I'm Back!
Mmmmm. This is a celebratory apple pie that I baked. That's A - P - P - L - E. My (almost) six-year-old helper put the letters on top. Thank you, Noah!
First, I'm very sorry for the delay in blogging. I've had too much going on. Ai-ya, where do I begin?
Book news
I submitted my latest book manuscript to the publisher in February -- ten days early! It was an amazingly intense, but infinitely gratifying, researching and writing process. I was feeling pretty darn pleased with the final draft. I was even more pleased as I began to receive bits of very positive feedback from the publishing house.
I have a title. My book, which profiles ten female entrepreneurs, from different countries, different times, and working in different fields, will be called Phenomenal Female Entrepreneurs. The series' name is The Women's Hall of Fame series, and the publisher is Second Story Press in Toronto, Canada. It was challenging to find a title that worked with the press's established alliterative pattern of Adjective + Female/Women + Descriptor [field]. The obvious choices of "Extraordinary" and "Exceptional" had already been used for previous books in the same series. Though I scoured the dictionary and flipped through the entire "E" section of my humongous Random House Dictionary of the English Language, I couldn't find many words that had quite the right meaning. We mulled over "Excellent," "Eminent," "Enlightened," and "Exemplary," but, in the end, credit goes to the publisher herself for crafting the title as it now stands. I like it. I think it has a good balance. I admire the way "Phenomenal" and "Entrepreneurs" are equally long, look good on the page (which I think is really important), and have some heft to them. The managing editor said she likes the ring of the title. It's true. It does have a ring to it.
And then, it got even crazier . . .
No sooner had I submitted my manuscript -- no, wait -- before I had even submitted my manuscript, I received an email asking if I was available to work on an editorial project. I wasn't quite available and had heaps of papers all over my desk as I fine-tuned the final draft of Phenomenal Female Entrepreneurs. But like the intrepid freelancer I am (and most of us are), I gulped, said "yes," and jumped in. That's what I've been doing since mid-February. The hours have been crazy, the work stimulating and interesting with a great balance of research, thinking, and writing. But best of all, I have to say, is to get a contract like this after taking 15 weeks off to write a book. Yes, day jobs are worth their weight in gold. I love writing books, but editorial work helps make it affordable to do so, and, thank goodness, I really enjoy the editorial work, too.
Message me
Drop me a line if there's something you'd like me to write about on this blog. Apparently a lot of people are reading it lately and I thank you for visiting. I appreciate your feedback and thank you for your interest in my books!
