While we traveled around the US, I got into a good habit of journaling at least every few days. It was a nice way to preserve our experience and keep people informed of where we were and what we were doing. I have all of those journals still in Word. I hope someday that they might become the basis for a book or a series of articles. I even continued into the first few months of moving to England, but I've let that fall by the wayside. My excuse was that I began a correspondence writing course, but one of the basic rules of writing is that you should write every day, and I did for a while, but life gets in the way, and it's easy not to.
So this is my renewed effort, made so easy by Google. I hope to share what is going on with our lives, generate ideas for stories, and make sense of the ins and outs of the publishing world.
Let me get you up to speed. I have had two articles published. One, called Road Scholars in Highways magazine (the official publication of the Good Sam Club) back in September 2006. And a small craft article on making a rustic angel ornament that should be coming out in the January issue of Crafts n' Things. I got through the non-fiction part of the writing course, and got bored with it, because I got the hang of how to submit work to publishers. Now, I write things that might really stand a chance, instead of assignments. It might turn out to be a mistake. There's probably much more to learn, but I'm raring to get going.
Last year I wrote a middle grade novel for a unpublished writer's fiction contest, called Dillon and Blue's Adventures in the Winter Coat Section. It didn't win the contest, but it gave me the push to put my work out there. I've revised it several times since, identified about twenty potential publishing houses, and am in the process of sending query letters and receiving rejection letters. I've only gotten about four letters back, so there's still hope.
This year, I dusted off a picture book manuscript that I wrote back in 2004, called A Pumpkin Named Jack, and shared it with the kids at Collingtree School during book week. They used the script as a catalyst to illustrate a page, design a cover jacket, do science experiments on gourds, and produce Powerpoint presentations. It re-energized me to see their enthusiasm. There is a picture book contest that I am getting this script ready for. It must be submitted by the end of February. Unfortunately, like all publishing companies, they want to chose the illustrator that they think will bring the book to life. So I may have to settle on author only for this venture. The winner of this contest, whose book gets published, is selected by votes. So stay tuned for instructions on how to cast yours, hopefully for mine.
Lastly, and I was so excited about this, Lark Books had expressed an interest in doing a craft book based on crafting while traveling. They responded to my query letter and asked me to send a proposal, consisting of a table of contents, an introduction, sample crafts and instructions. Unfotunately, I recently got the rejection letter that it was too broad. So I have the choice of refocusing the proposal and resubmitting it, or sending it to other publishers. Perhaps I'll do both. I don't want to let that one get away just yet.
At the writer's conference that I attended, the publishers all said that they always need crafts and seasonal stories, so I think I stand a good chance. Placement in the right hands at the right time is everything.
