Hello!

Long time writer, first time blogger!  Cheesy, perhaps but I cannot help feeling slightly overwhelmed by this process.  I was terribly naive when I started writing my novel.  Please do not misunderstand, I knew it would be a lot of work and an endless amount of editing and certainly some moments of frustration, what I was completely unaware of was the networking required to even be considered by some agents/publishers.  I am going to say one of the things you are not supposed to say in such circles - wait for it - I have never been involved in the writing community.  There, my dark secret is out in the open.  Phew, I feel much better.  As I said, I was terribly naive at the beginning of this process.  My thought process was - write book, seek agents/publishers, after (insert number) rejections move to self publishing options.  Oh how silly I sound now that I have peeked into the literary world.  How shocking to find that some agents/publishers actually research you to see if you are a) active in the community and b) keeping up with blogs, twitters, etc.  Hm.  All I could think was "how did this work before the internet?"  Still, I am bravely entering this ultra competitive world and hoping that somebody reads my work and finds a way to believe in me!