Wednesday, April 11, 2012

It's finally my turn...

I know I said I wouldn't post again until Friday, BUT...


Guess what?

Sendek: The Magic Wakes is getting published!

It's a real page turner if I do say so myself.

So how did this happen? Well, it has been a torturous waiting period even after I knew something was going to happen. The first week of March I received the following email:
Charity,

You have done an excellent job revising this manuscript, and I am very glad you resubmitted it. I would like to offer you a contract for publication of Sendek in our 2013 line-up. If this is agreeable to you, please let me know and I will put together a contract for you to review.

I hope to hear from you soon.

 

This made me VERY happy. And then I realized I couldn't do anything about it until I was cut from ABNA. A weird month followed. I flipped from hoping to get cut to wanting to make it another round. Can you blame me now for having a hard time writing? I just couldn't decide what I wanted.

So I prayed and left it up to someone else.

The end of March I was cut from ABNA, but the feedback was so good I had twinges of indecision again. Maybe I should keep trying for an agent?

Whatever, I emailed the acquisitions editor the very day I was cut to let her know I was free from any obligations.

Then I waited another agonizingly long week for a reply. When it came it was to give me a date that the contract would show up for me to look over. That day was an entirely different roller coaster ride.

I was ecstatic for several hours. And then I crashed. Who was I to know what I was looking at with this contract? What if I was signing everything away and didn't even know it? Yes, I was getting editors to help me, but what was I REALLY signing up for?

The truth was two fold. Part of me was still holding on to that agent dream, and the other part of me is still an insecure teenager despite the growing number of candles on my birthday cakes.

I set the contract aside and left for spring break. I had waited years, and now I needed it to wait so I could calm down and think rationally.

When I looked at it again, my hubby and I wrote down any questions we had and I called WiDo. Bruce Gowan walked me through everything and was so nice about it all. In the end I just felt GOOD about the whole thing. It was finally my turn to stop fearing success and take things into my own hands.

What am I the most excited about? 
  • Having a team of people help me make Sendek the best story it can be and then helping me spread the word about it. 
  • People will finally get to read the whole story. I hope they like it as much as I do.
  • I don't feel like I gave anything up by choosing a smaller publisher. In fact, I think this will end up being a much better choice for me and my family. 

35 comments:

  1. That's terrifying, Charity! I'm so glad you have peace about your decision. I'm thinking of a writer I know with a small publisher and she loves them. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am so THRILLED to read this post!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!! I look forward to hearing about your journey through the editing process with publishers and finally getting my hands on SENDEK! :-D

    ReplyDelete
  3. YAY! That's so exciting ^_^ I've heard WiDo is an amazing publisher, and everything I've seen of SENDEK is fantastic. You deserve it and congratulations!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Congratulations!!! I hope you are excited for this leg of your writing journey!

    Now all those lurkers on your blog will have more fun stuff to talk about!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope so, and I hope they comment every once in a while now. ;)

      Delete
  5. What great news--and how terrifying!--but I'm glad you stuck too it. It's really important for all those squishy uncertain feelings to be laid to rest, so I'm glad you feel good about this. I hear good things about small publishers.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is great news. Congratulations! I'm going to go and tweet about this right now :) And I can't wait to read Sendek in my hands with shiny cover art and everything. It will look so grand on my new iPad with the retina display!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm several chapters into Slipstream. Loving it so far.

      Delete
  7. Huzzah. A smaller publisher can be fine as long as they aren't half-assing it. (Not naming names...)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Congratulations!!

    Can't wait to read your book and I think, often times, a smaller publisher can be the first step toward bigger things.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Congrats! I'm thrilled you're moving forward on your publishing journey with this book. I can't wait to read it!

    ReplyDelete
  10. So no wonder you've been all up in the air lately. Nice that things have settled so nicely. Congratulations. I can't wait to buy it!

    ReplyDelete
  11. That is SO cool, Charity!!! You still could get an agent later on, by the way (could've gotten one to handle the contract too, but that might have held up the deal too long). I'm excited for you!! :) Off to Like your FB page...

    ReplyDelete
  12. Great news. I went and liked your page. :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thank you, thank you to everyone. I really hope you like it when you get it.

    I've read through it again this last week, you know just one more run through before giving it to an editor, and I'm still so in love with it. After 3 long years of working on it that says something.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Oooh, Charity. I seriously think this year is magical. So many good things are happening to so many good people (of which you are at the top of the list :)). I even have some good news. Though not on near a big a scale. (I wish 0-0) Now we sing the congratulations song.

    Congratz to Charity. Congratz to Charity. Happy book deal to Charity!! Congratz to Charity.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Big fat juicy congrats, Charity!!! I am so happy for you!

    Angela

    ReplyDelete
  16. Awesome news, Charity! Big congratulations!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Congratulations to you! This is such exciting stuff, and I'm happy for you. Gorgeous blog, btw, too.

    If you've the time, pop over to my blog. I'm the bestselling and award winning author of the Bella and Britt series for kids. My new book, Katrina and Winter: Partners in Courage launches next month.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Sweet! That's fantastic news. =)

    ReplyDelete
  19. That is super exciting! Congratulations!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Congratulations, Charity! I think you made a wise choice. Of course I may be prejudiced as WiDo also published my memoir, but the end product is totally satisfactory! You should have a great experience also; Bruce Gowan, at the end of the process, is SO very nice to work with. So, I look forward to buying and reading the finished product!
    Ann Best, Author of In the Mirror & Other Memoirs

    ReplyDelete
  21. p.s. I read about your good news on Alex Cavanaugh's Ninja News just now. Isn't HE wonderful?!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. One of the things I liked about WiDo was the fact I follow several of their authors blogs and have for a long time. I'm so excited to join the family!

      Alex is amazing! Having my name pop up on his blog is some of the best advertising you can get in my opinion.

      Delete
  22. Woot!! Woot!! *Throws confetti*

    I knew you'd get there!

    So happy for you. God bless- oh wait... He already has. Ha!

    ReplyDelete
  23. I am so happy for you. You've worked on this for a long time.

    ReplyDelete
  24. That is awesome news!!! I am so happy for you!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Congratulations. All good things comes to she who waits...and prays.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.