The rest of the Bliss story...

Step 9: As we came close to the end of Bliss, we knew editing the thing was going to be a challenge. We could each go through separately and mark up word changes we'd like, but we'd have to agree on them somehow. And what about more significant issues? The editing process was going to be time consuming and needed more than just an hour at a time at Tracy's kitchen table with kids needing attention.

So we decided to skip town. We booked a room for two nights in an inn about twenty minutes away. We went prepared: Google maps (yes, plural) with the one turn we needed to take enlarged and highlighted. A hard copy of the work-in-progress, complete with a fun cover with a fuschia car on it. A container of homemade cinnamon rolls, compliments of Jenness' mom. A laptop and notebooks and pens and sticky notes. A wishbone to use in case of any major arguments, again, compliments of Jenness' mom. (For the record, we never had to use it.)

Step 10: For a day and a half, we sat on our twin beds. Tracy read the manuscript out loud while Jenness made necessary changes on laptop version. We both flagged areas that needed more attention. Tracy almost lost her voice. We got up to eat and buy caffeine-loaded drinks from a nearby store. Then we sat back down and edited. When we finally got to the end of what we'd written and figured out how we needed to end the story, Tracy went to work on creating the skeleton, and Jenness tackled the more labor-intensive editing. A crazy couple days, but...we think it was worth it.

Step 11: The proposal and complete manuscript was sent off to our agent.

Step 12: Our agent sent it out. We received some interest from one publisher especially. They loved our voice. Alas, they had stopped publishing that genre. The genre that had been so hot at the ACFW conference the year before.

We'd missed the boom.

Step 13: We worked on other stuff, together and separately. We attended another conference together. Thought we'd made a great connection. That fell through as well. We set Bliss aside.

Step 14: A friend and critique partner began doing some reading for a brand new start-up company called Written World Communications. They were looking for a beach read. "Send Bliss," Cathy said. "It's perfect."

Step 15: "Send Bliss." "Are you ever going to send Bliss?" "Hey, have you sent Bliss yet?"

Step 16: Fine. We talked to our agent. We sent Bliss.

Step 17: The next day, Tamela called us. WWC wanted the full manuscript. We tweaked it a little and sent it in.

Step 18: They sent a contract. We signed.

Step 19: Revisions. Cover art. Planning.

Step 20: Buy Bliss here.