Who would have guessed that when I first penned my first blog some 20 months ago that I’d be able to tell you that earlier this week I signed an agreement to publish my first book!
I’ve been constantly encouraged by the support for my weekly blog and to be honest blown away by the numbers of people who’ve read it and commented on it from the four corners of the globe (47 countries and counting). Just over a generation ago the thought of reading an electronic story written by someone on the other side of the world was a complete fantasy. Now not so much - thank you!
Late last summer I boldly stated that my objective was to publish a book within a year, I felt as though I had to say it out loud otherwise it wasn’t real or perhaps less likely of me following through – I guess by putting myself “on the hook” so to speak, I had to make it happen or face the personal embarrassment of not living up to my promise.
So earlier this year when I started looking for a publisher that would be willing to accept a manuscript from a completely unknown writer (irrespective of my blog), I quickly found out that I was dreaming... That's no longer the way of the world!
To the outside world you might think that it would be a slam-dunk given that my blog has attracted almost 25,000 readers (are you for real?).
What I found out is that for the vast majority of first time authors you need a literary agent to act on your behalf, who would then seek out a publisher for you. It seems as though there are no direct channels for writers to find a publisher and have any hope of getting either a response or impossibly one to agree to take your manuscript to review with no promise of anything else other than perhaps reading it.
Don’t get me wrong I’m not criticizing the industry especially given the explosion in the number of would-be writers and avenues to publish. To be fair the traditional publishers have been under siege from online publishers and self-publishing for a while now and with shrinking ranks makes it a tough place to be so I get it.
Once I understood the landscape I could do one of two things – I could make excuses and choose not publish or I could take matters into my own hands and like the vast majority of new writers self publish.
Before moving forward I had to take a long look in the mirror and ask myself why this was so important to me? I guess I kept coming back to me feeling like I had stories that were itching to be told… Now some of you might think my endeavour a little narcissistic but there are times when you have to suspend all thoughts of what others think of you and your motives and press on, and clearly this was one of those times ☺
The big question for me is “what does success look like?” Well, given my life so far the concept of even publishing a book would be monumentally sufficient, and certainly enough to “tick the box”. That being said, the most likely scenario would be for me to get busy and want to publish again... Did you say “insatiable drive” or was that my outside voice again???
During my research I uncovered a number of self-publishing options and companies, finally settling on FriesenPress.
My master plan is to have my book published and available electronically via a host of online channels in eBook format (Barnes & Noble, Indigo, Kobo, Kindle, also in the Apple and Android stores). As well, to make it available via “print-on-demand” via the web if someone wanted a physical copy, then depending on how successful book sales are I would then contemplate working directly with a bookstore chain to add my book to their in-store inventory. Maybe by then I’ll have another book ready to go.
Clearly there is a lot to do to make this happen, especially with my “a-type” personality…yes, I wanted it done yesterday. So they’re a few important next steps, which are looming that need my immediate attention.
Firstly, I have to take time off work (my real job) so I can concentrate and get the manuscript to a point that I can submit to my copyeditor for review. The timeline is tight, in order to make the Christmas season I have to get my manuscript to them by the end of July – mid August at the latest …pretty ambitious, even by my standards?
This task will be the biggest hurdle to overcome if I’m serious about getting it out the door this year, and to be honest feeling a little nervous about the mountain of writing and re-writing ahead. I know what I’m doing this weekend and for the next few months of spare time...a true labour of love.
At the same time I’ll also be working with an art director and his design team in parallel to get the cover and book layout ready to go – all very exciting stuff. ☺
Surprisingly, I find my writing both soothing and a complete escape from the day-to-day (no not delusional…be nice), interestingly when I haven’t written for a day or two I can’t wait to get in front of my computer and write a story. The vast majority of these short stories aren’t published; in fact few of them I share with anyone but me. I think its the act of writing that I find the greatest pleasure in.
I know many of you are wondering what I’m going to publish? In fact I have three books that are in various states of completeness, so still up in the air to be honest about which one will be finalized.
We’ll have to wait and see…yep, that includes me ☺
Wish me luck and stay tuned, btw – thanks for being the best readers ever and continually encouraging me, I really appreciate it!
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Friday, June 21, 2013
Change of plan
About a month ago we had decided that our first trip since
March break would be to New York.
Although Sami and I had visited last October it had been almost four
years since Zach was here so it was an easy choice.
