Hi everybody! I will officially begin querying for Tainted, my debut fantasy novel, on March 1st. 

For those of you unfamiliar with the writing world, to query is to pitch your project to an agent for representation. It’s a behind-the-scenes deal, which means there won’t be a book in hand by March 1st nor will I reveal names of agents. This post is just my way of holding myself accountable and keeping you all updated on where I’m at in the process of releasing Tainted to the world.

In the meantime (between now and Q-Day) I’ll be sharing with you various details about Tainted, such as inspiration, world features, etc. 

To start, here’s a timeline of significant events since Tainted’s inception:

2016 – The idea for Tainted was born from a “what if” question and a personal decision to write the kind of book I’d be excited to read.

2017 – My brother was murdered. His case is still unsolved.

2018 – Relocated from Arizona to Florida.

2019 – Finished 1st of many drafts of Tainted, moved again and began teaching high school English.

2020 – We all know this one.

2021 – 2022 – Multiple surgeries and hospitalizations for my son. (There’s a funny story here that I’ll tell later; I can only say my capacity for theatrics surprised even me.)

2023 – Quit teaching at the end of the year to focus on rewriting parts of Tainted. For all of you author-teachers who still get writing done: God bless you.

2024 1st half – Netflix.

2024 2nd half – Acknowledged that the events I’d used to justify putting off writing and pitching were really just excuses to keep me from facing my fear of failure.

2025 – Finish synopsis (not my strong suit), content development (not my strong suit), agent research (I’ve already got a few in mind), flex my facing-fear muscles and query beginning March 1st. I’m glad to have you with me. 🙂