By Jon Sprunk, author of Shadow's Son.
Hello again. This is your friendly neighborhood writer (from across the pond) back with another installment of my innermost thoughts.
Today’s question is ‘how does it feel to be a debut author?’
The short answer: it’s everything I dreamed about and more. For the long answer, I’ll need to give you a little history.
Shadow's Son by Jon Sprunk
People sometimes ask me how long I’ve been writing. In a way, this is akin to asking me how long I’ve been talking or chewing gum, because writing is about telling stories and I’ve been doing that my whole life. Now, when did I start trying to write professionally? I took my first real stab at it while I was in high school. I got what I thought was a super-terrific idea for a series of fantasy books and set off to writing the first with a full expectation that I would set the world on fire. Imagine my surprise five years later when I finished the book and started sending it out to publishers. No one wanted it! I was crushed, thinking all my dreams were evaporating before my eyes.
The good news is that I kept at it. In fits and sputters sometimes, but I never gave up on the dream that I could one day be published. A few years ago I received my first professional credit when one of my short stories was published in a small-press anthology. A couple more short story credits followed, but I wanted to be a novelist first and foremost. So, I wrote and wrote, and I read and read. There was no shortcut for me.
When I received the email from Lou Anders at Pyr Books accepting my manuscript for Shadow’s Son, I immediately called my wife to share the news. Neither of us could believe it. You spend years of your life (decades in my case) dreaming of that day. When it finally happens, it’s like the scene where Charlie finds the Golden Ticket, and your best Christmas as a child, and your first kiss—all mashed together.
It’s been a year since that day, but it feels like yesterday. A lot of wonderful things have happened to me since then, including the deal to have my book published with Gollancz in the UK. I’ve been very fortunate. I have wonderful publishers, a great agent, and a family that loves and supports me. This past year has been a wild ride, and it’s only just begun.
Buckle up your seat belt and hang on tight...
