On Dedications and Acknowledgements

I thought I'd write a little blog post on these two often overlooked parts of a book: The Dedication and The Acknowledgements pages. Maybe not everyone cares about these two pieces, maybe not every book has them, maybe they're not essential to the enjoyment of reading a book but for an author (and sometimes a reader) these two things can add another layer to the story. A personal slant that can give some insight into the author's thoughts and feelings when writing that book.

Before I began writing, I never used to think much about, or necessarily even read, the dedication or acknowledgement pages. Well, perhaps the dedication because it was at the beginning of a book and maybe only consisted of a few lines. But half the time the dedication was so cryptic: e.g. For L.M. Huh? Who was/is L.M. ? What kind of influence did they have on the author? Was it their wife? Maybe it was the librarian at the public library? Who knew? Sometimes the dedication was more personal and offered a little tease like: For Alice. The woman who changed my life. Really? Again, who is Alice and how, exactly did she change the author's life?

Maybe I'm just an overly curious person. I know a dedication is a very personal thing. Maybe it's best that a dedication be cryptic. Maybe the person being dedicated to is very private and doesn't want their name splashed over the pages of a book. There is no rule that says the author has to explain anything about who he/she is dedicating the book to and why. Still, I kind of like to know. When I dedicated ILLEGALLY BLONDE I wrote the dedication to my parents both in Portuguese and English so that they understood why I was dedicating it to them. But, again, that was a personal choice.

The Acknowledgement page is a different beast altogether. I've read some beautifully crafted words that acknowledge the special people who have influenced or inspired the author in their writing. I've also read just a long listing of names that have no meaning for me whatsoever but, with space constraints, maybe a listing was all the author could do. I'm sure the author at least wanted to make note of all the people who have had some role in making the book come to fruition - whether with research, moral support or as part of the publishing team. Again, how an author wishes to acknowledge the people involved in their personal or writing life is up to them but in the case of acknowledgements, I feel like cryptic or a long list of names doesn't work.

Now that I'm an author I often read the acknowledgement page with as much interest as the book itself. Sometimes, an author will give the reader a little story as to how/why they wrote the book or who inspired them. Maybe the issue in the book has touched them personally in some way. Also, from a purely selfish publishing perspective, I love to read the acknowledgements that authors give to their editors or agents. Those shout-outs can tell a prospective author a lot about who they would love to work with in future. I find that in debut novels the acknowledgements page can go on for quite a bit. But that's understandable - who knows if a writer will ever get another chance to publish their thanks?!

I've just finished writing the dedication and acknowledgements for my second book, THE BREAK. For some reason this time it was harder. My dedication for the book is not to one particular person but is more generic in nature and it gave me a lot of trouble for being only one line in length! My acknowledgements were easier but I still fretted about acknowledging some of the same people I did in ILLEGALLY BLONDE while saying something different to them. I also acknowledged people who have passed away and hope I did it with caring and respect and didn't make it too maudlin. What I always worry about the most is the people who I have NOT acknowledged. Many of my friends and family may not be identified specifically but since I like to acknowledge a name with a statement as to why they're being acknowledged if I named everyone I'd have an Acknowledgement book not a page. Ah, well. I wouldn't be me if I didn't fret about something.

So, what do you think about it? Are Dedications and Acknowledgements important? Or do you not think about/notice them at all?

A Hit Book Series - Is the World Your Oyster or are you Pigeon-holed?

I just read this article about Jeff Kinney and his musings on life and writing with the Diary of a Wimpy Kid franchise going stronger than ever. He describes the surreal moment of seeing his main character Greg Heffley as a giant helium balloon floating over him in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and he mused

"That was a real moment of joy, along with a feeling of ‘It can’t possibly get any bigger than this.’"

He's working on the sixth Wimpy Kid book now, which by any stretch of the imagination is a wonderful, every-writer-wants-this-kind-of-success, story. And yet, Mr. Kinney said he'd also like to write a non-Greg sitcome and feature film. "“I don’t want Wimpy Kid to be my one thing.”

Which brings up an interesting question: Does a mega successful series mean it will be harder or easier to do something else? Will you be pigeon-holed for life? And always found wanting?

