So, it's here. Release day. The day I've been working toward for 6 years.

I could start at the beginning-- the VERY beginning, but that would be a bit boring. Suffice it to say that I started on a little site called Fictionpress.com in 2003. That site set the stage for everything I would become. It taught me to write for fun and enjoy every minute of it.

In 2005, I wrote the first book I wanted to get published; THE BROKEN ROAD. It was the longest thing I'd ever written at 85,000 words, and I felt sure I was ready for prime time. At this time in my life, I believed revising meant running spell check and throwing in an extra sentence or two. I queried around a dozen agents and was so sure that it would be just that easy that I simply wrote their names on a single piece of notebook paper and tacked it to a corkboard above my computer.

I also entered two RWA contests, using the first dozen or so pages. It was the best thing I could have done. The entries came back with a lot of feedback, some of which was: Your hero is a womanizing drunk. Your heroine doesn't do anything for herself. They need work. 

I  read the feedback several times and within days, knew they were right. And because revising now meant completely rewriting huge sections, I decided not to do it. No way! Too much work! So I just started something new: THE JETSETTER'S SOCIAL CLUB. I wasn't trying to write YA. I simply wrote about four twenty-something girls, becuase I was 23. Through networking, I ended up chatting to a well-known agent, and she wanted to see the first 100 pages. I sent it to her.

She signed me. It was so simple and easy, I was convinced this meant my path to publication would be short and sweet. I completed the manuscript and turned it in, and she asked for revisions. The biggest change? The four twenty-something year old girls were to become three teenagers.

A YA writer was born.

That April, just after I'd turned in the full of Jetsetters, I flew to Chicago for a conference. There, I met lilrongal , adamselzer , sbennettwealer , and my agent. I remember sitting in that room full of writers an being one of the few agented ones and feeling proud and smug and far too confident.

Five months later my work was still not on submission and I knew my agent was all wrong for me. I fired her. That moment was the scariest moment in this journey so far. My heart was beating wildly out of control when I sent out that letter, and stayed that way as I fired off more queries. One of the people I'd met in Chicago ealirer that year, Carmen Rodrigues, had ended up signing with Zoe Fishman-- who quickly sold Carmen's debut novel, NOT ANYTHING. Carmen referred me to her agent, who requested JETSETTERS. As I am writing this, I just realized I forgot to thank Carmen in my acknowledgements. D'oh! I knew I would forget someone.

In any case, Zoe offered rep, and I quickly accepted. It was the best thing I've done on this path because Zoe is absolutely, completely amazing. By late October of 2006, JETSETTERS began to hit new york. i fell asleep on those few early nights firmly believed I would get THE CALL at any moment.

I didn't. By February or March, I'd racked up a dozen rejections. But some editors did show interest in me. One passed Jetsetters to another colleague to see if she'd want it. And a few asked to see more from me. Zoe sent them a litlte novel called PRADA & PREJUDICE.

It quickly became apparent that PRADA would spark more interest than Jetsetters. The rejections were longer. And we received two revision requests in April. By now, I understood that revising meant more than spell check. I'd completed several rounds with my two agents. I tackled my first editor requested revision with excitement and gusto, sure that they would love what I'd done.

They rejected me. Throughout 2007, the pattern remained the same: very nice, thoughtful rejections. One editor tried very, very hard to purchase it, only to be turned down after several weeks of effort. I revised it again and again and again.

But 2007 came and went, and I couldn't help but scoff at my cockiness at that conference in April 2006. Nothing had gone the way I'd planned.

In early 2008, Prada went out again, to a newer imprint which I'd heard about here on LJ and suggested to my agent. The editor gave me--you guessed it-- a revision letter. But this one was monumental. So big that it wasn't a revision request but a rewrite request. I remember telling my agent that I would do it in an email, and as soon a I hit send, I shook my head to myself. Was I crazy? I'd received over 20 rejections. Many agents retire manuscripts around 10-15. And it was a lot of work.

But i did it anyway. I started from scratch and rewrote it. Around six weeks later, my agent sent it back to that editor.

And I got one of the shortest rejections I'd received to date. I was crushed. My agent said she'd like to send it to Lexa Hillyer at Razorbill books-- for a THIRD time. Lexa had been one of the first to request revisions, over a year prior. She'd seen two versions. Would she even WANT to see a third?

While my agent was overseas at a bookfair, I launched a secret mission: scour the internet for everything I could find on any new editors, imprints or publishing houses. I ended up sending an email to my agent that had eight options. I was freaking out that she'd tell me that she could do her own job thank-you-very-much, but instead she was pleasantly surprised by the work I'd done. She reviewed my list and removed a few names but added some of her own.

In May 2008, the ninth draft of Prada & Prejudice went on submissions to six publishing houses. I'd learned to stop holding my breath. I didn't fall asleep each night dreaming of the overnight sale. I was already wondering what project I should start working on next.

