February  2006: I get the idea for PRADA AND PREJUDICE and share it with my first agent. She discourages it, says time travels are a tough sell. However she follows it up by saying "Prove me wrong-- it wouldn't be the first time." With her challenge in mind, i decide I'm going to do it. Why not?

February 21, 2006 I officially begin writing PRADA. I call it "How to Snag a Duke (And other things I learned in College)" 

March 3, 2006: I change the name to Prada and Prejudice after an IM bot tells me it sucks. An IM bot is a preprogramed IM thing you can talk to on aol, kind of like a magic 8 ball but with more answers. Obviously, it knows more about the universe than I do.

March 8, 2006: Prada is half done, but I get stuck trying to decide how I want it to end. 

July 9, 2006: I finally finish the first draft. I'd been bogged down doing revisions on another novel, but its finally done. 

July 12, 2006: I rewrite the ending. The first one? Totally sucked. This one is much better. And completely, and totally the opposite of the first one. Also incorporate all crit partner's comments, to make it Draft #2. Send it to agent #1 to read.

July 13, 2006: A writer sees my blog--and the new title--and tells her editor at MAJOR NYC PUBLISHING HOUSE about the title. That's it. Based on the genre and title, editor emails my agent and wants to read it. This editor rejects it 5 months later
 
August 31, 2006: Minor setback when I decide to leave agent #1 and start querying.

September 22, 2006: A new agent, Zoe Fishman, offers me representation after three weeks of being agentless. I have other agents reading and showing interest, but the second Zoe & I talk on the phone, it seals the deal-- we click, she's smart, and I want to work with her instantly. She's ready to start submitting my first work, THE JETSETTERS SOCIAL CLUB, while she reads Prada and lets me know if she likes it. 

September 25, 2006: Zoe reads Prada and loves it. Thinks its 'clever'. She gives me a few revision ideas and I get to work on them. I return a revised version (draft 3) but she has a few more things, so I revsie again. I turn in Draft 4 shortly thereafter.

October 2006: My first book, JETSETTERS, hits New york. To um, little fan fare. Rejections pour in.  Six months later, we'll have a twelve of them, and its clear by the level of rejections, Jetsetters isn't doing it. The characters are too old and too young, too similar and too different, too edgy and too sweet.

January 2007: Some editors ask if I have anything other than Jetsetters, once they decide they're not into it. Prada starts trickling out, going to a half dozen editors over that month or two. I get two revision requests that seem to mirror one another.  It takes a couple tries to nail it, but eventually we send out draft six. We resubmit to those agents, but are again rejected. One feels we've gotten closer, the other feels I've lost it altogether. 

July/August 2007: Word is an editor is loving Prada. She takes it to editorial. They all love it. For two months, it goes nowhere, as the house "discusses the direction of their program". Ultimately, becuase Prada is not paranormal, it gets the ax. The editor is disapointed and apologizes profusely and asks to see any paranormal project I ever do.  We are up to 18 rejections now. I wonder if this is the end of it. I've also tweaked the manuscript several times as we get rejections, trying to fix small issues. I'm up to draft #7 now. If I have to revise this thing one more time, I'm pitching it out the window.

January 2008: Prada sees its twenty-first submission. Still can't believe my agent isn't giving up, but she just believes in my work and keeps going and going, sending it to places one at a time as she finds them, but the list is getting smaller and I'm starting to think Prada is going to die a slow death. 

February 2008: Revision request #3. But this one is huge. the revision request to end all revision requests. In order to master it, I'll have to open a blank word doc and start over from scratch. I don't dare cut and paste a single word from my old version, becuase doing that hasn't worked before. 

Even as I agree to do this, I think I might be certifiable. Is it workth rewriting the whole book after 21 rejections? This has to be the end of the line. And its so much work. For ONE editor who may be the last to ever see it.  But I agree to do it. Every single word I type is a new one to this draft. It becomes draft #8. I send it to my agent and critique partners, who all have some things that need to be fixed. I fix them, and it becomes Draft #9. I wonder if the 9th draft's the charm.

March 2008: The editor rejects the completely rewritten novel, in a very short and not very complimentary letter, and I want to bash my head into a wall for rewiting it. Agent says maybe we can send it back to one of the editors from 2007 who has rejected it twice, because she seemed most into it of all of the editors. I jump for joy, becuase at least after all that rewrite work it has another chance. But agent has to go out of town for a bit and will be back in two weeks.

April 2008: I compile a list of editors and imprints that I think I'd like to send Prada to. I don't know how my agent will react becuase after all, she is the agent. but what the hey. I send her the list. When she returns, she's into it! She tells  me why some of them aren't a fit and removes them from the list, but then adds some of her own. There are 7 houses total. Seven. More than have EVER seen Prada at once. 

May 7, 2008: Prada, Draft #9, goes out on its biggest round yet.  I've learned not to hold my breath anymore. 

May 22, 2008: Agent sends me an email titled "GOOD NEWS" and proceeds to say that she's expecting multiple offers. Someone is talking to me but I can't hear what they say. I can't even speak to tell them to stop talking. Once I can breathe again, i freak out.

May 23, 2008: Agent tells me she's for sure expecting two offers, possibly four. I freak out some more. I actually cry several times. Nine drafts. Currently up to Twenty-four rejections. And now MULTIPLE offers? Try not to count my chickens before they hatch. Oh who am I kidding? I count them all. I dream they are big, yellow, perfect chickens. 

May 27, 2008, 1:01 PM: Agent calls. I see 212 on the phone and let it ring three times while I take deep, calming breaths. When I answer she is far too calm for this to be "THE CALL". She says something about how she wished she had more news,  and my face falls, until she follows that up with: "Well, the first offer...."

I interrupt with something brilliant like, "Wait, we have actual offers? LIke real offers?" And then I think to myself, "what else is she going to give me, fake ones?" I shut up and let her continue talking. There are two offers. One for two books, one for a single book but more money than the other individual books. Agent says she'll see what she can do to get the two book offer up and the one book offer turned into a two book offer. I agree with everything she says. 

May 28, 2008, 1:02PM: Agent emails to tell me offer #1 has gone up. No word yet on Offer #2.

June 5, 2008, 10:15AM: Agent calls me to tell me offer#2 just became a two book deal. I say more brilliant phrases like, "wow, that's really good." and maybe "squeeee!" Agent has to check with Offer #1 editor to see what the plan is.

June 6, 2008, 7:45 AM: Speak with agent on the phone again. i love seeing "212" on the caller ID. We agree that offer #2 is the best one for me and my career, and I verbally accept. For the rest of the train ride to work, i grin like a fool out the window and hope I don't look completely insane. 

Summer 2008: Complete a full round of revisions, a round of line edits, copy edits, and 2-3 proofreading passes, bringing the draft total to somewhere around 11. 

June 11,  2009: Prada will hit shelves.