Alas, the end of season soccer carnival was announced a
couple of weeks ago and Sami’s coaches were expecting that she would be
available…unfortunately it’s this weekend.
When she found out she was a little distraught to say the
least, both frustrated and mad with the late notice….”don’t they know when the
tournament is going to be at the start of the season, so why are they telling
us now?”
 |
| TW outside the Apollo in Harlem earlier today |
This was a great opportunity to let her make the decision, I
asked her questions to get her thinking about the pros & cons of both
staying in Toronto to play in the tournament as well as coming to NY with Zach
and me.
In the end her decision was to stay and play for the team,
which I fully supported, albeit a little disappointed that she would be missing
out on a fun trip. I guess the upside
is that it was a wonderful moment for her to be in control and make the
decision.
Now it had turned from the “Three Amigos” to a Boy’s Weekend
in New York…hhhmmm, what to do?
After arriving into New York earlier today Zach and I found ourselves
in the heart of Harlem. We talked about
going to Harlem in search of the famous Apollo Theatre. The Apollo was built in 1914 originally as a
burlesque theatre but in the mid 1930’s was converted to a variety revue
theatre after Fiorello La Guardia (who would later go to become one of New York
best loved Mayors) campaigned strongly to close it.
 |
| Zach giving me his best modelesque pose outside "The Dakota" building in New York City |
Given its location in the heart of Harlem it is a very special
place and extremely meaningful the African American community. Harlem is a vibrant and bustling neighborhood
and we had no problems finding it and checking it out. As expected it was brilliant!
Next stop was The Dakota up on West 72nd
Street where John Lennon had lived prior to being shot and killed. This was another of Zach’s choices and
fortunately for us was now only a short subway ride away from the Apollo. Surprisingly there are no indications that
John Lennon had lived in the building, no memorial, no markers - nothing… Which is sort of weird given his legendary
status. The building itself has been, and remains the home to a long list of movie stars and sports personalities.
However, by mid afternoon Zach wasn’t feeling well, with pains in the
tummy and a raging headache so I took him back to the hotel, gave him some
Aspirin, turned up the AC and put him to bed.
Now what to do on the first day of summer in NYC????
I decided to head downtown to one of my favorite jumping off
points – Union Square at 14th & Broadway just for a peek and
perhaps take advantage of the great weather for some photo opportunities.
Now this would have been all well and good except that my Canon 50mm f/1.4 EF USM lens (the best ever btw!) hasn’t been working for the past
month or so, and each time I’ve had to manually adjust the lens settings when
ever I wanted to take a photo which is rather painful and ruins those impromptu
moments...if you know what I mean.
 |
| A long line of Citi bikes parked outside Grand Central Station late this afternoon - New York |
So once I got to Union Square I took a few minutes to play
with some of the settings and low and behold I got it working again after
changing the White Balance settings.
Bugger me! Clearly I must have
put the setting to automatic (which turned out to be the issue) at some point,
but once changed it was back to its old and wonderful self taking snap after
snap without issue. Mystery solved.
As the afternoon stretched out I leisurely strolled back up
Broadway, then along 5th Avenue before crossing over to Lexington and
finally to our hotel on 49th.
When I got back to the room, Zach was up and feeling better which
was great to see. He was in the mood for
a burger (so much for his stomach ache!
J)… I must
admit I was also feeling a little “peckish” after my long afternoon wander so
we found a place within walking distance that had Guinness on tap and good
reviews on their burgers.
Over dinner we discussed our plan for tomorrow, first
off Zach wanted to hit the Empire State building early – it opens at 8:00 am so
our plan is to be in line at 7:45 am. After that
we’ll take the subway down to the tip of Manhattan and walk back up uptown. If nothing more it will
be both relaxing and fun just hanging with Zach and cheering Sami on, well at
least mentally.
Not a bad start to the weekend - especially as its officially the start of summer!
Friday, June 14, 2013
In the blink of an eye...
This past Wednesday I attended graduation ceremonies for
both Sami and Zach at their respective schools.
Zach completed Year 8 at Royal St Georges College (RSGC) and thus was
graduating from middle school - did I tell you he was ecstatic? So when
September rolls around he'll be moving to the High school but still on the same campus.
Interestingly it all comes down to a different colored
blazer for him. He and his cohorts are moving
from a red blazer that designates all junior school students to the dark blue
of the senior school. Pretty heady
stuff for a 14 year old! No more
strutting around the school looking like they own the place, nope, back to the
bottom of the heap again I'm afraid.
