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Monday, December 13, 2010

‘Tis the Bah Humbug Season

Oh dear, I’m feeling antsy again.  I’m restless and roaming the house, wanting to do something productive and fun.  I keep coming back to this computer, feeling that I should be doing something, but, at the moment, the only SOMETHING to be doing is the stuff I hate doing.

It seems that I’ve run through all the fun and creative tasks on my project list and am facing quite a boring list again.

The creative process of the children’s book is done — and our little hero is resting before he goes on another adventure.

My friend who teaches elementary school is excited about sharing the children’s story with her first graders, but I’d like Katherine’s son to read it first, before sending it out to other kids.  I’d like to be able to tell him that he was the first kid to read our book. 

I anticipate that once Katherine’s son finishes with the book, the school kids will be on their Winter Break and won’t get back until January.

I can’t go any further on the Ready or Not... book — not without Katherine.  Hopefully, our schedules will mesh again, and we can finish that book before the book club starts up again. 

The book club/focus group gets back together in January, too.  We’ve invited Ellen DeGeneres and her mom, Betty DeGeneres, to the meetings.  No word, yet, as to whether they are joining us — and I don’t feel like we can bother them again… at least for a couple more weeks.   [I don’t want to risk a restraining order.]

Oh… as for a webcam update… I ended up uninstalling the one I was struggling with and got a new one.  I’m happy to report that I was able to install the new one all by myself [proving that I’m not such an idiot, after all!]; and this new one seems to be working better, although I haven’t really tested it yet.  I did use the microphone feature to record a snippet of the children’s book. 

The book sounds good read out loud.  I’d like to get Katherine to record the story.  Katherine even suggested that “we” create a screenplay from the book.  That would fun — but one step at a time. 

Maybe we’ll post a small audio file of the book on the blog, if you’re interested in hearing a bit of it.  All that is fun and exciting to think about, but for right now, all I’m left with is the research and administrative #$@#$ that goes along with finding a publisher for the children’s book.  YUCK!!

It’s the same old story with the children’s book publishers as with the adult nonfiction publishers. I’ve checked out more than 100 publishers for children's books.  Most are not accepting manuscripts at this time (but check back later); or they are not accepting manuscripts without literary agents.  Interestingly, lots of publishers are only interested in multicultural, bilingual, or bible-based stories for kids; and some simply want educational and training materials — not children's stories. 

After all of that, I found about a dozen publishers that may be interested in our children’s book.  We’ll try them, before knocking on literary agents’ doors again.

Unfortunately, the publishers’ for children’s books seem even less affable than the adult nonfiction publishers — at least the way they post their submission guidelines.

Basically, if we don’t hear from them within 6-8-12 months, we are told to assume that they're not interested in our materials.  Usually, publishers will send materials back, or an “encouraging letter of hope” if you supply them with a self-addressed stamped envelop (SASE).  The children’s book publishers tell you not to bother them with the SASE, because they won’t take the time to respond back to you.  If you don’t hear from them after a year, assume they have no interest in you…

Yeah… can you tell why I don’t like this phase of the project?



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