Back to Writing

I previously posted that my Shiloh manuscript had gone down in flames due to one negative review, despite one very positive review. The negative reviewer though is in a position to mess things up if my publisher tried to fight him on the issue. So that's why the two reviews were not given equal weight. Its pretty clear to me that if I pursued the Shiloh manuscript with another publisher they would eventually run into the same road blocks and the project would die again.

Instead I have decided on another plan of attack. I was also working on similar projects for Chickamauga and Chattanooga (which both kinda died when the Shiloh project died). Both were completed and waiting review. I will now go back through and rework these two projects, using some of the guidelines given by both reviewers of the Shiloh manuscript. When these two books are in better condition I will send them off to other publishers. I have two in mind, one my friend Matt suggested and another that I know one of the principals at.

My idea in pursuing my projects in this order is that if Chickamauga and Chattanooga get published then doing Shiloh will be a no-brainer to continue the series. And at that point if the same negative reviewer says he'll block it he will look a bit sillier and the publisher will have two other books worth of backing to say that the series is a good idea despite his concerns and that they are gonna publish it. If he really wants to prevent the book from being sold at Shiloh, he is in a position to do that, but it would look silly to have that book sold at every other battlefield but not the own its intended for. Is all this possible? Maybe. When I was doing the Chickamauga and Chattanooga projects the park guys I talked to about it were positive to the idea. The best response I got to the project was from Terry Winshel at Vicksburg, but I currently do not have the time to do that one. I think if I had the time that one might be the easiest to get through the publishing process because Winshel is behind the idea. He'd probably give me lots of help researching plus he would be a logical person for a review and his review would be along the lines of how to make it a better book than if the project was viable.

The next few days are gonna be a bit busy around here but hopefully this weekend I'll be able to devote some time to the writing process again. Reread all that I wrote, figure out what areas to flesh out more, rework my maps, plus whatever other ideas pop into my head.