Publishing Process: My Wicked Lovely Path

So I was asked to talk a bit about getting published.  I've been asked about this an awful lot so it seems as good a topic as any . . . after my usual disclaimers :) 

Disclaimer the First-- I like to blog rather informally. I taught the same way.  In my "proper writing" I use my proper diction & all that, but here online (or in casual conversation) I'm not a fan of fussiness. 

Disclaimer the Second-- No one route is ever the solitary path.  I believe this to be true about finding physical locations (which is handy as I get lost regularly) and life events.  My chatter is just one version of things.  It's all relative (which is why, frex, I like writing multiple POVs).

Now the talking part . . .

Wicked Lovely was originally a short story. It resulted from my love of folklore, egalitarian concepts, & pretty words.  I'm a Faulkner devotee so I adore the idea of trying to capture the full sensory experience in text--and the impossibility of ever truly achieving such a thing.  Still, where's the fun in trying if it's not difficult?  So I wrote a short story.

I hadn't planned to try writing until I was 40, but under the strong suggestions of Spouse, children, & friends I'd agreed to allow myself three years to write PT & teach PT.  I wrote the story that became the novel in the fall of 2004.  I'd been writing for a year.  I sent it out to children's venues & fantasy venues.  Both suggested it was "well written but maybe for [the other venues]."  It was too mature for children's markets, too lyrical/young/not original/too many POVs for adult magazines.  I had a handful of rejections, a rewrite request, & shelved it.  It was about 2500 words. It wasn't modern, but more fairy-tale-esque in setting.

I'd used up a year of my planned three years at that point. I'd sold a few poems & a couple short stories so far, but all told, I'd made under $300.  I kept hearing I was writing "starts of novels" not short stories. So I figured I'd give it a go:  I wrote a novel. It was a middle-grade novel with faeries, evil queens, & 5 3rd person narrative threads.  I queried agents starting in July 2005.  I had a few requests & a lot of rejections.  Then I decided that while I was waiting I'd write another novel.  I just didn't know what to write. I walked around with my camera & notebook for a while.  I took notes, setting photos, & sketched a bit. (I'm not good at sketching or photos. It was just for my visualization.) It was the short story I kept thinking of, so in September I sat down & started writing . . . for 4 months I wrote pretty much every day.

It was a bit all consuming. I dreamt of my characters. I once thought I saw Seth walking down the street & actually started to pull over to ask why he was not at . . . umm, when I couldn't finish that sentence, I realized that I had clearly been too long at the desk that day.

Around December, I had a rejection from an agent (on the other novel) that included a request for my new novel. On January 6th, I sent it to her--along with mailing out queries to my other top choices.  By mid-January I had a batch of requests, & the text was out with a number of my top choices.  I had a couple rejections & a lot more hope.  I had used up 2 of my 3 years though, & I had heard how long the process is, so I made plans to resume FT teaching in the fall when I moved back east.  

Then in mid-February, I had a couple offers of representation. I picked one of my "dream agents" (an agent I'd added to the list b/c she seemed passionate & fierce which immediately made her outrank  other agents with more experience but less passion).  My new agent, Rachel Vater, then shocked me by starting to set up an auction with real live editors at the major publishing house.  She told me we'd start sending the ms out in a couple weeks.

She called folks, & they were interested.  The text went out. Verbal confirmations of intent to offer started coming in within days. One editor (Anne Hoppe at HarperCollins) called on a Saturday--less than 24 hrs after receiving the text.  She had skipped her tea (?!) and (as I later learned) told people in house that she would "die if [she] didn't get this book."   That monday, March 6, is when I heard that she was interested.  The first offer from another publisher also came in that day. The next several days brought more calls saying offers were forthcoming. I panicked a bit b/c although these were great houses, Anne had skipped caffeine for my characters (plus, my daughter is enthralled by Terry Pratchett & Anne is his editor so Daughter had been gleeful that I might share OMG Terry Pratchett's Editor). 

Friday--a week after Anne first received the book--she called Rachel with a pre-empt offer that was for both Harper US & Harper UK, a co-acquisition offer that required bi-nation calls during the London Book Fair . . . oh, and it was for three books

[A pre-empt means a nice enough offer that one does not talk to other publishers--it stopped the auction.]

Now, I had previously authorized my kids' cutting school that day b/c a friend of the family--the man who, along with my awesome spouse, had told me rather bluntly that I should get over my fear and write a novel--was visiting.  It was right around 9am, and we were  literally walking out the door for Disneyland when the call came. 

Obviously, I said YESYESYES (after making Rachel repeat it a few times, send it in writing, & perhaps flopping back on to my bed so I didn't lose my balance).  Then, I hung up & went to Disneyland . . . where I treated myself to a Nightmare Before Christmas hoodie. Ok, umm, and I might've also called my agent a couple to times to ask her to tell me if I was awake or had imagined the whole thing.

It was 6 months from starting the novel to my life totally changing. Each time I've thought it couldn't get more surreal I've been proven wrong. I have an awesome agent, amazing publishers (including a number of foreign houses), and even cooler? Real Live Readers who email & tell me they've liked hanging out with my words.  I miss teaching a lot still (I couldn't do a proper job at being a writer, teacher, and mom, so I resigned teaching for now).  But, I'm having good fun in my new career . . . and my kids are pleased that I'm doing this, so it's all feeling pretty cool right now.