No News Was Good News--sorta

I got an email back from the editor in chief at the publisher where my children's book ms has been sitting for over 7 months. Finally.
The good news is she didn't say no.   The bad news is she didn't say yes either.  The neither good nor bad news is it needs revision.  The good news is she told me exactly what needs to go.  The bad news is I'm just not quite sure how to fix the couple other things she told me about.  This particular book also requires the permission of an NFL football team and the NFL itself.  So, I guess I'll have to research that.  Bottom line though, she didn't say no.  So, it's feedback.  The criticism was not negative in any way.  AND, she said that they editorial board all agreed that it is a "book that will sell."  Of course, I knew that when I wrote it. 
However, even though the feedback wasn't negatively critical and they thought the book would sell, I just kinda thought I'd get a little more help than that.  I know I'm a newbie to the publishing world but if they think the book will sell, why didn't she say, "Ok, we're in.  Let's sit down and talk and make this as good as it can be" and then really work with me.  I know they don't have a lot of time.  But if she tells me the book will sell then why wouldn't they want to invest in its perfecting?  I guess maybe it could be because it's a small publisher.  Don't know. So, in considering all that, it's just sort of left me in kind of a funk. 
At first, I wanted to run to my computer and begin working on it immediately.  But then, I felt like what's the point--I'm not even sure if I can fix some of the parts.  And approaching an entity like the NFL seems a bit overwhelming.  I don't know.  Maybe it's not all that bad.
I'm not giving up.  But for some reason I'm just not in a hurry.  Maybe I should be.  Maybe I'll have a sudden surge of devotion toward the manuscript again.   I know I sound wishy-washy.  I bet I probably sound ungrateful too.  I mean how often does a writer query a publisher (the first one I've ever queried) and a month later, they actually asked to see the manuscript?  That's like unheard of.  Even with small publishers.
Okay, okay.  I can actually hear you yelling at me to stop whining and get to work.
I'll keep you posted on that.
So anyway, I thanked her--the editor, of course, and told her I appreciated the helpful remarks and that I would work on it and get back to her.  So I told her that and I have to do it.  Because when I tell somebody something, I follow through.
I have two other children's books and now I'm free to query this same publisher about one of them (you can only query about one at a time and only submit one manuscript at a time with any publisher).  Or, I can query another publisher about this book--which I definitely won't do.  Just wouldn't feel right about it and this book is perfect for this publisher.  But, I may play around with submitting queries on the others.  I might even query agents.  What the heck? Nothing to lose and all kinds of experience and criticism to gain, right?
About the novel I'm currently working on:
I'm at 28,757 words and 93 pages.  Which I think is about half way. My goal was to finish it this summer before I went back to work.  What? It could happen!  Yeah, I know.  I've been so lazy about writing.  Maybe I need encouragement.  Maybe I need tough love.  Like, "NO chocolate until you give me 5,000 words!"  You know? I think that would work.  I'll have to talk my husband into threatening me with stuff like that.  More later . . .  

No love yet. Maybe just a little like.

So I hate my book a little less. I've written maybe another thousand words or more since my last post and I'm feeling a lot better about it.  I think if I flesh out a few scenes in outline and give myself a little more direction, I won't feel as overwhelmed.  I was just getting really bogged down in it.  I know there are things I want to change but I don't feel like going back and working them out right now.  But that means there's going to be a helluva lot of work in the rewrite/edit stage. 
Right now, I'm counting on myself to feel more productive.  Just let me get it all out and then going back and perfecting it should be much simpler. It's kinda painful.  Intellectually painful.  So for the record, I'm at 28, 324 words which is equal to 91 pages double-spaced in Word.

I Hate My Book

I know this is a normal feeling writers have.  I don't care.  My book really does suck. I'm hating it because of what I know it's going to take to fix it.  But right now, I can't even read it.  I'm sick of it.  It's becoming increasingly difficult to get it from scene to scene.  There are choices I made or actually they seemed to just happen that I'm not sure I want to keep.  I hate my main character's name.  I even hate my working title.  I want to edit it so badly.  But I'm only 27,636 words into it.  I just printed out all 88 pages of it and sat down to read it and make some changes.  And I'm exhausted and bored already.  Maybe if I were drunk?  No, I think I'd just probably fall asleep.  Maybe that's what I need.  But see, that's just it--I keep procrastinating and diverting my own attention elsewhere so I don't have to deal with it but I NEED to deal with it.  I must finish this stupid thing if for no other reason than to just say I finished it.  Then, I know, I can do whatever I want with it.  Maybe the edits will be easier then, knowing that at least it has a beginning, middle, and an end.

Okay, I'll go with that.  But I'm still hating it. 

Being a writer, ALAcon, and my goal and stuff.

Found out that I'm a writer after all.  Well, whatdya know?

My last day of internship at The Sea Coast Echo was Friday. While speaking with the editor, I thanked him for his assistance and for allowing me to write so much for the paper last week. I think I had 6 or 7 articles published. He said that I did an "excellent" job and that "it helped that you were already a writer." I was floored. That was THE first and ONLY time anyone had ever referred to me or called me a writer.

Honestly, I thought I aspired to be a writer. I wanted to write but never thought that what I produced was worthy of the author being referred to as a "writer."  So now, I will refer to myself as a writer.  But only because I was referred by one who knows writers as a writer. So there.

Now, I am just an aspiring author.  And since I have not written anything on my book in weeks, it is likely that I will remain an aspiring author.  I also have not heard from the publisher about my children's book either and the 30th of June looms.  Funny how "loom" rhymes with "doom."

Anyway, I jaunted down to New Orleans over the weekend and visited the American Library Association's annual convention.  It was just an orgy of books, publishers, writers, libraries, and all things deliciously bookish.  If you didn't care one way or the other about authors and books, it would have been insanely boring for sure but for me, a bibliophile, it was decadent.  It was the rock concert of librarianship.  And just about every Book God/Goddess I could think of was there. I didn't get any autographs but it was just something still to even walk by Kate DiCamillo and Mo Willems as they signed their tomes.  I really was upset that I did not get to hear Orson Scott Card speak.  Missed that by an hour and didn't realize it.

Overheard that someone stole the 300 galley proofs of part two of Ally Condie's Matched which is entitled Crossed.  Bummer.  They were giving away 300 of those and it looked like there were 500 in line so I didn't stand in that line either.  I preferred to peruse, overhear, and shuffle from exhibit to exhibit.

Even the Ayn Rand Institute representatives were there.  I mean, what? She like my frickin' hero.  Well, ideologically, not so much in the writing.  Overall,  ALAcon was just so impressive.  Google ALA 2011 to see a list of authors.  So awesome.  See, don't I sound like a teenager that just came from her favorite rock concert?  Got lots of cool swag, too.  I was lucky that this was the 2nd time I was able to go.  It probably won't be back in New Orleans for years and years.  If you ever get the chance to go, do. 

So, 5 weeks left of summer break.  Time to seriously buckle down and get some writing done.  My original goal was to be finished by the end of June.  However, life happens.  So, I'm setting the more than reasonable goal of 4 weeks from today.  Let's see where I'll be then!