Tag: writing

My Final Copy

I turned in my final copy of the manuscript on November 1, early last week. Now it’s time for the editors to get going on it and find what I might have missed. I really worked hard to do all the corrections and typos and continuity errors, and I thought of one this afternoon I probably left uncorrected–in one particuIar spot, I called Tommy Hebert’s truck a diesel truck–and it’s not. So I need to at least correct that as soon as possible once I get the edited manuscript back. I’m hoping that’s the only glaring thing that’s there. I imagine there may be stylistic discussions, etc. as well. Which I do not mind getting into. If something needs changing to make more sense, etc., by all means, fix it.

I don’t know when those are going to come across–I figure after the new year with the way people usually work during the holidays. It needs to go to print February 1 or thereabouts. I just want the editing process to be smooth and not rushed. So I hope I hear back sometime in December while I am off for the holidays. We will see.

I am starting to turn my mind to my next project, and I think it may be my memoir project rather than any more work on Missing and Mentally Ill in Mississippi. I haven’t gotten any replies on it from the batches I sent out in August and September, and I was too sick to send many queries during October. And most of New York publishing shuts down during the holidays until the second week of January. I have the proposal, and it is still solid.

But I think I am going to invest in rewriting the story of those 24 months between when I told Bob I was pregnant with my youngest daughter and when I was actually diagnosed bipolar. And I can have my stats (if any!) from sales of Hurricane Baby to bolster my case for getting another publishing deal. Not sure exactly when I will get started, but maybe soon, maybe after the new year, maybe after i finish edits for Hurricane Baby. I’m going to start by reading that part of my thesis manuscript again and see what (if anything) I can incorporate from that manuscript to the new one.

Wish me well! Happy writing to you all!

Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing

So if you’ve been on social media for the past couple of days, you’ve probably seen the kerfuffle on this topic. A Famous Author spoke disparagingly recently about those who self-publish rather than get an agent and a Big Five deal. She called self-publishing the “easy way”.

Now, I understand this line of thought. Back in the 2000s, self-publishing was synonymous with vanity presses, those you paid to simply print your book for you (often at great expense) and left you to your own devices to sell a few copies and be able to say you wrote a book. Often, they were riddled with grammatical errors and looked very unprofessional to the savvy readers’ eye.

However, that’s no longer the case with the current generation of writers. Many act as their own publisher, hiring editors, book designers, publicists, printers, and other professionals to aid them–or taking the initiative to do all of these jobs themselves and–most importantly–keep all their profits from sales.

I knew I didn’t have the expertise or desire to incorporate and run my own publishing business. So I opted to pursue a small press or university press deal, where I wouldn’t be too busy doing all the technical work to publish a book to be able to write the next one.

Self-publishing is also democratizing and diversifying the publishing trade. The Big Five have a problem common to multinational corporations–appealing to the lowest common denominator to make a quick buck or billion. But very little of that money goes to the author–most is eaten in taxes, agent commissions, and other expenses of the publisher.

I was blessed to find a regional press that published what I was selling–a book of Southern literature, a short story collection, a book set in recent past. They take care of the technical details, and I set my own publicity schedule, going where my book is likely to find an audience. As far as I am concerned, it’s a win-win.

Writing a book is a big accomplishment. Finding an agent and a publisher is darn near impossible for someone just starting out. The main thing for an author to watch out for is someone who wants to draw you into spending a lot of money and have very little to show for it afterwards–agents who charge upfront fees, publishers who hoodwink you into a ironclad contract then take you to the cleaners for expenses, editors who want to turn your book into something other than what you meant to write.

But making the choice to self-publish, with your eyes open to the demands that path entails, is often a case of getting a book out into the world that is everything you wanted it to be. And that’s not as “easy” as some might think.

Working Through Setbacks

(I wound up in the hospital ER last Sunday afternoon so that was why I did not post.)

But once I got home, I started back working through my printed manuscript. I am working through my big continuity problem–I had aged Mike and Dinah Seabrook, up to where they were in their early fifties. Guess what I forgot to do?

Age their kids.

I had them with a two-year-old boy and two elementary-age girls.

So now I stepped Mike and Dinah down to in their mid-forties and put all three of the kids in middle school. I remember how stupid I felt once I realized what I had done! I guess I was just very very lucky it wasn’t caught by this publisher’s reader and rejected. (That may have been the trouble all along!)

So I am editing the old-fashioned way–notes in the margins, etc. Once I finish this once-over today, I’ll have plenty of time after I get this health issue straightened out to make the changes in the final manuscript and be done with this stage.

