The book birthing process....

Welcome to my blog...a chronicle of my various and sundry attempts to get my book published and the strange and wonderful twists and turns that the path takes along the way.

Here's to a prosperous journey (for all of us who are undertaking this insane task) on the road to getting published. So far, this adventure has been filled with moments of wild hope and desperate pitfalls...but mostly I am experiencing many lovely 'character building' experiences that we creative types love so much.

I have met some very cool people on my journey and I will shameless name-drop...so be aware that this is not merely starfucker behavior but simply awe at the power that the universe has to drop odd moments of grace into our lives just when we seem to need them most. I will also jump around chronologically since this, to me, is not simply about the travails (oooh...big SAT word...FANCY) of getting THIS particular book published (we'll get there--I'll tell you all about the book in a few minutes...stay with me) but about how the destination pulls us forward in its own time, in its own way.

OK...what is the book and why do any of you care? Well...you may not but for our purposes it is helpful to have some sort of tangible product that will play the main character...and be the central focus of this winding tale.

The manuscript I am trying to sell is loosely titled:

"Lipstick and Thongs in the Loony Bin"

And to sum it up in 'pitch' language...

It is like a funny, "Girl Interrupted"...and I will be putting excerpts in here from time to time as I polish and revise and yet still continue to send it out to everyone and their pet chameleon. Some schools of thought go against this method of 'premature manuscript sending' but I persist in my ignorance on this matter. I believe it to be a mostly complete manuscript that, while of course could benefit from a professional editor's honing touch...is ready (or almost there anyway) to be birthed into the world.

So why am I recruiting all of you random strangers to hold my hand at one of the most undignified, raw and messy life experiences possible?

The birthing process cannot be a solitary one whether you are talking about a human life or a book. Because while we may all come into this world alone in many existensial ways...we really don't in the pragmatic sense. We are ushered in usually by a team of doctors (publishers), anesthesiologists (the friends who buy you drinks or chocolate cake after stinging rejections), midwives (editors) and nurses (agents).

And so this is my Lamaze class and you are all my fellow preggos.

So let's all take a deep breath and focus.