Setting for THE HEALING SPELL, Scholastic, Summer 2010
I've had three books published by Avon and Knopf in the past, two of them orphaned, but I've never had an editor like the one who recently bought my three books at Scholastic. She is AWESOME, ENCOURAGING, and FILLED WITH KUDOS like I've NEVER heard before in my life!Where has she been all my life? All those years of rejections? All those days I was ready to give up? Rewrite AGAIN??? It's been how many years I've worked on this book??? SEVEN you say??? Oh, the pain, the pain! Okay, okay, I'll revise one more time. But this is it! Do you hear me? I can't do this anymore!!!! But I believe in my story. I love my story. I'll try again to create something out of these black marks on the page . . .
Anyone else have daily inner dialogue with themselves like this? This kind of conversation has gone on inside my head for, um, decades? Some days it ain't pretty.
I got my first revision letter and the manuscript back with yellow sticky notes!!! It's real!
THIS blew me away:
"Let me begin by telling you what a joy it was to read your manuscript. Truly, the story and characters you have woven are so rich and compelling, your prose so lyrical and graceful; your words leap to brilliant life. . . . Rare is the manuscript that proves to be as beautiful, as excellent, as fun to read, and in as wonderful shape as this one. You've crafted an emotionally gripping story that kept me turning the pages hungrily, and Livie's vivacity, gumption and struggles . . . made me fall in love with her. And just as importantly, you've created a wonderfully alive and complex world filled with details that made me smell the thick Louisiana air and feel the mud squelching betwen my toes. Congratulations, and thank you. What a gift!"
She tells me I've given HER a gift! That touches my heart and makes me cry.
At the end of her letter, she concludes with, "the ending is just gorgeous. I cried and cried when I read it the first time, second time, and third time, too! Marvelous job!
She has given ME a gift. I will always treasure these words. Makes all the gestation, labor and birth pains disappear.