Of course not, you say. There are many examples of writers writing other things beyond their successful series or novels. But what are the odds that the next thing you write would be just as successful as that hit series? The expectations from readers are huge. Writing that Wimpy Kid, Percy Jackson, Hunger Games or, the mother of all hit series, Harry Potter, is like catching lightning in a bottle - so rare, so once in a lifetime, that writing two hit book series is a rare, rare beast. But who cares, you say? That author got five, six or seven books out of this lightning. Years of being a successful writer. Mega bucks. Mega fame. Complete nirvana. And yet…

Would that kind of fame and success be stifling creatively? I mean we all know what happened to Harper Lee (author of To Kill a Mockingbird) right? And that was just one book that did it to her. Having a series success, a series success that builds with each book mind you, that has to be even more stifling and stress-inducing. You've spent years only writing about these characters, this one world, questions must enter the authors mind when the series is over like: Will I ever be able to write another story? Will it ever be as big as the one before? Will anyone accept another character's world as they did the first one?

I know how hard it is to emerge from even one story and then start another so I can't imagine spending YEARS writing about the same characters and then, all of a sudden, switching to completely different ones. The worry about repeating things/character types because they've become so ingrained in your writing repertoire must always be lurking at the back of the author's mind. I know the last time I read an interview with J.K. Rowling she was writing an adult crime/mystery novel I think. Maybe the answer is to go off with a completely different genre like she's doing and keep challenging yourself as an artist by trying new and different things. But I haven't heard anything about a new J.K. Rowling book coming out. And Stephanie Myers seems to have become a recluse. Hmmm.

I guess what's important to remember is, as Mr. Kinney said, as long as what you wrote before doesn't become your 'one' thing, you can appreciate that success and try not to let it defeat you, then keep creating more 'things'. And maybe keep your perspective by not expecting the next thing to be a big thing.

What do you think? Would writing a hit series be the be and end all for you? Or just the end?

Thoughts and Feelings on Becoming a Sophmore Author

I haven't posted much lately about my publishing journey and 'the trying to figure it all out' part (supposedly the purpose of this blog) and I feel a little guilty about that. But since this darn journey is so long and filled with so many hours of sitting by a roadside and waiting for something to happen it doesn't allow for that many scintillating and/or illuminating posts. However, as most of you heard or read about last week, I do finally have some news: my second book titled THE BREAK sold to Great Plains Teen Fiction for publication in Spring 2012!

Here's the PM announcement:
Nelsa Roberto's THE BREAK, in which a teenager is left alone during Spring Break to watch over her beloved, and increasingly forgetful, grandmother and will do anything to stop her from being sent to a retirement home, to Gregg Shilliday and Anita Daher at Great Plains Teen, for publication in Spring 2012, by Kris Rothstein at Carolyn Swayze Literary Agency. kris@swayzeagency.com

And the longer blurb found on my agency's website:

The Break. When Abby Lambert’s parents leave for an emergency Doctors Without Borders mission she knows she’ll have to give up her long-anticipated March Break ski trip with her friends to watch over her grandmother (Nona) Lucia. She doesn’t like it but if she doesn’t stay home she fears her mother will finally commit Nona to the Sunny Haven Community Retirement Home and Abby has no intention of Nona ever leaving her. So begins the craziest week of Abby’s life. She somehow agrees to help out at the very place she’s been trying to avoid – Sunny Haven. And to make her life even more stressful, she has to deal with Kyle DiLuca – the stuck up nephew of Sunny Haven’s owner. But when Nona disappears on a bitter winter night Abby discovers that assumptions aren’t always facts and intentions are only as good as what you can deliver on. Rights Sold: Great Plains Teen, Canada, for spring 2012.

So beyond being obviously thrilled that THE BREAK will be published (I truly do adore this story and the characters so much) what am I feeling about no longer being a debut (newbie) author?

Well, the most overwhelming feeling is one of GRATITUDE. I'm so grateful that Great Plains Teen and my awesome editor, Anita Daher, are behind this story and feel as passionately about it as I do. There is never a guarantee that the next book you write will be received with any enthusiasm. It's all a crap shoot, as we know. To receive the validation that people whom you respect and who know this business and see so many stories believe this one is worthwhile enough to spend their time, effort and money on is very humbling.

Gratitude is closely followed by RELIEF.

