How many of us dream of being a published author someday? I have a feeling many of us do, especially if we know we’re writers and have been working on a book of any kind.
Writing is relatively new for me. I only found writing after the loss of my daughter. I actually started writing while she was in the hospital those sixteen days fighting for her life from what the E. coli did to her little body. But in the end it had wreaked too much havoc on her little body and she went home to be with Jesus on July 16, 2008. What I wrote were what I thought at the time as simple updates for family and friends to be able to stay as up to date with Mari’s condition as much as possible. I realized later that those very updates would be the notes I’d need to write a book about what happened so I could one day try to get it published.
That book has now been written and I’m on the final round of edits. Then starts the process of looking for a literary agent and/or publishing house. A literary agent, from what I’ve learned, is someone who is there for you and helps to sell your to a possible publisher. While they do take a certain percentage of what you make, know that they work hard for that percent. They help you to make your writing the best it can be. They help you to understand the publishing process. They help to negotiate contracts for you to help you get the best deal possible. They are in your corner.
For me, I already have a couple of agents that I think would be perfect to help me with Mari’s book as well as my fiction writing. I have put all of this in God’s hands because I know that the agent I ultimately sign with will be the one He has placed in my life. Now I just have to be patient and listen for His guidance for the direction I need to go.
Best of luck with your journey to publication. I can’t even imagine how hard it was to lose your daughter, but I so admire how you’ve turned your pain into something beautiful.
Thank you. My hope and prayer is that just the right one will come along when it’s supposed to. I think God honestly doesn’t allow us to imagine how hard it is to lose a child because He knows once we do the dread we might feel knowing it might happen to one of our children. I know over time you start to find the blessings He bestows upon us, but it’s just hard in the mean time. I feel so blessed He’s given me this ability to be able to put into words how I feel and that others are somehow able to relate to what I’ve written. I can look back six years ago and have never imagined I’d be sitting here writing and have written my daughter’s book as well as a fiction novel. Yet, life doesn’t always go how we think it should. I know that now I couldn’t ever imagine my life with out writing in it. I’ve grown so much as a person through this experience and I thank the Lord everyday.
Wishing you all the best with your agent hunt. In the Christian market, it’s often helpful to attend pitch sessions at writing conferences.
Thank you Laurel. I am definitely planning to attend as many as I can or am able to when I go to the ACFW conference in September. This will be a first for me and I’m just so excited to meet all the people there and attend all the workshops and different things they will have there for us.