Now that the kids are out of school it seems that things haven't really slowed down much. I spent three hours at the car dealer Tuesday, ventured to the beach to support a school fundraiser on Wednesday, attended a summer PTO board meeting (I blinked and found myself as next year's PTO secretary) on Thursday, spent one entire day doing critiques for my local group, HB Critters, and revising a picture book on Friday... and then went to the meeting last night. Whew! What a week!
Meanwhile, in the crevices of my spare time, I've managed to narrow my sights on two publishers that are "for sure" submissions. One publisher printed a book that I connected with so well, that I ordered the book on Amazon that morning, after only hearing only one stanza. Iggy Peck, Architect is one of the most gifted picture books I've ever read. Not only did I connect with it, it challenged me to want to write more and better. After emailing Andrea to let her know about my discovery, she so graciously shared with me some of her favorite authors. The next day, I quickly packed up my three kids and was off to the library. I came home with eighteen picture books of my own... besides what the kids picked out. I learned that Lisa Wheeler is one of my new heroes. Just as Iggy Peck challenged me, I found myself in the middle of the library reading Lisa's Sixteen Cows, and with tears in my eyes I realizing that there are others out there who speak my language; the language of word play in rhyme! Mathematically arranged in perfect meter and rhyme, I've found my new text books... and it's back to college for me!
Since most publishers ask picture book writers to submit the entire manuscript with a cover letter, I didn't anticipate having to do a query for this book. Then, I realized that one of the two publishers I've decided to sub to requires a query before submitting. As a perfectionist, summing up my picture book in one page terrifies me. How can I sum up a 580 word rhyming picture book in one page without just telling the whole story? Thus, another adventure... query crafting research.
I still have several publishers to look into, so I'm not done with the research and narrowing process yet. As my file box sits filled with folders at my feet, neatly organized alphabetically by publishing house, I realize that this writing thing is much more than just... well... writing. The writing business is much more in depth than I'd ever imagined. Thankfully, I love a challenge and the process of learning!
And speaking of... I'm doubly thankful that I have a wonderful friend and mentor in Brenda Sturgis, an award winning author and poet. She's taken me under her talented wing and is molding me into a best seller... Yay Brenda! Thank you - Thank you... a thousand times, thank you!!!!
Now, I'm off to the beautiful Huntington Beach sand, where we'll do important things like laugh, eat hot dogs and get sand in places I won't mention here.
Meanwhile, in the crevices of my spare time, I've managed to narrow my sights on two publishers that are "for sure" submissions. One publisher printed a book that I connected with so well, that I ordered the book on Amazon that morning, after only hearing only one stanza. Iggy Peck, Architect is one of the most gifted picture books I've ever read. Not only did I connect with it, it challenged me to want to write more and better. After emailing Andrea to let her know about my discovery, she so graciously shared with me some of her favorite authors. The next day, I quickly packed up my three kids and was off to the library. I came home with eighteen picture books of my own... besides what the kids picked out. I learned that Lisa Wheeler is one of my new heroes. Just as Iggy Peck challenged me, I found myself in the middle of the library reading Lisa's Sixteen Cows, and with tears in my eyes I realizing that there are others out there who speak my language; the language of word play in rhyme! Mathematically arranged in perfect meter and rhyme, I've found my new text books... and it's back to college for me!
Since most publishers ask picture book writers to submit the entire manuscript with a cover letter, I didn't anticipate having to do a query for this book. Then, I realized that one of the two publishers I've decided to sub to requires a query before submitting. As a perfectionist, summing up my picture book in one page terrifies me. How can I sum up a 580 word rhyming picture book in one page without just telling the whole story? Thus, another adventure... query crafting research.
I still have several publishers to look into, so I'm not done with the research and narrowing process yet. As my file box sits filled with folders at my feet, neatly organized alphabetically by publishing house, I realize that this writing thing is much more than just... well... writing. The writing business is much more in depth than I'd ever imagined. Thankfully, I love a challenge and the process of learning!
And speaking of... I'm doubly thankful that I have a wonderful friend and mentor in Brenda Sturgis, an award winning author and poet. She's taken me under her talented wing and is molding me into a best seller... Yay Brenda! Thank you - Thank you... a thousand times, thank you!!!!
Now, I'm off to the beautiful Huntington Beach sand, where we'll do important things like laugh, eat hot dogs and get sand in places I won't mention here.
Thanks for sharing my journey,
Jenni
(Photo by NinaOA)
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Greetings from India. Glad I stumbled upon your blog, I'm looking forward to more information and reading. Cheers!