A "Mature" Writer finds an agent, gets a publisher, and goes on tour: Part I

On February 14, I head to New York from the North Shore of Lake Superior to meet my publisher/editor Liz Maguire and the marketing and publicity staff at Counterpoint, the literary imprint of Perseus Press. On February 15, Counterpoint is hosting a media party for me and the book. I thought that the rest of the Spring 2006 authors would be there as well, but my publicist Jason Brantley informed me otherwise. "This cocktail party will be only for you and The Scent of God . Dress is business casual. Something that shows your personality - don't stress about it too much, publishing isn't as formal as it used to be and this is meant to be fun for you and the media people that show up."   

Excited? You bet. Especially as this book is the result of years of effort and over ten different drafts. So how did it happen that at 66 years of age, I found an agent who found a publisher willing to chance a first time author?  A lot of hard work and a bit of serendipity.

I began writing The Scent of God  in dribs and drabs. A chapter for a class in memoir, another for a course in grieving. In the spring of 1996, I reworked 20 of those pages and submitted them to a competition run by a well-known Twin Cities organization called The Loft Literary Center and won the 1997 Creative Nonfiction Award.  This award entitled me to work for a month with Scott Russell Sanders, author of Secrets of the Universe, Hunting for Hope, Staying Put the following May. I had 20 pages and several months to pull something that resembled a book together – a difficult task when one is working full time as a single mother of two active teenagers.

Providence intervened. A residency at a writers retreat for women on the North Shore of Lake Superior became available. Two weeks of concentrated writing time at Norcroft provided plenty of material for the month-long workshop with Sanders. Five other women writers: Cheri Register, Judith Neimi, Pamela Fletcher, Barrie Borich, and Patrice Koelsch -- all of whom had extensive publishing credits -- had also been selected for this award. How I had managed to slip in among them, I knew not. "Passion." Sanders said. My writing had passion. Boosted by the experience, I began working on the memoir at every free moment. I wrote when I was eating, I wrote at night, I wrote before work.

In subsequent posts I'll fill you in on the story and take you to publication day with me and beyond. 

Adapted from Beryl's Blog