Well, many of you know that my parents are my biggest critics. They feel very strongly that the only way for me to grow and get better is to push me, to challenge and harness the talents and drive that God gave me. So while many people will tell me that one of my drawings is good, my parents will tell me “the nose is off. Next time try _____, focus more on x,y, and z”.
Of course, this is always said most lovingly. It is always said because my parents don’t ever want me to settle. They want me to push for the best. To give my best effort.
So I was very nervous going into this weekend, which is not typical for me. I knew my Daddy would be honest with me. We won’t say brutally honest, because he would have given me the truth in a loving way, but I knew he wouldn’t stroke my vanity. And I was nervous over that. I love my book. It is an offering of myself. It pulls from deep emotions buried within myself. Some of the characters are expressions of myself, they have my struggles and quirks. This book wasn’t just something I had written. It was a part of me.
So we began the book week. The first thing on the agenda was to read the book. So I did. All 115,000 words. We spent all day Friday reading and talking, and most all of Saturday reading and talking.
He loved it. He not only loved it, he could envision pulling my story off the family library shelf and reading it together like we do our lamplighters. He laughed at some parts (which surprised me because my Daddy doesn’t typically laugh when reading a book), became very quiet as I explored the emotions of loss (something we both understand all too well), and fell in love with my main character, Tierin, and his little sister Airianna. He was also surprised that I threw him two curve balls (twists, in Author terms) in the story plot. My Daddy is normally really good at judging where a writer is going with a story.
I was stunned, to say the least. While Daddy had one or two words he thought I should change (he does not like when I use system to refer to the body, so all those need to be changed), and a couple of suggestions to help the technical side of one of my fight scenes near the end of the book, for the most part he was blown away that I had written the book.
He said he shouldn’t be surprised, because I’ve always been a good writer, but this piece did surprise him. It was not what he excepted and it went beyond what he thought it would be. I have to tell you, his confidence has been the fuel I needed to aggressively begin publication.
Saturday evening, into Sunday, Daddy and I began to discuss publication. I had tons of research (which meant more reading) that I had printed off for us to go over.
The short story, and end result of this all, is that Daddy agrees with me that he does not want me to self publish. He wants me to push for traditional publication. We have also agreed that I will be beginning the search for an agent who will represent me. We ordered the research material I wanted (which consisted of many things, including the Eragon series my library never seems to have), and as soon as I get a few edits and additions made to my book, I will be seriously pursuing this path.
Now on to the second book, because Daddy has joined my Beta readers in pushing me to get it finished.
That’s the short story, anyways.
My Daddy does a birthday weekend with each of his children every year. My birthday weekend was put on hold for a bit, but we are now taking our trip. This year we are focusing on my book. It’s ready. As ready as it can be at the moment. I finished my final run through of it and altered a few more things till it is as perfect as humanly possible. 
What did us little ol' Garners do? 