Yup, I'm relieved that I'll be published again. I have many stories inside me. I know not all of them will be published but I always have hope that the one I'm writing will be 'it'. But I'm also aware of how very, very hard it is to keep writing in the face of so many amazing books and so many talented writers out there. But as a beginning writer what I have learned is that you need to tune out a little bit of that overwhelming noise that is the publishing world. Keeping the focus on writing stories that you care about is the best thing you can do in trying to get (and keep getting) published. My personal formula for getting published (Passion + Persistence = Published) can be easily applied to Staying Published. There may be months or, more likely, years between books but all you can do is keep writing and keep that passion for writing alive.

The third thing I'm feeling is ANXIETY.

Unfortunately, this feeling doesn't stop the second time around. The excitement of knowing your words will see the light of day is always (for me, anyway) quickly followed by it's ugly sister: anxiety. The sophmore effort has a little more anxiety oomph for me as it has those extra thoughts layered in about trying to do better than your first effort. Why even bother writing if you don't learn from your past mistakes and make your next effort better? Then you start to worry are you repeating yourself? You want to keep the style and your voice consistent so that when someone picks up your books they feel like they are part of a family but, at the same time, you want to stretch and grow as a writer, even if only a little bit. Gah. I know, I know. Just enjoy the fact that it's being published, Nelsa. Sheesh.

I really liken this sophmore experience to being a sophmore in high school. You've gotten over the huge thrill and fear of starting your first year. You've bumped along, made some new friends, made some mistakes but hopefully haven't screwed up too much as you try and navigate the alien landscape before you. Now, in your second year, you kind of know what to avoid, who to trust, you don't get lost as much but there's still so much to learn, still so many things that you haven't experienced yet. It is still a long journey ahead (and you may never graduate!) but, as the old Beatles song goes: "I'll get by with a little help from my friends".

So thanks for listening to my thoughts and, as long as I keep writing, hopefully the journey will continue.

The Best of Times or the Worst of Times?

So, I walk into my local Chapters store a little while ago, one I hadn't been inside for in a while, and discover they've done a major reno. The small, tucked into a corner teen section that used to be there had blown up, moved and placed in a prominent location (taking over the entire back wall that had formerly housed the adult bestsellers). Whoa. How cool was that, I thought? So much more space, so much more prominence. Such an obvious example of how teen fiction has exploded in the last few years. It was both exhilerating and depression-inducing because in that split second I realized how lucky I was to be writing in such a hot medium right now and how brutally hard it is to stand out in an increasingly crowded market.

I've also been reading the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. It's an incredibly fascinating analysis about what makes 'outliers' - those who stand out from the pack or break out because of some amazing talent - so successful. And one of the things that I never thought about is the time in which you are living being so critical in making whatever you work on a success. Sure, I knew about the 10,000 hours of practice (and for writers - writing over a million words) being a large part of your success, but what got me was that sometimes (heck, a lot of times) its not so much how much work you do but just the time in which you are born or when you're living that makes a difference. For example, hockey players born between January and March are more likely to make it to the NHL than those born in later months because they get picked for minor hockey teams more often because they're just physically bigger so they get more practice, people who grew up during the Depression and then started working in the 50's and 60's had much more chance of making it simply because there were fewer of their age group in the population and the economy was booming at the right time.

So it makes me wonder are we in the best of times or worst of times for YA writing? Everyone is writing for the YA market right now because it is booming, but publishers are downsizing because people are supposedly reading less. More people writing YA makes for more competition, which makes for better books (the best of times - for readers anyway), but the economic climate makes it harder to break in or stand out because there are less publishers and less retail space to house those books and the competition is fierce (the worst of times).

Sigh. It's enough to make a poor YA writer nuts. But, like when I was born, I can't control the climate within which I happen to be writing. Maybe I might have had an easier time if I'd sold my first book in the 1990's instead of 2010. But, then again, would I want to be published when not many people were noticing YA and would I have been published because there weren't that many teen books out there then? Isn't competition a good thing, anyway? Upping your game is always worthwhile, right?