Zach has had a banner year at school this past year in both
academics as well as sports. Last week
he received the Georgian Award for his excellent contribution to the U14 Soccer
team (overall he represented the school in three sports this past year –
Basketball, Soccer and Rugby) at the Sports Awards Banquet, he was extremely
proud to receive the award especially given the large number of boys and the
level of competition that he was up against.
 |
| 2013 - U14 Soccer team - RSGC |
There was no doubt that he had also worked hard academically
and so when the school emailed last week to say he would be receiving an
academic award clearly we were thrilled.
The tricky part was that we had to keep it a complete secret for over a week, and
although the school did not divulge the actual award we had narrowed it down to
two possible options.
He was either in line for the English or History/Geography
awards. In all, the school presented eight
academic awards for year 8, one for each of the subjects but with close to 50
boys in his year it was quite an honor to receive an award.
As the awards ceremony began I was excited for him because
irrespective of the award he had done an amazing job this past year and we were all very proud of him and his accomplishments.
The English award was first, but another boy in his class
received the award to a rousing applause.
Next came Mathematics, then French…and then the moment of truth - this had to be it...
“And the St George’s Society Award for History &
Geography goes to…. Zach Wallis”. The
place erupted with both applause but also a fair bit of cheering from his
classmates (Zach is a class favorite amongst his cohort…some might say the
class catalyst or clown) – most likely being a Wallis it was the latter… “Clearly the apple didn't fallen far
from the tree?”, enough said. J
 |
| Zach's Gr 8 History & Geography Award "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" |
It was a touching moment!
Zach has always had a deep passion for history and geography even from a
very young age. So to see him recognized
for something that he’s so into was truly amazing! When I spoke to his history and geography
teacher after the ceremony, she said that she learned so much from him over the
course of the year and was frankly astounded by both his breadth and depth of
knowledge in these subject areas.
Nicely done sir!
Sami also celebrated a rather large milestone this past week as she graduated
from Grade 6 at the Bishop Strachan School (BSS). BSS is one of the premier all girl schools
in Toronto, fortunately she was lucky enough to get a placement in a non-intake
year (grade 5).
We had decided to put her on the waitlist after observing
how difficult and competitive it was when Zach moved from elementary school to
start grade 7. To be even considered he
had to write the SSAT test (4 hours) that tested him on a broad range of topics
and subjects, his overall score would then dictate which schools would be interested
in interviewing him for potential intake.
Leading up to the test he had a tutor for three months
helping him prepare, not to mention the associated stress with actually taking
the test. Finishing the test wasn't the end of the
stress cos’ then the application and interview process took over for all of the potential schools - it was both daunting and exhausting to say the least - an emotional roller coaster if you will.
So rather than subject Sami to this “hellish” process we
decided to put her on a wait list and hoped that something would come up
sooner. She has always been an excellent
student with very good grades, plus she was very athletic which would be a real
bonus for the lucky school that snagged her.
 |
| Sami's Grade 6 Graduation Certificate from the Bishop Strachan School (BSS) |
BSS was our choice of schools from the outset – not only did it have a
wonderful reputation, but a number of business acquaintances had attended BSS and
raved about the quality of the education - it was clear from the outset that this was the school for her so we put her on the waitlist but didn't really expect a spot to open up until at least grade 6.
Fortunately for us, we got a call early in the summer that a
spot had come up when another family were moving away, so fortunately for all concerned she started grade 5 the following September.
As the new girl in school it took her about a “day” to get
comfortable with her surroundings, her new classmates and teachers and really hasn't looked back since. She is an
integral part of the sports program representing her school in both Soccer and
Softball for the past two years.
In addition she also represented the school in the Ontario Robotics
competition, where she led her team went to the regional finals. She is also a confident public speaker,
member of the choir and one of the leads in the junior school play.
She has such a full social agenda but somehow still manages to
squeeze in her homework, her representative soccer commitments and a voluminous number of sleepovers with her myriad of school friends.
Wasn't it just yesterday that I held them in my arms for the
first time at the hospital, with all the hopes and dreams of a new parent? Hoping above hope that all the things I
wished for them would come true. In some ways it feels like just yesterday that I held them as newborns, other times not so much!
All I know is that it’s better than I could ever have hoped
for them. I feel so fortunate to have two
wonderfully confident, loving, articulate & athletic kids - I'm so very proud of them and love them very much.
Enjoy the summer you've earned it!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)