Everything moves on - whether you want it to or not.
It has been almost two months since my sister died. They have been hard months, sad months, but productive ones. I finished writing the children's story that she had always talked about writing, but never did. It kept my mind and fingers busy and kept me connected to her in an odd way. A very dear artist friend drew and painted all the illustrations for the book and now I am looking to publish it. I plan on donating most of the profits to the United States Lighthouse Society, www.http://uslhs.org/ in my sister's name. She loved lighthouses and so, of course, her story revolves around a Maine lighthouse.
As we have discussed before, finding an agent to take you and your story on is not easy. I have emailed out forty-four query letters so far to agents who represent children's books... I have received six rejections.
At the start, I thought I had written a children's picture book, but one of the early agents that I queried kindly responded with an encouraging email saying, "Thanks for sharing your sweet story with me. There is a real poignance to your writing." He went on to say that the story might actually be better written as a children's chapter book. I took his advice and did just that - wrote it as a chapter book. It had natural breaks and these became my chapters, named for the characters that they dealt with. I added a bit more depth here and there, but didn't want to dilute the story just to make it longer.
So, out of a very sad situation came a beautiful, sweet story that had been waiting to be told... if not by my sister, then by me. As has happened before, writing helps me find my way out of darkness, sadness and mourning. This might not work for everyone, but it has for me. I hope my big sister feels that her dream has been fulfilled.
If there are any agents out there reading this blog who represent children's books, please let me know. If I haven't secured an agent or publisher by fall, I'll self-publish the book. I want it published and read for my sister's sake.
Keep writing... it's good for the soul.
Till,
As we have discussed before, finding an agent to take you and your story on is not easy. I have emailed out forty-four query letters so far to agents who represent children's books... I have received six rejections.
At the start, I thought I had written a children's picture book, but one of the early agents that I queried kindly responded with an encouraging email saying, "Thanks for sharing your sweet story with me. There is a real poignance to your writing." He went on to say that the story might actually be better written as a children's chapter book. I took his advice and did just that - wrote it as a chapter book. It had natural breaks and these became my chapters, named for the characters that they dealt with. I added a bit more depth here and there, but didn't want to dilute the story just to make it longer.
So, out of a very sad situation came a beautiful, sweet story that had been waiting to be told... if not by my sister, then by me. As has happened before, writing helps me find my way out of darkness, sadness and mourning. This might not work for everyone, but it has for me. I hope my big sister feels that her dream has been fulfilled.
If there are any agents out there reading this blog who represent children's books, please let me know. If I haven't secured an agent or publisher by fall, I'll self-publish the book. I want it published and read for my sister's sake.
Keep writing... it's good for the soul.
Till,
Judi
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