Today is the twenty-second (phew!) in a series of posts by San-Diego-based writer Thomas Shess who has decided to keep a journal on his journey to find a publisher for his novel.

Mutating Blogs. Just when I began to think I was running out of ways to publish my recently completed novel, I discovered one more genre. Book editor Ray Rhamey of Flogging the Quill is "blooking." He's posting his newest fiction on his blog as he writes it. Blooking "is not for the faint of plot," says Ray. Writing without the safety net of revision is indeed bold. I'm going to pass but it did remind me of something that I discovered about my own novel.

Lessons Learned. My just completed thriller was written in two phases. The final two-thirds of the manuscript was completed several years ago. Writing and rewriting the beginning of my novel has dominated my creative time for the past 18 months. After I submitted my novel to a professional book editor, I learned he liked my story in degrees. Overall, he felt it was a work worth the effort of rewriting. He thought the second two-thirds of the novel was better than the opening. I can't tell you how many hours I have agonized over the opening chapters only to learn what I had put down originally was probably my best effort. My next attempt at writing a novel will find me tinkering with an outline until I am satisfied. Then I will send it to the book editor for input. Once the outline is firm, I will start writing it wall to wall. No cul de sacs. No midnight visions. I will write it from beginning to end-then and only then begin the revision process.

Temperature Reading. I am exhausted. Finishing my novel has drained me to the point I can barely go back to read it. I'm taking a break for a few weeks to work on some non-fiction magazine work that has been piling up. Tired as I am, I do feel a certain exhilaration of having the monster off my back. Whatever fate awaits my work, I am satisfied that I have finished a novel. It took me seven years to earn a bachelors degree. To this day, I've never had to show it to anyone to prove my professional worth. But deep inside I know that I did it. That degree was no guarantee of success back then and finishing my novel is no guarantee that it will be published, but damn it sure feels good having written "the end." on my college career and on page 267 of my book.

Cash on Rejection. "You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don't try to forget the mistakes, but you don't dwell on it. You don't let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space." -- Johnny Cash from the current flick on his life Walk the Line.

Take a Look. Publishers and literary agents interested in seeing the revised synopsis of my novel, please contact me. Responding comments are not reprinted in this column without permission. That's a promise.