Quotes from Readers

So here are some quotes from two teenagers and an adult who read My Perfect Little Secret.  I have two more teenagers who are going to read it and I will talk to David next week!
A.R., age 19:

“I would recommend this book…many people could relate.”

“If I read the back of the book in the bookstore and saw soccer, teens, and anything about health and food, I would have bought it.”

“I can relate to so much of this book.”

“It is a book I didn’t want to put down.  It is relatable, but not your typical teen fiction high school drama.”

G.M., age 17:

“It was soooo good.  Literally one of the best books I’ve ever read.”

“My favorite character would probably have to be Lilly.  I could honestly relate to her which easily made her my favorite.”

“I loved this book.  I loved how much I could relate to this book.  I also loved the suspense.  It was a great story that was told so well that I felt like I was there.”

C.M., adult reader:

“The book speaks from the heart of Lilly, allowing the reader to very easily step into her life, to truly experience her journey through sophomore year.”

“Your writing captures the essence of her [Lilly’s] spirit.”

“This story follows a year in the life of a teenage girl with dreams and plans for a very bright future that could possibly, never arrive, all because of an eating disorder.”

 “This book deals with a serious health problem that is prevalent in our society.  In all the right places, your book does not mince words.  It describes precisely the phenomenon of an altered body image.”

“Your book is written from the heart: funny, clever, tragic, inspiring, and full of insight.”

“You write beautifully.”

“This book touched me deeply.”

“I think my favorite message in the book comes from the words of Mrs. Shaffer: “…don’t let this rough patch define who you are.”  I think this is a strong message of hope for all of your readers.”

“The book clearly illustrates that people are human, not perfect; that one cannot go it alone no matter how strong one thinks one is, that friendship and love are beautiful gifts, that asking for and accepting help, through the “rough patches” is sometimes essential.”

Happy New Year! (Yes, a little late...)

Wow, I am so terrible at updating the blog!  That should’ve been my New Year’s resolution.  So in the last post, I said I would be sharing the game plan that David and I came up with.  Here it is:

-formulate a list of questions for him based on his edit

-edit the book and make all the needed changes

-have someone else edit the book and proofread it

-find four teenagers to read it

-make up questionnaire for readers to get feedback

-When I’m done with the final edit, David will read it again

-THEN, submit my book!

Although I didn’t blog about it, I was hard at work during my break from school doing all of these things.  I finished editing my book.  Someone else edited it, proofread it, and helped me polish it.  Two teenage readers read my book and filled out a questionnaire.  Another two readers are about to start the book.  And as of today, David is reading the final version of My Perfect Little Secret.  In about two weeks, David and I will talk again and then we will submit the book to a list of literary agents!

P.S. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!!!

Ode to Eileen

So the past several months have been a big blur for me and my family.  I have been extremely busy with full time graduate school and part time work.  On top of that, we have all been passing around the Kansas City “crud” for the past couple of weeks.  The biggest thing that has happened this fall is that my aunt Eileen passed away in October.  She fought a short, but very courageous battle with renal cell carcinoma.  I haven’t shared that loss with very many people outside of my immediate family.  I mention it today because Eileen was one of my very biggest supporters in life, including writing this book.  She was always so encouraging of my writing, but even more so, she was there for me as l lived out a lot of this book in real life.    She understood the realities of my writing and believed in my ability to bring the voices of my characters to life.  Eileen was an amazing woman, loving mother, caring wife, and one of the most selfless women I have ever known.  She was a second mom to me and I’m so thankful that she was such a huge part of my life.  All of us who got to experience Eileen are the absolute luckiest. 

As you may have guessed, I have spent very little time on editing my book.  The semester ended on Tuesday though, and I’m out of school until January 2^nd.  It’s go time.  Stay tuned!

Aunt Eileen holding Gabby

Talk with David

On September 8^th I finally got to talk with David about my book.  He had finished reading it and it was time to hear what he had to say!!!  I was really nervous.  David is the very first person to read my book that wasn’t a family member or a friend.  All my family and friends gave me really positive feedback.  Although I do trust that my family and friends would somehow tell me in nice way that it sucked, David would just come right out and say it.  He is brutally honest.  It’s one of the things I like most about him.  He tells me how it is.  I was worried he was going to tell me it wasn’t good enough.   I was worried he was going to tell me to give it up, put it on the back burner, or just burn it all together.

I sat back and gave a huge sigh of relief when the first thing he said to me was, “I really enjoyed reading it”.  I furiously typed everything he said to me.  Here are some of the things he said:

-“It was easy to read”

-he was “whipping along through it”

-he “really liked the character and Josie too”

- the book “captures the teenage girl very well”

 -“rang true her (Lilly) relationship with her mom”

-“high school life felt real”

He went on to talk about certain specifics of the characters that he liked as well.  I felt as high as a kite.  All the things he liked in my book were things I was really hoping to convey.  Essentially the real life of a high school teenage girl.

