#pre-submissions

In May of 2010, I sent my first query letter for my first novel, a book which was ultimately destined to live in the proverbial desk drawer forever. That seems like a lifetime ago. Now, several novels and a little over three years later, I’m absolutely delighted to announce that I’m signing with the fantastic Caryn Wiseman of Andrea Brown Literary Agency.

Still totally in shock.

I’ll make a post about getting The Call soon! Wheee. Once I, you know, stop hyperventilating. (Assuming that e'er happens. May not. Who knows.)

The novel that found me my agent is called IN SIN. It’s my baby, and heh heh heh oh boy is it a weird baby. IN SIN is a dark contemporary YA novel told from the perspectives of seven high schoolers, one for each of the seven deadly sins. If you’d like to read more about it, I have an info page here.

So! Yeah. I am overjoyed, needless to say. I'm hoping IN SIN will find a home in publishing-land, and I'm so excited to work toward getting it there with a Super-Agent on my side!

As for this blog? It has several purposes:

I’ll almost certainly reblog book-related graphics/gifsets/quotes/what-have-you, though 90% of my fandom activity will remain over at my main.

I will make posts about writing, noveling, et al, though I'll readmore the long ones for the sake of people's dashboards and stuff.

I may even post the occasional poem or piece of flash fiction.

In short, this blog will be a writerly haven: a little less frenetic, a little more serene, a little less filled with anguished feels.

Oh, also, for the sake of my dignity, I'll be using punctuation on this blog (as opposed to, say, my main blog, where punctuation is the stuff of legend). "Riley, what is this 'punctuation' thing?" you, dear reader, ask. "Riley, this is Tumblr; what is a 'punctuation'? Riley, don't lie to us -- you don't have any dignity." Well, dear reader, firstly, that's rude. Secondly ... well, I'll admit it's become a habit to dO THIS EVERY OTHER SENetence whAT EVEN and it will probably be  hard habit to break like wtf really quite very difficult to break?! But you know. We all must sacrifice.

I will probably also curse less here.

I have gotten sidetracked. The blog's main purpose is this: here, I’ll be cataloging my journey through the magical world of publishing -- the good, the bad, and the less-than-gorgeous -- and if you’d like to travel the road with me, we can link arms and skip down it together. Whilst singing. Loudly.

I also want this blog to be informative and helpful. If you’re an aspiring author, and you have questions pertaining to novel-writing or publishing or whatever, never hesitate to ask. Anon’s always on, and I live to serve. I'll do my best to help in whatever way I can.

with love, riley