So then why did the sight of all those teen books make me wilt a little bit? Ah, well. Nothing worthwhile ever comes easy, right folks? :)

Link to an Awesome Blog Post

I don't often link to other blog posts because I'm a horrible blog visitor. I can go long stretches of time without visiting or discovering other blogs and, most of the time, I find that I'm usually quite late to the game and everyone has already discovered, visited, commented or otherwise discussed the blog or blog post in question so there's really nothing more I can add to the issue/discussion.

But today I finally visited the blog of Sarah Davies the principal agent at Greenhouse Literary and her October 5th blog post was filled with such wonderful, practical and hopeful advice to writers I just had to share it with you (and I'll make a point to visit there more often). It's the kind of thoughtful post that will resonate with so many writers (or anyone who is endeavouring to accomplish an almost impossible pursuit)that it should be shared as widely as possible. It really did put things in perspective for me and is a reminder of what we set out to do with our writing and what we should be getting out of this perilous and fraught with angst endeavor.

Enjoy the post, thanks to Ms. Davies for writing it and Happy Canadian Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canucks out there!

A Kipling Moment

Limbo and What it Does to Your Head

And I'm not talking about the dance game.

I'm IN limbo. So many things are up in the air, waiting to hear about things, waiting to start things, just a general state of limbo. Not just with writing but with homelife too. And it's seriously messing with my head and my already less than patient attitude.

I've mentioned before that we're on the cusp of a major renovation. We've been on this cusp so long I've worn a groove in it from the pacing. I've also got a few things out there in the writing arena and with the expected summer slow down in publishing I figure I'll be waiting a while on those things too. I swear, some days the groove is quickly becoming a pit. Sometimes it feels like I'll never get out of this limbo. I even looked up the definition of the word to see if it captured this frustrated, helpless, trapped feeling I'm living with:

LIMBO (of limbus limbo, fr. L, border - more at LIMP) 1 often cap: an abode of souls that are according to Roman Catholic theology barred from heaven because of not having received Christian baptism 2 a: a place or state of restraint or confinement b: a place or state of neglect or oblivion (proposal kept in …) c: an intermediate or transitional place or state

Oh, yeah, baby. Captured what I'm feeling times a bazillion.

Sometimes I do actually feel like I am physically constrained and, in my worst moments, believe I am being neglected/obliterated. But what I really should focus on is that Limbo is also that last definition: an intermediate or transitional place or state. In a real life example I can relate to: Limbo is the time you spend in an airport waiting for the flight to get you to that really awesome island vacation destination. I hate airports but they are a necessary evil in order to get me to that ultimate destination. They may be boring, even stressful, maybe downright uncomfortable but they are, above all else, TRANSITIONAL. Which leads me to another definition:

TRANSITION: a passage from one state,stage, subject, or place to another.

Or, better yet:

a movement, development, or evolution from one form, stage or style to another).

Yes, I like that. I'm not in Limbo. I'm in Transition - my house will evolve from its old leaking, dysfunctional shape to a beautiful, made for our family work of art. My writing is evolving from one form (submitted proposals) to one day accepted, publishable, real life books.

Now if only someone could tell me how long I'll be in Transition. And what I can do to make this airport more comfortable...

Making Choices and Taking Control

When I started this journey to becoming a writer I believed that, in many ways, I would be powerless in the big machine that is the publishing industry. Writers often feel like it's other people who have the control over their destiny - over whether their book succeeds or fails, over whether they get a contract or not, get an agent, etc. More often than not, it feels like you don't have much choice over how things turn out. But after thinking about this a little more (and having a great discussion with the fabulous writers Helaine Becker and Claudia Osmond last night at the torkidlit tweet-up)I really don't believe that's true. I think writers have more control or choice in the direction our career takes than we believe.

The biggest choice writers make is the choice to be a writer. No one held a gun to our heads and made us take this path. And no one is holding that gun to our heads now. So when we complain about how hard and unforgiving this profession is - make a choice. Keep writing or don't. You're in control of that.

Some writers feel trapped in unpleasant or unfulfilling relationships with their agents or their critique groups or whatever. There is a choice there too. If you need to change your situation it is your choice to do so. No one said every decision would be easy. Heck, even choosing between two good things is hard. But, again, the point is that you can take control of your life by making a choice. And by choosing to do nothing that is also a choice. But don't say you can't control your outcome and then feel defeated by the situation.