Then came the hard part.  David telling me how I can make this book better.  Some of it was just grammatical stuff.  He says that I need to get my book edited.  So, if any of you guys know a great editor, I need one!  He also said that I need to have a better sense of urgency or foreboding in the first chapter.  Once you read the book, you will understand what he’s talking about.  David also said that I made the boyfriend too nice.  I believe he said “No high school guy is that nice.”  Point taken.  Additionally, I use too many “grownup” words in this book.  All in all, he said that the things I need to fix are easy.  He said that the book is well-written and that he definitely sees a big audience for my book.

This is all really, really good news!!!

David and I came up with a game plan for what’s to come, but I will share that in the next blog!

Look!

Look what came in the mail today!!!

Yes, it's the EDITED "My Perfect Little Secret" Manuscript from David!

The long awaited emails!!!

As you all know if you're following the blog, things have been on pause on my part of things while David has done a line edit of my entire book.  So, when I received the following 2 emails from David, they made me extremely happy!!!
September 2, 2011:

i will finish yr manuscript this weekend. it's good. when can we talk next week?

September 3, 2011:

Finished yr book.  Really enjoyed it. Where should I send edited card copy?

So, the book has been line edited!!! Wahoo!!! He put it in the mail and I should receive the marked up manuscript any day.  I talked to David yesterday on the phone, but I will keep you all in suspense and post that conversation in the next blog!

Megan's Guest Post!!!

Here is the guest post from Megan, my teen reader!: 

I was recently given the opportunity to read Rebecca's "my perfect little secret". David Sterry gave me this opportunity after I attended his Pitchapalooza. Even though I wasn't able to win he gave me many opportunities. David had me be Rebecca's "teen reader" so I could check on if the book was relatable. Not only was her book relatable, it was also very good. I was interested from page one and was amazed at the creativity involved in her book. My favorite part was the scrapbook Lilly and Josie made together because it was the first thing that made me feel relatable to the main character. However, that was not the only thing. I felt like the story was happening to me and my friends instead of Lilly and hers. I'm very thankful I had the opportunity to read "My Perfect Little Secret" and I hope the best for Rebecca.

**I want to thank Megan for being my teen reader and for giving me all her input.  She was a huge help and I really appreciate the time and effort she put into it! 

Location: Midway Airport, Chicago, IL

So, I wrote this blog on August 5th and am just now getting around to posting it.  Welcome to my life!!! 

Ok, so this summer has not been quite as productive as I’d hoped.  I’m sitting at a table in Chicago Midway Airport right now waiting on my delayed flight.  Who knows when I will actually be on my way back home to Kansas City.  As much as it pains me to say this, grad school comes first.  My book comes somewhere after that.  It’s not that grad school isn’t important.  It is.  It’s just so hard to not be able to give my whole heart and soul (and every free minute I have) into my book.  That’s just who I am.  I want to put my whole heart and soul into everything that I do.  The problem is that my life doesn’t quite allow that right now.  I put my heart and soul into my husband, my sweet baby girl, my family, and my friends.  Whatever heart and soul is left now gets divided between work, grad school, My Perfect Little Secret, and everything else.  The past few months have been insane for me, and I think it will only get worse from here on out.  Grad school has out ranked my book, and will continue to do so until I graduate next August.  At least there is a light at the end of the tunnel!  So, back to Chicago.  I am here in Chicago because this is where my grad school is.

Here’s a little background information for those who don’t know.  I go to graduate school at Rush University, which is in the heart of Chicago.  I am getting my master’s degree to be a pediatric critical care nurse practitioner.  Shorthand:  A nurse practitioner that works in a pediatric ICU (where the sickest kids are).  Although I can do most of my grad program online, I do have to travel to complete some of it.  I have been in Chicago the past two days doing assessment exams and proving that I have what it takes to do this program.  I will come back to Chicago for about a week in January, and then again in June.  I will also spend about a month in Dallas, Texas at Children’s Medical Center.  The trips to Chicago are doable.  I have only been here 3 days, and I’ve missed Andrew and Gabby like you couldn’t believe, but we survived it.  I am not sure how Dallas will go.  A month away from my family seems absolutely unbearable.  With a visit or two, cell phones, and Skype, I am sure we will figure it out.  Then, after a lot of hard work, I will graduate in August. 

