Book Deal

Posted by Marci on Nov 15, 2011 in | 1 comment

I’ve always loved books. By the time I was four I was trying to read Dr. Seuss on my own. Kindergarten was a great adventure not for the socializing but because I was taught to read. Books became my world. My mother would find me hiding in corners reading when I was supposed to be outside playing. She took the stories away from me at the dinner table so I would eat and removed flashlights from my bed so that I would sleep. By the end of first grade I had a reading level much higher than most children my age. When my school held book-a-thons, relatives would only sponsor me 10 cents per book knowing that I would read hundreds of stories in the time allotted.

My dream of being a writer started when I was nine. I spent hours working on a story for school and couldn’t wait to share it. Unfortunately over the years, many teachers squashed my love of writing. I was told I didn’t have talent. Grammar was something my honors class seemed to skip over and when we finally got around to being taught I found it hard to remember the rules. Being dyslexic didn’t help when it came to diagramming and I was told that though my reading comprehension was off the charts my writing was mediocre.

I began to write in private. Ideas came to me in a frenzy and I found I didn’t know how to transfer the stories in my mind to the page. Frustration built as nothing ever came out right and I was too afraid to think about studying in school because I’d been told I didn’t have talent.

Over the years I tried different non-fiction ideas. Once I signed with an agent only to have the book crash before it took off. Then one night I couldn’t sleep and I began to tell myself a story. A character came to me and I began asking her questions. Soon her story was rolling through my mind and for three days I dictated into a recorder. It took me two years to finish the manuscript and send it to agents. Though I received good feedback no one offered representation. I was defeated and I had to tell everyone who knew I was writing a book that once again I had failed.

Then an actual sleep induced dream came to me and when I woke I had no choice but to tell the story. My characters woke me at three in the morning and I would write until I fell asleep at my desk.  I studied grammar and writing technique books. I edited, and edited, and then edited again. I eavesdropped on people’s conversations in public places to see how they interacted.

When the first draft was complete I paid for a critique. During the six months I waited for the notes, I went to writer’s conferences with dreams of book deals. I expected I would be ready to submit within weeks of getting the manuscript returned. Instead, the woman I hired constructively tore my writing apart and the story.

The woman’s critique crushed me. I spent three weeks trying to write but instead I watched brainless television remembering every teacher’s words about my writing. I fell into depression. Every time I tried to write I froze with fears of failure. Then one night, after an entire day of watching television, a scene came to me. I ran to the computer and began to type. I must’ve rewritten that page fifteen times in a matter of hours. When my partner came home from work I asked him to leave me alone till I finished. When I emerged I read him what I’d written. “It’s like you’ve transformed,” he said.

For months, I took walks with my characters allowing my imagination to flow. I studied more books on writing and I locked myself away from the world for weeks at a time. I still remember the night I finished – it was as if everything thought had been sucked to the center of my brain and imploded in blankness. I had given my sould to the story and nothing was left at that moment.

Three months later I was picked up by an agent. It took four more rewrites and almost four years due to changes in the publishing industry for my agent to feel it was the right time to bring my novel to editors. Every morning I woke praying that the book would be published. At night I fell asleep frustrated in my fear that it would never happen.

Then one day I received an email asking if I was available for an editor/ author interview. For two weeks I interviewed. It was surreal to listen to some of the best editors in the business raving about my story and my writing. Then my biggest dream came true – my book went to auction with senior editors in the industry bidding on the publishing rights (something rare for a debut novelist). In the end, my agent found me the perfect editor and I signed with Gallery Publishing an imprint of Simon and Schuster.

It still doesn’t feel real. I worked hard for many years and I never stopped believing that it could come true, but it was hard to keep the hope alive. But it did happen and now I believe that anything is possible.