Some writers talk about how their book wasn't publicized enough or it was lost on the shelves. What kind of choice do we as writers have there? Well, writers can try and market it as much as they can on their own - a choice many writers take. Some target a more manageable PR and marketing plan like developing an online network of writers who can support and publicize each other's books. Others let the fates - and the public - decide on whether the book will be found. That again is a choice. Whatever the outcome - success in book sales or not - you have still taken some control of the situation by making a choice.

Then there are the writers who choose to focus on the next book. Maybe they've decided to make it bigger, better, more commercial, more controversial, more this or that - whatever they choose to focus on no one else has decided that direction for them. And this may be the most powerful choice of all. We choose to write what we choose to write. That is completely within our control.

So the next time you think you're a cog in the wheel with someone else turning your life this way and that, think about it. Are you really that powerless? Really?

One of the Neat Things about the Publishing Journey

This will be a short blog post.

No overanalyzing my wip, no motivational 'keep on writing' blurbage, no hockey mom stories, teenage girls and young boy anecdotes, none of that. Just a simple note about one of the pure pleasures of being on the publishing journey for the first time.

The day you find out your book is listed on Chapters/Indigo and Amazon.com

No picture yet but who cares?

My book is available for pre-order.

Holy crap. In a totally good way of course.

What makes you buy a book? Cover, Blurb, Recommendation or Review?

I ask this question because I'm really fascinated by the whole process people go through when choosing what they read. There are just SO MANY BOOKS OUT THERE! How on earth do you choose?? I know that, like everything else in publishing, choosing a book is subjective. For me, in the past choosing a book would be a very immediate, personal thing. I'd browse through the bookstore, sometimes picking a book up because the cover called to me, sometimes because the backcover blurb spoke to me. But that was when I had time to browse. As my reading (and choosing what to read) time diminished with each successive child, my book buying selection process changed. Buying a book became more about whether it had been recommended to me by a trusted friend who I knew wouldn't steer me in the wrong direction because I just didn't have the time to spend on a book that wasted those precious few reading hours I had left.

Now, my process has changed yet again. As part of a larger writing community I want to read what that community is writing - to support them for sure, but also to learn and be aware of what works and sometimes doesn't work in the YA and Romance genres. As for reviews and award nominations, I've sometimes been influenced to buy a book because I've read a review or seen a book's been nominated for an especially prestigious award (I bought Beautiful Creatures soley because of the William C. Morris YA Debut award nomination). But those things usually influence me very little.

So here's an interesting question to all my writer friends: if you had to choose, which would you want the most for your book: a great cover and blurb, word of mouth recommendations or awesome reviews/awards? Sure, sure, it would be nice to have them all. But you have to choose only one.

Me? I think I want that "She told two friends, and they told two friends" kind of buzz and momentum. You know - the kind of publicity you can't buy. I'm still very happy with my book cover, for sure. But friend to friend recommendation? That would be awesome.

Why Waiting is Sometimes A Good Thing

First of all, let me be quite clear - I hate waiting. Hated it since I was a kid and my mom would be puttering around the house doing God knows what while the rest of us waited in the car knowing we'd be inevitably late for whatever event we were headed to. I despised walking in after something started with all eyes on us and everybody thinking, "Finally. Now we can eat." (Note: My Portuguese family didn't like waiting to get started in on the food.)

I think that's what made me become the chronic early arriver I am now. I am always at least 15 minutes early to doctor's appointments, meet ups with friends, etc. My clocks at home are set five minutes fast just to get my chronically late family out the door just a little bit faster (and, just as an aside, what giant cosmic joke has been played on me that not only was I raised by a chronically late arriver I am now surrounded by two out of three offspring and one husband with the same disease? /rant ). Yes, all in all, I'd say one of the great beliefs of my life has always been that faster is better, waiting sucks and life's too short to spend twiddling your thumbs waiting for stuff to happen.

You know where this is leading, don't you? Yup. That kind of blanket belief is ripe for a challenge. Through my writing journey I've learned that early is not necessarily better all the time. And taking your time can be a very good thing sometimes.