Now to get to what this whole blog is about!!! My Perfect Little Secret!!!  David has been even busier than I have, if you can even imagine.  So, he has given me assignments as he works on editing (word-by-word) my entire book.  I have finished my research on every potential agent, made a file on them, and have written the query letters for my top two choices.  See my previous post for an explanation of the word “query”.  In addition, an aspiring writer named Megan who is 15 years old, has read the first few chapters of my book.  David asked my permission to have Megan read them so that she could provide feedback.  In David’s words:  “I haven’t been 15 in a long time…I want to hear a 15 year old’s opinion”.  So, Megan read the first few chapters and provided some excellent feedback.  I am very excited to blog that she really liked the book so far…enough so that she is now reading the rest of the book!  In addition, Megan will be doing a guest post on my blog!!!  I am not good at being patient, but while I’m going through this process, I have adopted a slogan: Slowly but surely!  And while it is incredibly slow, I assure you, I will make it surely!!!    

Here it is! Finally!

Long time, no blog… Sorry!!! I feel like I could say this every blog but life has just been so busy!  My brother got married to wonderful Stephanie, our best friends got married, trip to Colorado, my brother’s graduation from medical school, a new puppy, and of course, work and grad school throughout it all.  I know the wait has been long, but I’m finally posting the name of my book and the pitch!!! I hope you guys enjoy! 

**************************************************************************

My Perfect Little Secret

Lillian Grace Parker – a 16 year old perfectionist with pencil straight brown hair and a sea of freckles– becomes determined to lose the few extra pounds she gained over summer break.  As the number on the scale goes down, Lilly’s life only gets more amazing.  She has Josie, her soul sister and best friend since kindergarten, a family who loves and supports her, a perfect transcript, and scores soccer goals with amazing ease.  She’s head over heels in love with Sean, the tall, cute, funny guy who sweeps her off her feet the first week of her sophomore year.   Even with everything going for her, Lilly becomes her own worst enemy.  Constantly telling herself she isn’t good enough, Lilly’s life spirals out of control.  Pushing food around on her plate and wearing baggy clothes, she lies to everyone she loves to hide her secret.  When Lilly collapses on the soccer field after scoring the winning goal, she is forced to make one of the biggest decisions of her life.  Will she sacrifice everything that really matters to maintain her twisted version of a perfect body or will she have the courage to fight for her life and see herself for more than the reflection in the mirror?

Slowly...but surely...

It's been too long since I've posted anything.  Sorry about that!  Life is flying by.  So, as you can probably deduce from the title of this blog, getting my book published is coming along slowly but surely.  Right now I am putting the finishing touches on my pitch and doing research on literary agents.  The pitch has to be absolutely perfect, so it is taking several drafts to get there.  It is amazing that one or two words can change the whole pitch.  Make it better, make it worse.  It has gone from good, to almost perfect.  I have a list of several agents who could be a really good fit for me and my book, so right now I am just trying to find out more about each agent.  I've had two conversations with David since my last update and he's been incredibly helpful.  While I'm working on my stuff, he is going to do a line edit on my first chapter.  A line edit is essentially a break down editing of the book (or chapter at this point) sentence by sentence.  So, in the next week, I will hopefully finalize my pitch (and post it for you guys to read!) and have a thorough file on each agent. 

Happy 1st Birthday!

So a couple of things have happened since the last blog so I will bring you up to date!

First: I had a nightmare that I got an email from David that said he and Arielle had changed their minds and decided they didn't want to work with me.  When I woke up the next morning, I rolled over, grabbed my phone, and checked my email since Gabby was still asleep.  Among a sprinkle of various other emails sat an email from David that had arrived at 1:26 am.  Oh crap... While I thought it was only a nightmare, it was completely real.  I proceeded to read every email except for his.  Yes, courageous, I know.  I finally worked up the nerve to open the email.  I almost cried tears of relief when I read it!  It was sweet and to the point.  He said he had gotten my stuff and wanted to set up a phone call to get things rolling.  Hallelujah!

Second:  David and I talked on the phone this past tuesday.  I really am not sure how much I should discuss about what sort of intern work I'm doing for him so I guess I'm going to leave it at that.  We spent a majority of the phone call discussing the details of my intern work that I started immediately.  The time I spend doing my intern work will essentially "barter" their time spent working on helping me get my book published.  When we hung up the phone, we had a plan of spending about an hour on the phone dissecting my pitch in a week or two.  So, once we have done that, I will post my pitch for you guys to read.  Yay!

Third: Completely unrelated to the book, but even more important... Gabriella Grace turned 1!!!!! 

A little lesson in the adventures of publishing

So I sent off my stuff to David!  Stuff meaning my pitch and my manuscript.  I imagine it will be several days before I hear back from him but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  I just really hope that he sees the same potential in my book that he saw when we first talked during our consult.  So when I first started learning about getting a book published, I had no idea what the steps were and I especially didn't know what the lingo was.  So... I'm going to give a little lesson on getting your book published.  I'd like to credit this information to Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry and their book, The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published.

