I HAVE GOOD NEWS.... AND NOT-SO-GOOD NEWS.... AND GREAT NEWS!

During my first and very, very hectic first semester of school, I got good news and bad news—well, maybe it’s more like not-so-good news, as opposed to bad. First, the not-so-good news ‘cause I’d rather end things on a positive note: Warner/Walk Worthy will not be publishing my second novel (In The Picture I Have of You ) this Fall as predicted. The good news is that Choose Me will be out in paperback, which is really great because more people will buy a paperback than a hardcover.

How do I feel? It’s hard to say. I have mixed feelings. I guess because deep down I’ve always been the kind of person that sets herself up to expect the worst, I’m not that disappointed, or sad, or angry. Not that I’m a pessimist; I’m a realist. I had prepared myself for whatever happened. Even if I had only positive thoughts, whatever was going to happen, was going to happen. It was the book’s destiny. It’s just one of those things that happens in publishing, blah-blah-blah. I think that because I’ve kept in contact with other authors, and I felt that I’m pretty informed about the publishing world, that it didn’t really come as a shock.

As some of you know, In The Picture I Have of You is my first book, and thus, my first baby. And if you’re a mother, you know how it is with your first baby (speaking of which, those are my human "babies" above). It is the book that I received several rejections for; Choose Me was accepted the first time I submitted it. So part of me is wondering why this book just doesn’t want to get published. Maybe the story is too sad (although I don’t think so). Maybe it will hurt certain people instead of heal them.

Then again, maybe I’ll have a great story to tell when it finally does get published. Because one thing I do know, it WILL be published.

I have no hard feelings toward my publisher or imprint. It is, after all, business, not personal. I will always be indebted to Ms. Denise Stinson for taking a chance on an unknown writer and for having faith in me. Thank you, Denise, for everything. I wish you all the best and I know our paths will cross once again in the future.

The GREAT news is that not soon after I received the above news, I got an e-mail with the following subject line: “NEW YORK PUBLISHER SEEKS LATIN WRITERS.”

All I can say is: God is Good. All the time.

p.s. I’ve made a decision to self-publish my third book, Boricua Morena: Memoirs of a Humboldt Park Girl, a collection of essays, poems and short stories.