Big Magic – Living it in real-time!

17 Comments

February 28, 2022

Once again – and in less than only a few days – I’m reminded of my novel. It’s called, “Tess: The Village Scribe” and yes, it’s a complete work. That said, it’s been sitting quietly in an unvisited file on my computer for the last… oh… I don’t know. Years.

At first, I – and my novel – were open vessels. I asked any and all to read it and give their feedback.

Word to the wise: Don’t do that!

Talk about confusion!
Loved it.
Um. I didn’t understand it.
Is it fantasy or a children’s book?
Labyrinths are for the dead. You can’t use them for the living!
It makes no sense!
It was so creative and fun!
Etc, etc, etc.

When it came time to seek a publisher, I first went the opposite direction, researching and finding the perfect “houses” for my creation.

The letters/ emails that arrived back to me:

“Good, but not this time…”
“We don’t handle fantasy…”
“We aren’t publishing anything during the pandemic…”
“Is this for children?…”
“No. No. No. Reason. Reason. Reason.”

In the interest of transparency, I only sent Tess’s book to 15-20 publishers. I didn’t want to inundate the market. <<< I hear that's a thing. Also, I didn't want one publisher to say yes, and then another with a better offer to say yes, so I was staggering and careful.

Such is the life of someone who will end up self-publishing, eh? But I've never had the inclination or money for that.

All this to say…

The novel is my baby. So, yeah, that's what I thought of when I re-read this post this morning. And it reminded me that I should dig it out of the bowels of my computer and try again to get it published. Just sayin'…

The Self-Help Whisperer®

“The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them.”Elizabeth Gilbert

You’re probably wondering why it’s taken me so long to write about Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert? After all, I’m clearly a fan! I went back through my blog to find how many times I’d written about her. Only that once? Seems impossible! Why? Because one of my new favorite books of ALL TIME was written by her!

The Signature of All Thingswas a difficult read the first time… so much so that I put it down. I guess I should say that it’s a novel, not a non-fiction work, and that matters because everything I’d read (of hers) up to then was non-fiction (mostly autobiographical). Even though I have the book on my shelf, I picked up the audiobook from the library and…

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17 Comments

  7. Do I remember actually treasuring your whispering like it was my own mammy’s murmer at some dim, delusional time in the misty deeps of the antediluvian paaaaast? 🤨

    Liked by 1 person

  15. HahaHAAAA! FI-nally, an advantage to writing lyric poetry! It RHYMES!! Go ahead and TRY to cut it up! It won’t WORK!!!! Ha HA, ha HA, ha HA haHAhahahahaaaaaaa 🥳

    Liked by 1 person

  17. I say, “Do it!” I know very little about the publishing world, but I know something about you, so I’m certain the book is cleverly written and full of warmth and surprise. The perfect publisher is out there!

    Rebecca Smith Sent from my iPhone

    >

    Liked by 2 people

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