far too much to include in novels which already have full appendices. Still, if I ever develop a following, it's the sort of thing dedicated readers would be interested in, so I want some place accessible to keep it.



James N. McDonald is a "liberal academic" born and raised in Missouri and residing in Tennessee. He holds one degree in history, two degrees in psychology, but loves writing fiction. His first, completed novel, The Rise of Azraea, Book I, is a high fantasy story with elements of comic fantasy and satire targeting present day, real world issues such as economic inequity, and sexual and racial discrimination. It is currently available on Amazon.