One request for full manuscript - boosted confidence? Check!

Yes, Finally a request for a full manuscript. However, as I found this in my spam mail and no, before you ask, the publisher is verifiable but sadly computer is not!  23 Days later, I sent a small passive reply, explaining said computers fault and then sat back to wait.

Now for those that don't know me or my books, I have been published before. It took two years and that was the picture book and early reader market so I'm not holding my breath. I've also made a jump into the adult world, well sort of as I 'm also finishing off a middle grade book as we speak.

In terms of my adult novel the most recent professional feedback was that if this book was written thirty years ago it would have been picked up immediately. Great! Ironically its a book about time travel haha. So I handed it to the best reader of sci-fi novels - my son. Apart from my brothers who are both great readers but also tend to make comments because I'm their little sister, my son was my best bet. Now they say, never hand your novel to friends and family as they find it difficult to be honest but my relationship with my son is somewhat different. He is honest to the extreme and although at times I've found it slightly awkward, in this case, it's exactly what I needed.

He agreed with the criticism - hooray! He also explained that I had to hit the reader from the get go. The attention span in his generation and his opinion, is used to getting immediate results from anything. Everything is like fast food take outs. Of course, he is generalising but what he is saying makes sense. I love fantasy and sci-fi. I was told by everyone to watch Mad Max. I was a Mad Max fan and of course loved Mel Gibson. 'This is even better than the 'old' movies,' I was told. Excellent, I thought and watched it whilst eagerly awaiting the rest of the plot to play out...it didn't. Basically they travel away from said threat only to realise that there's nothing out there (desert) and return to said threat with less people but a mean intention and because of this beat the bad guys and create a new earth. Mad Max - well he became secondary, a passive, don't want to get involved kind of guy with strange flash backs to a movie or scene I must have missed. A little ghost girl, which insinuated that it was his child. Don't remember that either.  I mean - really??? Did the screen writers actually watch the previous movies?

So with my book I have to change chapters, make it more purge anarchy or mad max and start with the moment that is halfway through the book. This was once know as the arc of the narrative the key climatic moment, in order to hook the reader, publisher, agent. Agents, who are same age as my children, want books that will sell immediately and don't want some old fart who doesn't get it. (I'm talking about me)

So I'm going to hit them, with all of my arsenal. I have a few AK 47 picture book stories, an explosive middle grade book a second volcanic novel plus this one. Hope they're ready.

They think we're not adaptable because we weren't brought up in this generation? Think again. This information shook me to my core and was the wake up call I needed to stand up and shake off the dust. Time to remind everyone that we still count.

We were the innovators at the beginning of that journey and are adaptable to change but at our pace. We also have the patience of a tortoise and unlike some of the hares out there, we finish what we started. We were the anarchists of the 80's generation, nose piercings, hair dying punks, peace loving Bob Marley makers, protestors and campaign shakers and spiritual guru's.  We're the children of the children of wars, the hippies, the fascists, the rascists, the politically unhinged, the fringe groups, the breakers of walls, the bringers of awareness, the ones who said - NO!, The age of aquarius started with us. So piss off, I'm not done yet.