We all know publishing is a slow business - g-l-a-c-i-a-l-l-y sloooooooow. I wonder how I've stuck it out for as long as I have knowing my little personality quirk. But I have learned to appreciate the time it takes to get things done in this industry. Take, for example, the fact that once a book is acquired it takes about a year to have it released (let's not get into how long it takes to get a book acquired - that's a whole other level of waiting). Sometimes less, sometimes more but on average you've got about a year if you're lucky. Some writers have to wait almost two years to get a slot on the publishers list. Yes, that year or two can be excrutiating wait for that final step in the journey. Especially when you've got friends and family members regularly asking you: "When's you're book coming out?" (insert Nelsa grinding teeth here)

I've got about five months to go until Illegally Blonde is released and now I can say I'm really glad it took this amount of time. I'm waiting for the last final proof to arrive from the publisher and I'm not going to rush going over those pages (well, if I'm given a day to look over them then I'll rush! :). But now, more than ever, it is a time to savour the book - before it's released. It is, in a weird kind of way, my last time to 'own' it. This year long wait has been my opportunity to get used to the idea of being published. It's been a time to prepare myself for the book being out there - for me being out there to promote it as best I can. People are starting to ask what I'm going to do about the book launch and I tell them I'm not sure yet. I'm taking time to sort ideas out in my head. There's nothing concrete yet but, for once, I'm taking my time to figure it out. I'm sure when the release comes everything will seem super speeded up so I'm not complaining about the wait now. I kind of appreciate it.

I've definitely learned that slow isn't necessarily always bad, that rushing to or through something can lead to mistakes (especially speeding tickets), that taking the time to savour the moment - to really think about where you are now and where you want to be - is something everyone should learn to appreciate. For me, this year long wait for the book to come out has been a good thing.

Now, if I could just learn to appreciate how long it takes my son to get himself dressed in the morning...

Will Worries Never Cease?

Okay, so I've worked really hard for the last seven years learning the craft of writing. I've gone through the ups and downs of submitting my work, taking classes, going to workshops and conferences, getting form rejections, getting personalized rejections, getting really nice comments that gave me hope and the inspiration to continue, getting so close I could taste it offers, then finally getting an offer from an agent, and then finally -finally - getting a publishing contract. So, you'd think I'd be on a constant cloud nine of "Yes!! Now I can't sit back and enjoy the fruits of my hard labour! Bring on the wine and potato chips!"

Uh, not so much.

Instead of blithely skipping through the next few months in happy anticipation of seeing my book published what am I doing? I'm stressing about the fact that my book is going to be out there in less than a year. That people may (gasp!) actually, you know, READ it??? That my friends and family will see what I've been working on for years and think THIS is what she's spent so much time on? Or worse, have this polite little smile on their faces as they say, "Oh, it was very nice." Or even worse - what if they say nothing about it at all? Or, catastrophe of all catastrophes, what if my teenage daughters - voracious readers and not ones to mince words, and whose good opinion I seek -hate it? Ugh. I get nauseous at the thought.

But it seems I'm not alone in these insiduous, worrisome thoughts. There was a discussion about it on Verla Kay's blueboards and the thought of publication - of 'being out there' - is pretty scary for a lot of writers. It's not that I'm not excited and proud of my book. I very much am. But the worry that someone will find something wrong with it can really start to eat away at the pleasure and thrill of getting published. I hope that this is just another process in the publishing journey I have to go through - much like learning about something new in the writing craft. I'm discovering that publishing is a whole different beast than writing. They are two separate yet parallel roads I'm travelling on. I've been on the writing road for quite a while now so I'm very familiar with all the pot holes there. The publishing road?? I'm driving very slowly with the hazard lights on… All I can say is thank god for the calm support of my editor and agents. I'd be seriously lost without them.

So, even if I'm not enjoying the wine and chips at the moment I hope by the time Illegally Blonde is published I will have passed through this particular road safely so I can enjoy a drink once I reach the finish line. By then, I have a feeling I'll definitely need one.

The Family Has Split Up

Relax. It's not as bad as the title sounds! The boys (hubby and son) are in Montreal. They went to cheer on the Canadians in the third game of the playoffs against the Boston Bruins. Unfortunately, the Habs lost but it was close for a while. The boys, I'm sure had a good time. They'll be coming home tomorrow.

