I stirred a bowl of melted chocolate chips and patted water off of the strawberries. Girl's night at the Mack's has always consisted of chick flicks and chocolate chips in some form or other, and tonight was no exception.
"Well," I sighed, dipping a berry into the chocolate. "I haven't actually touched it in weeks. I mean, I got a letter from a publisher..."
"That's good!" Josie smiled.
"It's a self-publisher. The oldest one in the U.S., so that's cool. They got my name from the Library of Congress after I copyrighted the book, but self-publishing feels like settling. Expensive settling."
"How much would it cost to publish with them?"
"$6,000 if I'm lucky. $10,000 if I'm not. It depends on how many prints I want."
"Ow! Sami, that's a lot!"
"Yeah. A lot of money I don't have. I don't know, Josie. I haven't been faithful to write to agents. I got a few rejections and then decided I would try later, but I haven't tried. I think God's trying to encourage me to try again."
Josie handed me a plate for the dripping strawberry. "You should," she said. "You should try."
In all honesty, it wasn't rejection or wounded pride that kept me from trying again. It was that danged laziness. It was the effort of constructing more letters for more agents with varying demands and rules of submission. Some agents wanted emails; some wanted snail mail; some require a synopsis; others didn't care. After writing a full novel and editing it multiple times, I was tired. It's exhausting work, and so is chasing down someone to bring your work to light.
Last Saturday, I was rummaging through one of the many piles of books that clutter my room. I believe in Spring Cleaning regularly...like once a month. It doesn't need to be spring, and living with so many books creates a dust problem. As I lifted a copy of Keats, a small flyer slipped from underneath the book's cover. This isn't unusual for me; I tend to stuff cards, sermon notes, and lists in my books. This artifact was a glossy card-stock advertisement. On the cover was a painting of a woman in a red shawl reading in a stone room, and in scrolling font were the words "Unicorn Writer's Conference 2012."
Unicorns? Writer's Conferences? Both were delightful works of lofty fantasy as far as I was concerned.
Every successful or ambitious writer I've ever spoken to has recommended attending a conference. It's an opportunity to network, speak with agents, receive feedback. All of that is well and grand, only most conferences cost thousands of dollars to attend and are in absurd places like California (which is only absurd if you live no where near California). Besides, its 2013 now, for Heaven's sake! So, I set the card aside, and went back to dusting.
Then another piece of paper fell out of another book. In my own handwriting was a verse I scrawled when I was walking through a hard month. Joshua 1:6-9
6 Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.
7 Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper withersoever thou goest.
8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
9 Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
Be strong...good courage...be not afraid neither be thou dismayed. God is with thee whithersoever thou goest...
Ok. Just for kicks, right? I opened my laptop, and entered the website domain from that colorful piece of card-stock. I don't have thousands of dollars for a conference, but if God wanted to open a door, then He could do it...whithersoever I went-est.
The Unicorn Writer's Conference is meeting this year for a reasonable price ($300!) and it is close enough to my home state for me to justify the journey. I have the opportunity to have my manuscript reviewed by an agent, and then meet with them to discuss it. As if that wasn't enough, the conference is held in a castle. A CASTLE!!!!! Dear friends, I'm now registered to go hang out with other writing nerds, and talk to people who can actually put my book into the right hands. Am I scared? Yes, kind of. Am I tired of sitting on the biggest thing I've ever accomplished and letting it gather dust? Yes. I'm terrified of that. So, we'll see! And I'll keep you in the loop as always.
Praise God and LOVE
I'm so excited for you!
ReplyDeleteyou go girl!!!!!
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