The Final Draft

Last month I mustered up all my courage and hired a professional editor to edit my work. I was extremely nervous as the person I chose to do the work was an accomplished author and also someone who edits books for a living. I was afraid she would be repulsed by my amateurish writing. Instead, she was very supportive and encouraging. That's not to say that she didn't have constructive criticism and didn't tell me that I use weak verbs at times, etc. But she told me she loved my book and thinks it should be published. I was ecstatic. It cost a bit of money to do this, but I think it was worth it for my confidence. I have now sent my second query letter and a book proposal to another publisher just this week. We'll see what happens now.

The editor scaled my book back a bit (by about 5000 words!), but it's a leaner, cleaner machine and she kept my voice also. I guess with this economy that's what we're all looking for anyway. I suppose if this publisher doesn't like it I'll try with one or two others and if I still don't get any bites I'll just have to give the 'ol self-publishing a whirl. No problem there, just a bit more work and money involved...Oh yeah, money...Ok, well, slight problem, but we'll figure that out when/if the time comes! I figure if these folks will love it, the public will love it and want to make a movie out of it and the next thing you know, we've got the new "Sandlot" series, only this one is nonfiction...Who knows?

REJECTED! And I Have a Title!

Ok, so I know it's been awhile, but I thought I'd let you know that I have a working title now for the book. It is called "Where's The Play?" 'Boys, baseball and the power of America's pastime' For those who have not read the drafts yet (which is nearly everyone), the saying, "Where's the Play?" is a pivotal part of the book and has great meaning. Hopefully, it translates well enough to someone who hasn't read the book too.???...???

Anyway, I have already sent in my first 'query letter' also and got my first REJECTION back...Ugh. Oh well, as one of my daughter's said, it just means I'm that much closer to the 'yes.' Letter! I have sent in another query letter, but don't have too much hopes on it, as it was an application you send in via their online template and I messed up when I did it online and submitted it before I could send in my contact info. I then had to resubmit w/my contact info. I'm sure this didn't look very good. I haven't heard back from them, but it's only been 10 days and they say if they like it that it will be at least 2 to 4 weeks before you'll hear from them (otherwise, you won't hear from them). We'll see. I will probably send some more query letters out in the next week just for fun and see what happens though. If I don't have any luck in the next couple months, I'll probably self-publish. That's it for now, gotta go! Wish me luck!