We Have Collaboration!

 My agent wants to pair my Chihuly story with an illustrator, and she found a wonderful one in Seattle who knows Chihuly's work well! Signed the collaboration agreement tonight. Sample art should be ready by Sept. 7, so then the story can go on submission. Meanwhile, a publisher is interested in my dinosaur board books for their 2024 collection. I'll be 73 then...glad I have my Caldecoots group, celebrating writers over 60!

Persistence

   Going over my stats today. From 2011-2016, I sold 26 pieces to magazines--most of them to Highlights. 

2017--44 submissions, NO SALES

2018--Jan. to May--27 submissions, NO SALES. Signed with agent in May, she sent out 42 submissions. NO SALES. We amicably parted ways in November.

2019--46 submissions, NO SALES

2020--74 submissions, NO SALES

2021--Jan. to March 23 submissions, NO SALES, interest in three projects.  March 30--SIGNED WITH MY AGENT! 

I'm sorry, you'll have to speak to my agent--

 Ha! I am so excited to have an agent, and a wonderful one at that! I am tickled to be represented  by Jennifer Chen Tran of the Bradford Literary Agency. "The Call" went so well, and it will be great fun to work with her. Wow, and after only 23 years of subbing...

What Are The Chances?!

 So on Tuesday, March 23rd, my awesome grandson Anthony's 20th birthday, my emotions are all over the place. There's been a shooting in Boulder and one of the grocery workers killed was a 20 year old kid who even looked a bit like Anthony, who also works at a grocery store. Plus, on Sunday I found a lump on the same side as before and on Monday I went to the Cancer Center to see my doctor there, wondering if the cancer had come back after 7 years. He felt it was harder than he'd like, so he set up an appt. the next day for a mammogram, ultrasound, and possibly a biopsy. And on Tuesday, while I'm a wreck there waiting for my results, I get an e-mail from an agent I submitted to 13 months ago wondering if I'm still interested in representation for my bio of glass artist Dale Chihuly! Yes!! She'll call me later this week! THE CALL! And the results came out just fine--the lump is a calcification, definitely not cancer. What an emotional day!

Positive Vibes

     Maybe it's because I got my two Covid shots, or because we have a new President, or because I sold my money pit of a house in New Mexico, or because my dog is on the mend from heartworms, but there seem to be some positive vibes in my life that are extending to my writing life, too. I got a revise and resubmit for my MARJORY STOOD story, an agent who answered my question about PB bios on Twitter invited me to submit my Nathan Sawaya story to him, and I still haven't received a rejection from the publisher interested in my dinosaur boardbooks. I've entered a few contests: 50 Precious Words, #PBParty, and the SCBWI Ann Paul contest, so I'm excited to see how those turn out. 11 rejections so far this year, but I won't give up.

Up and Down Day

 Well, it seems I'm struggling with the font at the new address, too. Guess I'll go back to my old one. Today was an up and down day, or maybe down and up--I read a NFest post that said the school and library market is disrupted right now, and that publishers don't want to buy picture book biographies because they were mostly purchased by schools and libraries. So, guess I may have to expand my focus. 

   The hopeful news is--I have three little board book manuscripts about dinosaurs and I sent one off to a publisher yesterday. Got a reply today--he likes the idea and would I send the other two? Sent them off right away, and I'm crossing everything I've got. I've had false alarms before, so I'm not going to get too excited til it goes farther, but it was lovely to receive that e-mail!

New Year, New E-Mail

 I just couldn't trust Gmail to format my submission letters correctly, and they didn't offer Times New Roman as a font choice, so I opened a new Yahoo e-mail account: deborahholtwilliamswriter@yahoo.com I hope it will bring me good luck! Had a great zoom meeting today with the western slope SCBWI group on diversity in chapter books.  Entered the SCBWI Ann Paul contest today, too, with my Marjory Stoneman Douglas PB bio, MARJORY STOOD. All in all, a good writing day!