Progress with Civil War Novel

Today I wanted to give you guys an update on my latest progress with my civil war novel, The Long Defeat. I’ve pitched the story to multiple literary agents both online and face-to-face at the San Francisco Writer’s Conference and have definitely generated interest. After reading my opening chapters several agents have asked to see more or all of the novel and have provided positive feedback. In addition, I’ve begun negotiating with professional editors as their expertise within the industry enables them not only to provide the usual grammatical corrections, but also tips and tricks that make a book more marketable and ultimately more sellable within the publishing industry.

Now don’t fret, I have no plans of endangering the conceptual integrity of my novel and many agents and editors love books too and don’t want to see creativity squashed for more corporate reasons. For those of you who have already read my manuscript of The Long Defeat your comments and support have really helped in polishing my novel. I have spent the last few weeks probably writing at least an additional 10,000 words to my novel just based on some of the great feedback I have received from many of you. That’s in addition to my daily posts to this blog during the week, and our weekly short-stories that I’ve posted every Monday. I’ve been busy to say the least.


For those of you who would like a copy of the manuscript or a few chapters to get a better gist of my historical antiwar fiction just send me an email. For a basic synopsis of the work check out one of my previous posts on The Long Defeat. The novel itself is inspired by actual historical events that I have researched, both in books and by visiting the actual battlefields. In addition, the hands-on experience I’ve received as a Civil War reenactor over the past year has proven equally invaluable in reconstructing this bygone era in my writing. Much thanks to the camaraderie and knowledge of my fellow reenactors. I’ll keep you posted on the progress of my efforts to publish this novel and the continuing momentum it has gained both on and off the web. In the meantime (grin), keep reading…