Does my book suck?

I have no clue, at this point. I've lost all objectivity when it comes to JANE DOE. I've read it so much that I have different voices and accents for each of the characters. That's not something sane people do. Sane people don't carry on prolonged conversations with the voices in their head for hours at a time.

Ergo, writers aren't sane.

But that's not my point.

My point is that I have no way of judging JANE DOE's chances as I kick it out the door. I thought I'd be ready for this, that somehow it would magically sparkle and glow. A shaft of sunlight would hit my computer screen, Pandora would play the music of the spheres, and I would know that my manuscript was flawless and ready for querying.

Now, I'm not so sure that's ever going to happen. Especially since I've been looping my Abba station with Guys and Dolls for two weeks. I'm pretty sure the music of the spheres is not going to come up on the playlist. Ever.

But it's time to give up.

I started writing JANE DOE in February 2010. For the better part of two years, I've been editing, writing, rewriting, and editing JANE DOE to the point of pain. There were a few breaks, I've written three novellas and published two of them in that time. And I think I dabbled with another novel (editing TWISTED METAL maybe). My point is...my point is...I need to move on.

It's time to write something new.

EVERY HERO NEEDS A VILLAIN is with my beta reader. The draft I wrote over the summer got trashed and I started over. The new version is rough, but better. I've started Heroes & Villains Book 3 which doesn't have a title yet, but features Rage as the protagonist.

Still, I want to do something new. I want to get back to hard sci-fi and write something with space ships, explosions, and body counts. I have a couple of series waiting in the wings for love and attention. I just need the time to write them.

So I'm bowing to the inevitable, and I'm querying JANE DOE.

I won't bore you with the details. There's currently 129 agents listed as looking for sci-fi, some of those are closed to queries, and some want darker books than I write. Still, you don't need to hear about every bump in the road or me anxiously gnawing my fingers as I wait for someone to read my query (or not).

With the current speed of publishing I should have news in a year or so. Either I'll have found an agent, or moved JANE DOE to the small presses (which means missing out on my dream editor but ... you know ... that's a daydream anyway), or I'll have retired the series entirely and moved on to bigger and better things. Only time will tell.

Wish me luck. If all goes well, the next time you'll hear about JANE DOE it will be the first big step toward seeing my novel on your shelf.
- Liana

P.S. There's still time to enter the BITE OF MAGIC Giveaway featuring the MG works of Danyelle Leafty!