Of course, there’s no telling what’s going to happen once a project editor gets hold of it. I am just trying to get it in the best shape I know how, then take their edits and make it even better!

Next week: talking about cover images! Can’t wait!

Hurricane Baby The Play Update!

So when I signed my book contract, I made sure to keep the rights to Hurricane Baby, the play. And the Mississippi Repertory Theatre (which has gone through a lot of drama in the past few months) sent me a message yesterday that it plans to go ahead with a staged reading in Oxford, Mississippi soon, dates about to be determined!

So knowing what I know now, I said I wanted to work on it a bit and give them a clean script tomorrow. So that is my job today.

The artistic director said they were looking at doing a new plays festival in Oxford in 2025 with a full production. I told him about the book release, and he said something to the effect that he’d like to tie the play to the book’s release. So a lot of things have to happen for that to occur; so I need to see what develops in the future.

It seems that I’m going to be my own publicist, so I need to make a list of what all needs to be done between here and the book’s release. I know I want to go toa few bookstores in Mississippi and Louisiana, I hope to do the Louisiana Book Festival and the Mississippi Book Festival and the Welty Symposium, so I need to work on those avenues closer to the book’s release. Any other publicity needs to start about four months before the book’s release date.

So that is where that project is at. Can you tell I am still excited? Happy all the way through.

To God be the Glory!

I. SOLD. HURRICANE. BABY!

Deets: We had come home from church on last Sunday and I was checking my email when I saw Madville Publishing’s message. I had sent the book to them August 15, and they said it would be a few weeks before I heard back from them.

I was bracing for a rejection.

Instead, Kimberly Davis, the publisher, told me their reader had loved the book, and they wanted to make an offer on it and publish it in August 2024 and told me the terms of their standard contract.

I thought. Twenty publishers still had the book, most of whom I had submitted it for contest consideration. But there were still a few where I had simply answered open calls. So I asked for time to contact some other publishers to see if they wanted to counteroffer. I asked if I could wait until Wednesday to decide. I got the okay for that.

Both publishers I contacted said they were not in a position to counteroffer. So I accepted the offer and got a contract to sign. I asked to retain the rights to Hurricane Baby the play. She said that was fine.

I asked a publishing friend to look at the offer to see if it was fair. We discussed it, and he mentioned some of the finer points to look into, and I took his advice. The contract was modified, and I signed it on Thursday afternoon right before dinner.

The first person I told was my husband, Bob, the day they made the offer. I also told my parents after I drove up to see them that same day. My dad just about fell out of his chair. Then I sent the news out to people who had already agreed to blurb it and sent the book when they said they were still willing to do so. Over the week, I shared with other people who were important to me and knew the story of how long I had been involved in this project and supported me through it.

To say I have been stunned at how quickly it has happened is an understatement.

But really, it came right when it was supposed to. I am free to travel on weekends to promote the book. My kids are out of school and more or less on their own. I am in such a better mental headspace than I was when I first started trying to market it.

You all reading have been a part of their journey also. Thanks for reading and for your support. In my intent to demystify the writing process and the journey, I will continue posting here about writing, the craft, the business, and the ups and downs of selling a debut.

And lastly, I welcome God’s intervention in my life to accomplish this. I am going to follow through on my pledge to the church. And I will give him praise whenever possible for this miracle I had just about given up on ever receiving. Thanks for reading!

The Triumph of Hope Over Experience

The above is part of a quote often attributed to Oscar Wilde about second marriages. I like to think it applies to writers trying to get their work published as well. We get rejection after rejection, but we keep pressing on, hoping to find that one fit, that place where our words are welcomed and shared with the world.

That leads into my latest update about Hurricane Baby:

Queries sent–69

Rejections-49

Places still considering–20

Places left to send to-2

I got three rejections in a row this week. Dampened my spirits a bit. But not as much as usual.

It’s been on submission now for a year. I will send it to another press on September 30 and yet another on October 1. Then I am going to stop. I will have sent to 71 publishers by then.

I don’t know how many people I will have heard back from by October 1. Not all of them, I’m sure. And I will just wait on the rest.

In the meantime, I will continue sending Missing and Mentally Ill in Mississippi’s proposal to agents. So far, I have sent to twelve agents and heard back from four, with the waiting period having passed on one other. That’s seven agents still considering it.

I’m not sure I will keep sending it out as long as I have Hurricane Baby. I am sending queries out weekly for it so far and plan to continue until at least the end of the year.

Hope is less fragile that it seems. It’s less a soap bubble and more a spiderweb in my heart at this point. I will continue persisting. And that’s a good thing at this point.

