Or Maybe I'll Start Today

The other day I was blogging about how I plan to start marketing my children's writing, once the new year rolls around. Well...

Recently I had a call from my parents, telling me of a news story they had seen about a local publisher of a glossy, regional magazine, branching out into publishing children's books. Why didn't I submit "our book?"

"Our book" is One to Ten and Home Again: A Counting Book of Sounds, a children's picture book that I wrote, my mother illustrated, and we published as an e-book in 2002. I marketed the e-book for some time through my own website, but that eventually became cost prohibitive. And, well... I guess I got discouraged. Since the closing of the site, the book has basically languished in the file cabinet.

Likewise, I filed this new publishing opportunity in the back of my mind, where it likely would have languished -- until a few days ago, when my dad called again. He had spoken with the publisher and told them about "our book." And they said they'd like to look at it. It may seem unappreciative of me, but I wasn't thrilled with the news. I felt pressured, and I think he had a feeling I'd react that way. In fact, he prefaced the conversation with, "I hope you won't be mad, but..."

Nevertheless, he did have all the information I needed to submit, which I assured him that I would, and that, no, I wasn't mad. I dutifully wrote down the address.

Last night, we took the kids to my parents' house for trick or treat. The first thing my dad said was, "Did you send it in yet?"

"Not yet, Dad."

He wasn't going to give up.

Well today all the moons and stars must have been in perfect alignment, because I spent hours putting together the most professional submission packet I could manage. Since things had become disorganized over time, I had to reformat the manuscript, re-scan all of my mom's illustrations, burn discs of the e-book and illustrations, etc. etc. But it's sitting here on my desk, ready to go out in tomorrow's mail. And I feel...

Accomplished.

So if anything comes from this (and even if it doesn't) I'm going to owe my parents big-time. An apology for being so resistant to their parental pushing, and a "thanks, I needed that" for the kick in the pants. I feel a slight sense of momentum building, and hopefully this new feeling of accomplishment will keep that ball rolling.