So I leave four little ones at home, crawl into my friends mini-van with my 9 week old, and set out on the adventure of bringing my book proposal to NC to meet with two publishing company representatives. The 9 1/2 hour drive went well except for Derrick calling me to tell me that my 5 year old daughter, Carmen, sat at the table, said that she missed her mommy, her eyes welled up with tears and then the volcano errupted! He puts her on the phone and all I hear between the wails is, "I love you Mommy." So I had been gone for maybe a few hours and was already crying over the kidos I left at home.
Once I arrived at the conference, the first class I went to let me know that my 15 minute proposal meeting was going to be a 15 minute sells pitch, given by me, that was to be planned out and rehearsed, and that they would not even take the proposal that I had worked so hard on to give them. I thought they would have the proposal, ask me a few questions and that would be it. Naive I know, but I am new to this world of book writing. So the rest of the day I was a nervous wreck, not being able to enjoy any of the conference or meet any of the 600 women that were there because I'm trying to memorize the intro to my book so I could give my sales pitch at 7 p.m. to the publisher. I was also told in that first class to be sure to eat before I went to my meeting...well the conference dinner did not come out quick enough, so I didn't get to eat. They also said to wear a suit jacket and if I didn't have one, to borrow one off of someone there. Being 9 1/2 hours away from my closet, this would have been nice info to have before I got there, but what made matters even worse is the dress I bought for that meeting I didn't even get to wear. I frantically ran to my hotel room to change, but because I had not nursed little miss Ciera all day, the girls were screamin' out and walking about 2 miles before me and I did not feel comfy in my very form fitting dress. So now the lump that had been in my throat all day finally developed into tears streaming down my face and I approached my meeting quite humbly! (I had dried my tears before I went in...we were also told not to cry!!!)
The meeting went well. Her concerns were that my book was not long enough yet and also as a mom of 5 young children, she didn't think I could aggressively promote myself. I thought, if "Cheaper by the Dozen" mom could do it, so can I! She did, for some reason, take my proposal with her so....who knows! This world of book writing, publishing and juggling children is definitley a new page in my journey, but I intend to "run the race and not be weary!" I thank God for the opportunity and know it's in His hands. He asked me to write...I wrote. He asked me to go...I went. Whatever He asks of me I am willing!
Once I arrived at the conference, the first class I went to let me know that my 15 minute proposal meeting was going to be a 15 minute sells pitch, given by me, that was to be planned out and rehearsed, and that they would not even take the proposal that I had worked so hard on to give them. I thought they would have the proposal, ask me a few questions and that would be it. Naive I know, but I am new to this world of book writing. So the rest of the day I was a nervous wreck, not being able to enjoy any of the conference or meet any of the 600 women that were there because I'm trying to memorize the intro to my book so I could give my sales pitch at 7 p.m. to the publisher. I was also told in that first class to be sure to eat before I went to my meeting...well the conference dinner did not come out quick enough, so I didn't get to eat. They also said to wear a suit jacket and if I didn't have one, to borrow one off of someone there. Being 9 1/2 hours away from my closet, this would have been nice info to have before I got there, but what made matters even worse is the dress I bought for that meeting I didn't even get to wear. I frantically ran to my hotel room to change, but because I had not nursed little miss Ciera all day, the girls were screamin' out and walking about 2 miles before me and I did not feel comfy in my very form fitting dress. So now the lump that had been in my throat all day finally developed into tears streaming down my face and I approached my meeting quite humbly! (I had dried my tears before I went in...we were also told not to cry!!!)
The meeting went well. Her concerns were that my book was not long enough yet and also as a mom of 5 young children, she didn't think I could aggressively promote myself. I thought, if "Cheaper by the Dozen" mom could do it, so can I! She did, for some reason, take my proposal with her so....who knows! This world of book writing, publishing and juggling children is definitley a new page in my journey, but I intend to "run the race and not be weary!" I thank God for the opportunity and know it's in His hands. He asked me to write...I wrote. He asked me to go...I went. Whatever He asks of me I am willing!
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