Friday, August 06, 2010

I DID IT!

Me at the lakefront, North Ave Beach, Chicago, 2009

I FINALLY SENT off In the Picture I Have of You (ITPHIOY) to a publisher! For months, I toiled over the outline & cover letter, revising & re-revising. I also had to submit a synopsis, bio & chapters 1-3, all of which were pretty much done, but I kept tweaking it here & there, not liking a word I used in this sentence, finding an error on that page until finally, I said ENOUGH! I'm sending it today. If it's not ready now, it will never be.


THE BEST PART is that in today's technologically advanced world, the publisher was only accepting e-mailed submissons. I remember when I first sent ITPHIOY off to agents in 1997 (was it really 13 years ago?), printing & making copies on company time (early in the morning before my bosses arrived, or on my lunch hour, or after everyone had gone), running to the post office, mailing it off; then getting my manuscript back -- wrinkled & finger-worn by judgmental editors. Now, everything is done as an attachment. I do NOT miss the old days.
I HAVE TWO other publishers in mind. No doubt they will have their own submission guidelines. My advice to other writers, always read & re-read guidelines and do exactly what they say -- do not send anything more, or anything less.
NOW COMES THE hard part - waiting. (And we all know, how impatient I am. sigh)