So, most of you know about the recent bout of excitement in my life, as I received three offers of representation from literary agents in one week. For an author who had gotten rejection after rejection on her previous four complete manuscripts, I was blown over by the response to my most recent novel Half Sick of Shadows. I felt confident that it was good enough to be published and was willing to fight for it as such, but believing in something and finally seeing the results of that belief are two totally different things. I was, am beyond excited! And I am so happy with my choice of literary agent in Kevan Lyon at Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. The manuscript has been edited and accepted, and we are now hard at work on the pitch letter to editors at the publishing houses. Then it’s a bit of a waiting game, sitting on our hands in anticipation of interest from those editors. 

In the mean time, I need to get back to work on the sequel, which is still untitled. (It’s harder than you think to come up with an interesting, unique title. Half Sick of Shadows comes from the poem “The Lady of Shalott” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and I would like to find a similar quote from a poem to use for the next entry in the series.) The plot for HSS2 (the project’s current title – I know, so creative) has changed at least five times since the original conception of the series, and it changed again this weekend, hopefully for good. It’s harder than you would think to dream up a plausible scenario in which a gently reared female would be allowed to take part in a murder investigation in 1830. Our world, particularly in regards to women’s rights and roles in society, has certainly come a long way since then. 

If nothing else, my research and fascination with history makes me grateful for the great strides women have taken in recent centuries to ensure I could vote, wear trousers, own property, defend myself, and hold the career I choose. In 1830, a woman rarely held money of her own, and if she did, upon marriage it reverted to her husband. She had to defer to her husband in all things, including the raising of her children, who could be taken away from her as the “belonged” to the husband, not the wife. A wife could not even protest a beating from her husband, except in severe cases or when the wife was lucky enough to have male family members who could bully her husband into stopping. A wife was considered her husband’s property, and therefore her father or brothers really had no say in the matter. Divorce was extremely rare, and in the few cases it was granted almost exclusively because of supposed marital infidelity on the part of the female. 

I know National Women’s History Month is not until March, but let’s give thanks today for all the brave women who came before us, so that females could enjoy the simple freedoms we take for granted today. Whether or not you think you believe in the Women’s Liberation Movement, we all stand on the shoulders of those strong females throughout history who made it possible for us to attend school, swim at a public beach, or own a car. Here’s to you, you Iron Jawed Angels.