Signing on the Dotted Line: Publishing Contract Number Two

SAILING OUT OF DARKNESS Sold (Finally)

Perhaps the manuscript’s saga will encourage you to hang on and believe in your dreams, too.

Picture a sailboat and a sailor and years from there to here. During that more-than-a-decade, we ventured forth on oceans and seas, living a life that changed us both. The photo below captures a moment in time, just before a storm slammed us as we crossed toward the Baja Penninsula. Mere hours later, the Sea of Cortez kicked up a mess, and Sea Venture tossed her nose about in nasty waves during a particularly unpleasant night. (And the bow planking went walkabout. I wonder where the pieces landed. Still, I digress.)

 

Into the setting sun

 

The journey from the story’s conception to this latest publishing contract spanned years (and years and years). I began writing Sailing out of Darkness long before we set sail, when my only boat was a small sharpie and my sailing territory very close to home. My first agent helped me craft its ending and worked with me until I understood exactly what she meant. She taught me quite a lot, and I’m grateful.

But she couldn’t sell it. Nor could she sell the next one.

So, I wrote two more stories as we sailed from California and down into Mexican waters. Occasionally, I took this old story out and dusted it off, rewriting bits and pieces, twisting it and turning it, adding poems, chopping poems, giving it a facelift as I changed point of view characters. Readers came and went, some giving good advice, some not.

In the middle of the voyage, I changed agents, signing with Terry Burns of Hartline Literary Agency. I became his assistant (lovely Internet) and worked from my waterborne home. He began to submit my stories here and there. And then there and here.

Poor Terry. I’m probably the most frustrating of his authors, because whenever a rejection letter came from an editor, I rewrote–again–tweaking and tossing until the stories barely resembled the ones I’d first submitted. There were times when he didn’t know if we were coming or going. I can picture him, squinting at my emails from under his big Stetson, calling to his wife, Saundra, “She’s doing it again. Gotta sit on that gal.”

About a year ago, I pulled Sailing out of Darkness from the recesses of my hard drive and realized that the entire mid-section needed bariatric surgery. So, slice, dice, and a  lot of ouch.

It was painful, and recovery took months. But the new and revised story felt right. Instead of all that fat from overindulgence as I tried to explain away my protagonist’s misdeeds, the slimmer story starts with her wake-up call.

I guess the editorial board at WhiteFire Publishing agreed enough to offer a contract.

(Here’s a picture more relevant to the story as we sail before a storm, en route home.)

Sailing Puff

In my role as editor for Wayside Press, I discuss how important craft is. Just as I studied with brilliant artists and teachers to hone my skills as a sculptor, so I’ve studied the writing craft and submitted myself and my words to red-pen professionals. I’ve written and rewritten until my eyes crossed. I’ve puzzled over rejection letter after rejection letter. But you know what? I’m glad the contracts waited until now. When I look back at those earlier versions of my work, I thank God for making me wait.

Perhaps you’ve a journey that makes you sigh or weep or wonder if you’ve been left behind. Maybe your journey has nothing to do with writing, but instead involves another dream, something you long to achieve. You haven’t yet found that yes waiting in your Inbox or received that promotion at work or taken that trip. Or found that mate.

I’d love to hear from you. What are your dreams? Where are you on the path?

Please leave a comment, and let’s encourage each other.