The girls and I stayed home. Unfortunately, between schoolwork and me filling out my author's questionnaire, we didn't have as much fun as the boys. We would have loved to have gone to see 17 Again with Zac Efron (yes, I admit it. He looks totally cute in this movie) but the combination of all the work we had to do - which is why I'm typing this blog post at 12:45 in the morning) and the suddenly crummy weather here (rainy, windy and COLD again! Is there no justice??) has kept us home bound.

Have to say, answering all those questions quite wiped me out. Maybe it was to prepare me for the revision letter. Which is still. to. come. GAh.

A couple of cool things...

For some reason I missed the announcement of Illegally Blonde when it appeared in Canada's national publishing magazine, Quill and Quire. I'm really happy with this one - especially since it is the 'home' announcement! Here it is

Great Plains Publications publisher Gregg Shilliday and YA editor Anita Daher have acquired Canadian rights to a teen novel by Nelsa Roberto. Illegally Blonde is the story of what a rebellious Toronto teen does when her family is threatened with deportation to their native Portugal. Great Plains plans to publish in spring 2010. The deal was arranged by Kris Rothstein, an associate agent with the Carolyn Swayze Literary Agency

I swear, I will never get tired of reading that. I'm a geek, I know.

Okay, the other cool thing was that I received my official author's questionnaire from the publisher. Holy cow, they ask a lot of questions. But even though I'm stressing to make sure I provide them with what they need and not have an author's bio that makes me sound like a total doofus it's still pretty cool that I'm even getting a chance to fill out an author's questionnaire! And that the publisher even cares what I think. Me. I'm stressed, and thrilled and feeling surreal, all at once.

Is this how I'm going to feel the rest of the year? I better start doing yoga...

The Post Where I Actually Write the Words ...I Sold the Book!

This is something I've waited a long time to write and sometimes never thought I would write. So let me linger here for a moment in anticipation ... there. Long enough. Way, way long enough. Here's the announcment as it appeared in Publisher's Marketplace:

Canada Children's
Nelsa Roberto's ILLEGALLY BLONDE, when a woman comes home with newly bleached blonde hair she expects a major lecture from her strict Portuguese parents but instead she is shocked by the revelation that her family are illegal aliens who are being deported from Toronto in less than a week, to Anita Daher and Gregg Shilliday at Great Plains, for publication in Spring 2010, by Kris Rothstein at Carolyn Swayze Literary Agency.kris@swayzeagency.com

Now, despite the mistake (the announcement should have said young woman - it's a YA) I'm still thrilled to see this announcement, still thrilled that this book (having come soooo close to publication a couple of times) will now be published. My editor (eep. another first to write!) loved the book and is very excited to be working with me on it. Great Plains Teen Fiction is a small Canadian publisher who started off primarily publishing regional non-fiction but are excited about expanding into the YA fiction line nationally (they've also launched a new literary imprint as well). I feel very supported by their plans for the book and know their enthusiasm will translate into a wonderful experience for me and the book that is so very close to my heart.

So how did it all go down? I won't go into the long process of getting my agent with the query letter for Illegally Blonde (deserving of its own post one day) and all of the ups and downs of submission and my own self-doubts about whether I'd ever make it as a writer. I'll fast forward to almost two years to the day when I'd signed with the Swayze agency and agent Kris leaving me a message on the phone in late February saying she'd try to to get hold of me the next day but that she'd sent me an email. I knew something was up. Agents NEVER call you unless it's important news - usually, you hope, good. So when I read her email and the words that Great Plains loved the book and wanted to publish it in Spring 2010 I almost fell off the chair. The next few weeks of negotiations and contracts signing seemed to crawl by and my first talk with Anita remains a bit of a blur in my memory. Although I did manage to grasp the words -"a wonderful coming of age story. You made me fall in love with romance again" - as well as her abiding enthusiasm for this book of my heart as well and her assurance that the revision letter would not be as horrible as I feared made my normally high anxiety levels calm considerably. So while all this was happening, and until the announcement was public I could say nothing. So very, very hard.

But it's all out there now. So's my name and picture on the agency website. Another weird experience for me. I hope everything goes well. I hope that dipping my foot into the big pond of publishing leaves me wanting more and not wanting to pull back because it's too cold. But what I hope, most of all, is that my book resonates with some readers. That it finds a home and tells the story I wanted told.

So, there it is. My book sold.

Can you believe it???