Thursday, February 10, 2011

I Did It

Okay, I did it. I truly did it.

Writing Pearl Edda has been quite the adventure. Two years ago, an idea came into my head and I was forced to spew it out on the computer.

What did I know about writing a book?

Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

Except that I always have known (well at least since 5th or 6th grade) that I loved YA books.

So, it really was no surprise that the story that came out of me was not meant for adults (although I've heard that adults like it), but for the young adult crowd.

What was surprising is that a book, a story, a complete novel was in me.

Me.

So I wrote. And wrote. And wrote some more.

And then I queried.

To those of you who are like me two years ago and don't know a whole lot about the publishing world, after one writes a book, if one wants to publish said book, one must find an agent to pitch the book to publishing houses.

A year and a half ago, I sent my first query. To Kristen Nelson (Hi, Kristen!). She promptly rejected it. Why? Probably many reasons, but the main reason is that the manuscript was not ready. Truly not ready. Embarrassingly not ready. (Sorry, Kristen.)

And I started to revise. And revise. And revise.

All the while, querying. (You're right, I didn't learn...Well, maybe I learned a lot through the process. Actually, I'm sure I did.)

Last summer, an agent requested the full manuscript. I whooped and hollered (afterall, I was in Montana at the time). And then she said no. But not really no.

Just a it's-too-long-I-can't-sell-it no.

Hmmmm....

So I revised. And revised. And revised.

And emailed that it was better if she wanted to read it again. And she responded with a yes, and she reread it, and she still thought it was too long. (I agreed.)

So she sent me to an editor. A really good editor. An editor who worked for a publishing house. An editor who gets glowing endorsements from authors.

And I emailed Pearl to him this evening.

And now I wait.

I can't believe I did it.

1 comment:

  1. Yeah Heidi!! It's been so fun listening to all of your updates. I'm so excited for you!

    ReplyDelete