The first bound manuscript of No Grave for Ghosts has been printed and handed off to a handful of alpha readers. Meanwhile, I’m starting the process of querying agents.

There’s something incredibly surreal about discovering that agents who represent some of your favorite authors are still taking on new clients. I feel a bit like Oliver Twist in the orphanage, coming up to one with a manuscript clutched in my hands and saying, “Please sir, would you read one more?”

That said, I’ve been finding the early phases of shifting from writing to marketing quite exhilarating. Old marketing muscles that I haven’t needed for half a decade are waking from their long slumber, stretching dramatically on the couch and saying, “Wait, do you need a blog post?”

So, we charge forward—one eye on the inbox and one eye on future projects. I’ve been told that this part is a long slog. For now each new query letter feels like a discovery. I’m going to milk that feeling while I can.

I’ll keep you all updated. Thanks to everyone who has given words of support, and a huge thanks to my alpha readers. I’m sure I’ll be sitting on pins and needles for a while. I’ll see if I can arrange a pillow on top of them so that I’m not filling inboxes with, “So what did you think of chapter eight?”