 

Vocab you need to know:

 

Pitch: A pitch is essentially your promise of what your book is going to deliver.  It is the answer you give when someone asks you what your book is about.  It delivers the essentials of your book, leaving the person you are pitching to wanting more.  A perfect pitch will leave a person saying something along the lines of "I can't wait to read that book" or "Wow, that sounds amazing".  There are two types of pitches:  The first is called an elevator pitch, and is essentially a pitch that can be given in a sentence or two (hence the name: It can easily be delivered on an elevator ride).  The second, and probably more common, is the long-form pitch.  Long form meaning a pitch that can be delivered in under a minute.  No exception to the rule.  Excellent examples of long form pitches are the back covers of books.  These are long-form pitches.   

 

Literary Agent: A literary agent is a person who manages the business affairs of an author.  They DO not publish books.  They have a variety of jobs that can include but are not limited to finding an editor for you, helping you to get a publisher, proofreading and editing your work, doign PR stuff, help build your career, etc.

 

Query Letter: A query letter is the letter you send out to literary agents to pitch your book and to try and get them to represent you.  The query letter is one page and includes three paragraphs (the connection, the pitch, and your bio).

 

Steps of getting a literary agent for fiction books:

 

1. Read, read, read.

2. Write the book.

3. Make sure it's the best you can possibly make it.

4. Write your biography.

5.  Write your pitch.

6. Write your query letter.

7. Research the literary agents who represent books within your fiction genre.

8. Send out query letters to the literary agents.

9. Keep your fingers crossed!!!   

 

*The steps for getting a non-fiction book published are a bit (actually a lot) different, so I'm not going into that!

One Phone Call Closer

I suppose a bit more information is due!  So here it is:

About 3 years ago, I started writing about thoughts that had been swirling around in my head for a long time.  I didn't originally set out to write a book, but as it turns out, I did.  It took me a year, lots of long hours drinking cappuccinos at Latteland and munching on carrot spice muffins, juggling grad school and work, and lots of amazing encouragement from Andrew and my mom.  After I finished it, I put it in a binder, let a few special people read it, and put it on our bookshelf.  Life went on.  I'm not going to lie and say that I didn't have a desire to try and get the novel published.  I did.  I wrote a pitch, a query letter, a bio.  I read books on how to get an agent, I researched the publishing industry.  I even sent a few queries out to agents.  The timing wasn't right though because only a few months after I finished the book, I found out that I was pregnant with Miss Gabriella Grace!  There was just too much going on in my life to really pursue anything with the novel.  In the back of my head though, I was silently hoping and keeping my fingers crossed that some day I would get the opportunity.

Fast forward to February 28th.  David Henry Sterry and Arielle Eckstut, authors of The Essential Guide To Getting Your Book Published, brought their book tour to Kansas City and did Pitchapalooza.  It was like an American Idol for aspiring authors.  My mom and I went (it was amazing!) and kept our fingers crossed the entire time that I would get chosen to pitch my book.  I didn't, but since I had bought a copy of their book, I received a coveted 20 minute consult with David Henry Sterry to be set up at a future date.

Today was that future date.  3:30 pm Eastern Standard Time to be exact.  I got the privilege to pitch my book to David and let me tell you, it really was quite the experience.  He is an amazing author, and a very funny man to boot.  He let me pick his brain, ask a ton of questions, and most importantly, he gave me the feedback that I have been needing to turn my pitch from "really good" to excellent.  I felt so inspired by our conversation and it seemed like David really understood my novel and why I am the person to have written this book.  It just solidified in my mind that this book could make it.  I knew we were getting close to our 20 minute limit and we were starting to wrap up the conversation.  To make a long story short, I expected David to say something along the lines of goodbye and good luck, and then hang up the phone.  Instead, he has offered me the opportunity to send him my new pitch with the changes he suggested, my query letter, and my manuscript.  He said that he knows people (agents and publishers) who would be interested in my novel.  In exchange for some intern work, he and Arielle are going to review/edit my novel, provide feedback, and try to assist me in getting my novel published!  So, like I said, an opportunity of a lifetime.  Hence the title of my blog entry: one phone call closer.

I thought that today would be the perfect day to start this blog because the entire purpose of the blog is to follow my journey of getting my book published.  I had no idea that this is the type of entry I would be posting!!!! I am praying and keeping my fingers crossed that this opportunity works out with David and Arielle.  He sounded very encouraged but made no promises, so I hope that he likes my material.  I won't be sending it for a few days since I have to rewrite some of my pitch.  I will definitely post when I send off my stuff.  I will also soon be posting a few blurbs about the book itself.  Aren't you the least bit curious now? :)

A Sweet Beginning

So I've been keeping a little secret...

The secret:  I wrote a novel.
The even bigger secret:  I am going to get it published.