First of all, I feel it is important that I comment on last night’s BCS championship game before getting to the main purpose of my post. Anyone who had delusions that Notre Dame had any prayer whatsoever going into last night’s game got what they deserved. I don’t care if Notre Dame was undefeated, they were not the best team in the country. Oregon should have been in that game. But in typical BCS tradition, we don’t get the game we should get. We got a twisted version of David vs. Goliath, where instead of a victorious underdog, we got Goliath stomping on David’s head and then throwing his body off a very high cliff. You know, the kind of thing that should happen to David in any situation where God doesn’t get directly involved.

There, I’ve said my piece and counted to ten. Now we can move on to the actual purpose of this post, much to the relief of non-football fans everywhere.

Where were we? Oh, yes. My FREAKING BIG ANNOUNCEMENT.

A year and a half ago, I was sitting in my office at work, lamenting my lot in life. I felt like nothing I did day-to-day mattered and I was about to enter the middle years of my life with very little to show for my efforts (other than the obvious family things like, you know, siring a family.)

Anyway, I told my wife I was beginning to experience a mid-life crisis and so I was going to write a book. As my wonderful wife is known to do, she nodded her head thoughtfully and absorbed my sudden, out-of-the-blue announcement. After a moment or two, she said, “Well, if you writing a book is the worst thing I have to endure for your mid-life crisis, I guess it ain’t that bad.” From that day forward, I could not have asked for a more supportive cheerleader.

After seven months of getting the first draft down on paper, and an additional six months of editing and arguing with my wife (arguments that usually ended with her saying, “Do you want my help or not?”) I had my final draft. I have to express additional gratitude to my friends, Heath and Timi Brown, Aimee Staten and especially Jennifer Griffith. They also provided input and much needed criticism at the appropriate times.

So then I sent it off to publishers. Since the book is Mormon-centric in nature, my options were pretty limited. Okay, it really came down to three legitimate publishers and then it got dicey from there.

The first publisher regretfully declined. (At least their form letter assured me they were regretful.) The second was very complimentary, but for reasons I may document later, they said my book didn’t coincide with their direction.

At that point, I pretty much gave up and put the book on the shelf. I hadn’t heard from the third publisher, but after two rejections, I felt pretty sure what they would say. Well…

I WAS WRONG

Coming in August 2013 from Cedar Fort Publishing, Ryan Rapier’s debut novel, THE RELUCTANT BLOGGER.

YEAH BABY!!!

So now, I am entering the world of publishing with absolutely no clue what I’m doing. My plan is do to what I am told, and through the entire process, blog here on what my experience is like. I will also share the story of what my book is about and how it evolved from a very different book that I intended to write.

The one thing I do know is that the publishing world is not a world where people hold your hand. Much of the marketing must be done by the author if they want to have any chance at success. And so I ask a favor of anyone reading these words. Several favors actually:

1.  If you have a Facebook account, please go to my Ryan Rapier, Author page and “like” it. I promise it will like you back. It may even love you.

2. If you know someone in your life who aspires to be an author, have them visit this page. And have them bring their friends. Have them bring their enemies. Heck, have them bring anyone they happen to run into on the street. I’m up for questions, advice, criticism, or even death threats. If they read this blog and like my page, I may even help them write more creative death threats should they require the assistance.

3. Spread the word. I hate feeling like the local Amway dealer (my apologies to any Amway dealers reading this post) but self-promotion is all I have at this point. If you feel like sharing my page with your friends on Facebook, Twitter or, I don’t know, real life, I would be greatly appreciative. I will owe you. I will probably never be able to pay you back, but I will owe you. And if you are thinking you can just get in on all the action that I’m going to have once this book is published, I should be up front and admit that I may very well end up in the red on this project when it is all said and done. A majority of published authors do.

Thank you to everyone ahead of time. I promise to try and keep this page interesting. If you feel it isn’t, let me know. I’ll rant about college football again for a minute and you’ll realize just how bad it could actually be.