So Many Thanks! (and some other stuff)
Hello, All! Wishing you a Happy Fall!
I’m writing today to offer my deepest thanks for being subscribers. It means the world to imagine you all at the other end of my pondering and stories, essays and mystery novel chapters. Please know I’m deeply grateful for each and every one of you. You leave kind comments and encouragement and share my work with others. You tell me your stories and help me feel my efforts are worthwhile.
What I want with all my heart right now is to find a home for my Chasing Light memoir. Below is a glimpse into the journey in pursuit of that goal. (Shoutout to my writer peeps reading this — in it together for the long haul! Massive respect and big love!)
The writing life is not for the faint of heart, nor for those who are easily discouraged. Rejection is part of the daily diet; self-doubt a constant shadow. And in a shifting media landscape, publication is increasingly harder to achieve.
On top of that, it can cost money just to have some skin in the game. (Paying subscribers and those who have considered it, here is how your dollars support my work!) Writing contests are generally $20-$30 to enter. After polishing a piece over and over until you hope it shines brighter than the other 500 entries, you send it off into the ether and wait, often 6-8 months, sometimes longer. Some come with cash prizes. Others don’t.
Why enter contests? Being named a winner, a runner-up, or even given honorable mention is a great achievement and goes toward widening the circle of those who might appreciate your writing. And that circle is key to what agents and publishers will use to determine if a writer has the kind of reach that can translate into book sales. (Even if you write a very good book, without that reach, your book may be passed over.)
Another word for “reach” is platform. It really just means this: How wide is your sphere of influence? What kind of following do you have on social media, and what’s the interaction like? Who will buy your book? Who will urge their friends to buy your book because they love it so much? Who will review your book and what kind of buzz can be created?
Book publishing is a business. Hence, the challenge of writing a good book proposal, which is really a business plan. A book proposal should answer the questions: What’s the book about and why will anyone care? What’s your marketing plan? Who specifically is your book meant for? What shelf will it occupy in a bookstore? Who else has written a book similar to yours that sold well enough to demonstrate there is demand for your topic? (Not too well, though. Don’t go comparing your book to a NYT bestseller.) But also, why is your book different from those other books in ways that will make it unique? And who are you? What qualifies you to write this book? Who knows of you and is interested in what you might have to say? Do you have any name recognition in the vast sea of authors and readers? What do established authors have to say in support of your book?
Literary journals can require a reading fee to submit, anywhere from $3 - $10. I never mind paying those fees. Many of the journals are connected to college and university English departments and operate on shoestring budgets. The submission fees add up, but publication in their pages can help build a writer’s credibility. Like any portfolio or resume, a writer’s body of achievements can take years to build.
I’ve been working for decades on the craft of writing, with my first national publication in 1986 as the cover story for the now-defunct US Air Magazine. That’s the same year I entered seminary, when my writing efforts shifted to crafting theology papers. During my fourteen years as a pastor, creative energy mostly went toward writing sermons, although I secretly kept churning out short stories and wrote two novels in that time. And all along I kept learning. I attended workshops and conferences when my schedule and budget permitted. In 2004 I began writing for a local women’s magazine in Boone. In 2005, I audited a Creative Nonfiction class at ASU with poet and author Joseph Bathanti, and because of that class took out student loans and went back to school in 2007 (at the tender age of 55) in pursuit of an MFA at Queens University of Charlotte. By that time I’d left ministry and church and was working full-time at the domestic violence and rape crisis agency, OASIS. Since the Queens program is low-residency, I was able to work and go to school, using my vacation time for on-campus residency sessions.
After earning my MFA in 2009, I began pursuing publication in earnest and in 2010 had my first national publication since 1986 with an essay about honeybees that appeared in the Christian Science Monitor. I’ve been writing and submitting ever since, dedicating myself to it full-time since 2015.
In my book proposal for Chasing Light, I’m grateful to be able to list some honors — finalist in the 2010 Press 53 Open Contest (Kevin Morgan Watson, et al); runner-up in the 2015 New South Journal writing contest (Rebecca Makkai judge); finalist in the Masters Review Anthology Vol. VII (Rebecca Makkai, judge); Best Essay of 2017, Hearst Editorial Excellence Awards (selected by panel including Jodi Kantor, Megan Twohey, Michael Wolff, et al for “Cooper’s Heart” in O, The Oprah Magazine) — and can list two Pushcart Prize nominations, one for my essay “The Departure” that appeared in The Gettysburg Review in the summer of 2012 and the other “The Transit of Venus,” New South Journal, Fall, 2015.
I’ve also been applying for writing residencies. They are extraordinarily competitive. Their application fees are typically $30-$50 each. Some of the programs are fully funded, which means you pay for the travel to get there and nothing more. Others require a residency fee. Why writing residencies? Most include dedicated studio/work area, often a luxury for those without office space. Many supply meals, which means you can spend your time working while someone else does meal planning, shopping, cooking, serving, and clean up. They are wonderful places to meet other writers. I’ve received so much inspiration and creative ideas, and many writers I met remain friends and valued colleagues. And being awarded a spot indicates to agents and publishers that your work has been vetted and found worthy by jurors who are often well-known and widely published authors themselves. It’s an investment of sorts in you as a writer, a wager that you show promise in the literary world. Over the years, I’ve enjoyed residencies at Dairy Hollow Writers Colony, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Ragdale. I’ve applied to, and been rejected from, a dozen others.
This writing life I’ve chosen — or that’s chosen me, depending on how you look at it — is a long game, and I’m all the way in.
I tell you all this in part so you have a little insight — I’m just one example of what is a common journey — but also so you will know, this is not a side hobby for me. This is my life’s work. And I’m so grateful to have you along for the ride.
I’m continuing to operate this newsletter on the patron model — in other words, instead of putting my writing behind a paywall and requiring paid subscriptions, I’d rather have my work out there and being read. At the same time, I’d welcome paid subscriptions from any who feel my efforts are worth supporting financially.
My energy these past months has been poured into putting together this last book proposal draft and beginning to make a new list of agents to query. I have friends who queried over 100 agents before they found their person to sign with. I’m at 30 and counting.
As I said at the beginning of this probably way-too-long missive, rejection is part of the daily diet. I received another one from an agent last week. But it came with enough encouragement to light the after-burners. She wrote:
“While this may not be for me, your writing style is lovely, and it is clear that you are accomplished in the memoir-writing space. You have such a compelling story to tell. I want to encourage you to keep pushing forward with this manuscript!
Please accept my very best wishes for your writing success.”
And so…onward.