Wishful Thinking? Or Divine Instruction?

I did something this morning that I’m sure most of you will find incredibly silly or misguided or stupid. But I did it, and now I feel like I should share it.

Scripture tells the faithful to put the Lord to the test in our finances–commit to big things in his name, and he will meet us in that commitment and provide.

My church is doing a fundraising campaign. The particulars aren’t important. But today was the pledge day for it. And as clear as day, before the preacher even started talking, I heard God telling me to write on the pledge card that I would give my first book advance to the church.

This thought had never occurred to me before. I didn’t even know it was a pledge day until I got there in the sanctuary and saw the pledge cards.

Not a dollar amount, not a certain percentage of the money I already have, but something that I’ve questioned very much recently if I will ever receive.

I really wrestled with this throughout the service. Was I trying to manipulate God into doing something that wasn’t in his will for me? Was I selfishly asking him to bless my efforts at publication but dressing it up in religious language? Was I looking for glory for myself rather than for him?

Because God looks at the heart. Was I was asking for a miracle to quell my feelings of failure and inadequacy? Was I asking God to do something I wanted badly and just tacking on that I would give the money to the church in an effort to deceive myself about my own motives? Was I evading giving anything at all by hinging my pledge on something so farfetched?

I didn’t get that question answered during service. I just obeyed by writing that on the card and dropping it in the box they asked us to put our cards in.

I caught myself thinking that I’m sure whoever read the card would have a good laugh about what I said. Maybe even tell everyone on staff.

But then I thought: What a testimony it would be if it came true! A testimony not to my work or talent, because that surely hasn’t gotten me very far at this point. But a testimony to God’s power that anything is possible if it brings glory to him.

That’s how I need to think–how can I bring glory to his name. And so that’s what I’m going to do. You read it here first.

Writing Retreat

Last weekend I went to a writing retreat sponsored by Mississippi Christian Living, a magazine I used to write for way back in the 2000s. It was a lot of fun!

I got to meet Susan Cushman, an author whose career I’ve been keeping up with for a long time–she was the keynote speaker. She published a book with University Press of MS about writing, which I have read, and I won one of her books today as a door prize so that was fun.

During lunch I had some time to talk to her and we turned out to know a lot of the same people, of course. We talked about what we were each working on and that was fun to hear about.

I got to talk to another one of the authors as well just as we were leaving but not for as long as Susan.

We did writing exercises, and some people were not really serious about writing. They wanted to talk about writing, but when it came time to write, they didn’t do it. Weird.

I’ve noticed there are a lot of people like this–they love to read, they love to talk about books, but then they start talking about how they would like to write a book and ask another writer for tips and pointers. Sometimes they even go to college and study creative writing and even get an MFA. But they just like to talk about their plans to write and what keeps them from writing–kids, a job, grandkids, other hobbies, husbands, etc.

I spent six of the most miserable years of my life working a job I hated and not writing after I finished grad school the first time. I didn’t want that to happen again this time. I have worked hard to integrate writing into my life again and even at the bleakest points, kept writing. Blogging was a big part of that. But working to focus, sit down, and write the thing is the best decision a writer can make. Success breeds success. And as Neil Gamian says, finished projects turn into published projects.

So to all those out there who keep talking about writing but don’t do it, i leave you with Toni Cade Bambara’s observation that writing is going to cost you something–that anything worth doing is going to have a cost. And there’s the advice from Gabino Iglesias: “Many people have a book in them, but it takes a special kind of freak to leave the Land of Laziness, cross the Plains of Procrastination and Insecurity Mountain, find the Blade of No One Made You Do This, and use it to cut your chest open and yank that book out.”

Progress!

So far I have typed 3000 words on my current work-in-progress. I’ve done the writing sprints with my MFA buddy Shannon and am making progress past my initial fear about taking such a project on. When I start I just think, “It’s only for an hour.” And I just write!

The more I write the more excited I get and the more daunting it gets, but I’m not letting myself think it’s a book; I’m treating each chapter like a newspaper article. That’s helping, too.

I can’t wait to get back to it Monday night!

Bucket List Visit

We went on a trip to Wisconsin for summer vacation and as a side trip, we stopped in Madison and visited a former professor of mine from when I was at Mississippi State University; he’s now at University of Wisconsin-Madison. We haven’t seen each other in thirty years, but we’ve stayed in touch on and off through that time (basically the whole time the Internet was being invented around us).

We had a great visit, and at the end of it, he said something that will stick with me, I think. He said he admired my persistence and always had.

That will keep me going for a while.