I'm querying again

Well, I’ve already sent out mini query letters to a couple of recommended prospective publishers. I’ve included information about my book and links to sample chapters of my memoir Leaving the Hall Light On, and I’ve told them I’ll have all the files in native QuarkXpress and pdf. So if they want to add my book to their portfolios it should be a slam-dunk. Plus I’m not interested in another hardback run. I would prefer a paperback and/or e-book.

I've also made a little pitch about my current writing work with links to my blogs Choices and Red Room, and to the PsychAlive and Naturally Savvy websites, where I blog every month. 

And now the waiting begins.

I hate this part. The querying and waiting.

I thought I wouldn’t have to do it again until I’m ready to market my novel.

And, now I wonder if it is even worth it. 

Readers, I need your advice on this one. Should I even try to find a new publisher or should I just go ahead and self-publish?

What do you think?

The eve of New Year's Eve

I think this is a perfect day for looking back. Usually we go to an eve, eve party where we always share about our events of the year. Since it was cancelled this year, I'll share our major happenings of 2011 here.


Major Happenings of 2011:

1.  My husband, Bob, and I traveled to Amador County and Sutter Creek, CA with Manhattan Beach friends to taste some native zinfandel wines in January. On our first night there Bob fell and broke the three metatarsal bones in his right foot. Bob had foot surgery to repair and pin his broken bones together in February and had to be off his foot for eight weeks. He got around on a knee scooter (Rolleraid) or crutches. I was his driver.

Bob on his knee scooter (Rolleraid)

2.  On May 8 (Mother’s Day) my memoir Leaving the Hall Light On was released by Lucky Press.  My successful book launch reading and signing at our local independent bookstore, Pages, was held on May 12. A couple of weeks later we celebrated my birthday in Lake Oswego, Oregon with my sister’s family and their sister-in-law from Denver.

Madeline reading at Pages book launch

3.  In July we went to Reno, NV to celebrate the marriage of dear friends.

4.  Our great-niece Alyssa traveled from Denver on her own to visit with us for a week in August just before we traveled to Frankfurt and Berlin Germany, Stockholm Sweden, and Oslo Norway. Our first stop was to attend the Bar Mitzvah of the son of friends we met on our Northern European cruise last year.

5.  Our son, Ben spent four weeks at CBS studios in Burbank in November acting in a major movie called “7500” that will be released next August. He also passed the National Association of Sports Medicine test. Besides being an actor, he is now a certified personal trainer and a tennis coach.

6.  Ben’s wife, Marissa, appeared in a commercial for Transamerica Insurance. She also learned to be a Reiki practitioner and is now regularly seeing clients in her home studio.

7.  Bob worked sporadically at a small engineering company. He is now there until the end of the year.

8.  I still write and have poems published, and I am a regular contributor to three websites: Huffington Post, Naturally Savvy, and PsychAlive, besides writing for my blogs at Choices and Red Room. I also promote my book at book fairs, signings, and speaking engagements as part of my non-stop book marketing activities. And I am currently over 50,000 words into a novel.

Midweek Work Progress Report

This week has been very productive.

I’ve sent off my second piece for the PsychAlive website, and I got word from the editor that it’s ready to go live. The piece is called “Comforting Those Who Grieve.” I’m still awaiting word from my Savvy Over 60 editor about when my November piece for them will be up.

I also started working on a piece for a new blog I’m interested in called, Heartache to Healing, founded by grief coach, author, and speaker, JoAnne Funch. Hopefully, the piece will be good enough that I’ll be allowed to contribute there once in a while as well.

And I started working on my speech that I’m scheduled to make on November 19 for our local chapter of the American Association of University Women. It was suggested I talk about the mental health and suicide prevention services available in our area. I’ll do that and expand the speech to tell my story of healing after my son’s suicide that I describe in my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On.

And surprise, surprise, I got a chance to write a poem and work on my novel this morning. I plan to continue with my creative work for the rest of this week.

Then this Saturday I’ll be signing my books from ten in the morning until four in the afternoon at the Ventura County Book Fair at the Pleasant Valley Community Park Auditorium, 1605 Brunley Street in Camarillo – about an hour’s drive from my home in Manhattan Beach. I’ll also get a chance to do a ten-minute reading in the early afternoon. So, if you’re in the neighborhood, please stop by. I’ll be at Table 28.

Of course all of this takes place while I continue my everyday social networking work on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Book Blogs, my blogs on Choices and Red Room and prepare for my next blog tour in the spring. I’ve learned that there is no rest in a writer’s life.

And as my garden Buddha seems to say, it’s all good.

Recap of 2010 Events

Before I move on to 2011, I thought I'd recap some of our family's 2010. We sent this list along with our holiday cards.


January:

• Bob recovers from knee surgery
• Bob publishes Volume 1 of Family History – Bob's family story
• Bob’s brother Richard’s dies; Madeline and Bob travel to New York

February:

• Ben and Marissa announce intention to marry
• Madeline takes novel writing workshop at UCLA and begins first novel

March:

• Madeline begins blogging on Red Room, a writers website -http://www.redroom.com/member/madeline40

April:           

• Madeline retires from Northrop Grumman on April 30

May:

• Madeline has several poems published at Survivor Chronicles, unFold, and Poetsespresso
• Bob ends 14 years of consulting for TRW/Northrop Grumman on May 7
• Madeline and Bob begin five-week vacation with trip to Chicago, Washington, and New York City to see family and friend

June:

• Our five week vacation continues to London, cruise from South Hampton to Scandinavia and St. Petersburg with return through London and New York
• No work at Northrop for Bob upon return; he takes the summer off

July:

• Madeline gets publishing contract with Lucky Press LLC to publish her memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On, about Paul and how our family survived his death. The book will e released Mother’s Day 2011
• Madeline begins revising her draft manuscript
• Trip to Kentucky to view investment property

August:

•  Ben and Marissa marry in the garden of our home
•  Bob starts work at TASC/Ryan Associates
•  Madeline creates an author page on Facebook  - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Madeline-Sharples/145268628820134?ref=mf
•  Lucky Press creates a website for Madeline - http://www.LuckyPress.com/madelinesharples.html
•  Madeline begins tutoring a high school student in writing

September:

• The Great American Poetry Show Volume 2 that Madeline co-edits is published - http://greatamericanpoetryshow.com/

October:

• Pages bookstore hosts reading of Madeline and Paul Blieden’s book of photography and poems, The Emerging Goddess - www.theemerginggoddess.com/

November:

•  Madeline celebrates three year anniversary of her blog, Choices - http://madeline40.blogspot.com/  
• Madeline and Bob visit new great niece, Khloe, and rest of Denver family
• Bob has face surgery for basal cell carcinoma 

December:

• Bob publishes Volume 2 of Family History - Madeline's family story
• Madeline submits revised draft of her memoir to Lucky Press LLC
• Madeline and Bob vacation in Carmel