But then I got an email that changed everything. If you want to know how the call went down, check out this video log:
 

I cried. I called cyn2write  and we both cried. I told everyone I knew. I dreamed of my cover. Of launch day. Of endless possibility.

We ended up receiving two offers, and I accepted a two book deal with Razorbill books--and, you guessed it-- Lexa Hillyer. To this day I am awed that she not only read it a third time, but loved it enough to buy it. I guess sometimes the third time really is a charm.

That summer I survived revisions and line edits and copy edits and first pass pages and ARCs and catalogs... it was a dream, every last bit of it, even when I was pulling out my hair two days before a deadline.

All i can say today, after everything, is that it was worth it. Every rejection, every revision, every rewrite, ever tear of despair and joy, it was worth it.

You can never know if you'll be published tommorrow or next year or never, but you can keep trying. And in the end, it was over three years from that conference to my book release, so I'm glad that I didn't know what was truly in front of me. Hindsight may be 20/20 but foresight is blind. Thank god for that.

Looking forward, I don't know what's next on this path for me. Will my book fizzle or sizzle? Will anyone buy it?

Who knows. But you know what? Today is a day that I earned, and no one can take that away.

Okay, shout outs to KristinWalker for sending me this.....


PRADA AND PREJUDICE gets a mention in Publisher's Weekly's Children's Book Shelf!!

 


Check it out here:   http://www.publishersweekly.com/enewsletter/CA6587521/2788.html


SQUEEEEE!

Today I received a fed-ex package from my editor, of some very marked-up pages. Observe:

 

 

Yeah. That's a LOT of work. Crazy! 

Back to revision land.

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)" 

( The rest of the sordid tale..... )

YAY! Prada & Prejudice, (Cough* draft nine*cough) just went to five NYC editors today!! She also left messages for FOUR others. ... so it could end up with as many as NINE new editors. That's crazy talk, i tell you!

I think I'm most excited about a certain editor who will now be looking at it for a THIRD time. I'm still a little in awe of the fact that she said she'd want to take a look at it yet again! Her revision letters have always been over the top, analyzing the characters goals, age, motivations, conflicts, everything. 

During our last attempt with her, she ultimately passed on it, but she said "I'm still very attached to the concept, and "I still think there's a hidden gem here...."

And maybe, just maybe, it's not so hidden this time? We shall see! I'm filled with hope yet again, which I'm sure makes me a fool.

But I'm a happy fool, so who cares?

Now I just have to make it to the 28th, which is check-in day! Three weeks!

Prada should be going out again, in what may be its biggest subimssion cycle yet. See, we've done this two or three editors at a time strategy almost since the start, because it was my second novel. So when someone rejected teh first one, she'd offer something else of mine, and so the subs were always sort of staggered.

But now it is a new book and it is completely rewritten. And while my agent was in her London Book Fair induced haze, I put together some ideas, and I freaked that she might think I was trying to take over her job, but then I sent her the list anyway. And she was into it! 

The one caveat against it is that it is a proposal only. 120 pages + 3 page synopsis. Zoe and I talked about whether I should finish it. I crossed my fingers that she wouldn't insist upon it.

I have written and revised it too many times, and I'm a little weary of it. But she agreed that it wasn't totally insane to pitch the proposal, and all they can do is either insist that they wait until it is done or ask for more if they are iffy, or best case, just buy the damn thing and i'll finish it after they acquire. 

There are at least SIX editors she will be calling up on Monday, which is crazy amazing, considering how long its already been out. 


So.... I will update y'all on Monday as to what the editors say! Wish me luck!

Mandy 

There's a meme going around about all the books you've written. Sounds like fun. 



1)2003---  "What would you change", my first work, 40,000 words and complete. Typcial first novel in that it was "like my life only better". The first half revolved around my first boyfriend, and then it diverged into a wild story in which he was a POW in a war. ha. 

2) 2003-- "Love is Blind" 50K words, complete-- about a girl in mideival times who is blind and uknowingly falls for the Prince.  Has every cliche in the book. Pardon the pun.

3) 2003-04--  "A Country Christmas", 40K, complete, in which a successful real estate agent from Seattle goes back east for Christmas and falls in love with her ex, even though she's engaged to Seattles Most Eligible Bachelor. Yeah, a little too much "Sweet Home Alabama" to be real fiction. 

4) 2004-- "Frustration", 40K, complete, a totally true story about a guy I dated for a summer and it went all wrong. You can probably tell that by the title. 

5) 2004-- "The Ghosts of Yesterday", around 10K, incomplete. About a girl who sees deaths before they happen courtesy of some helpful ghosts/visions. 

6) 2004- "I'll Mess with Texas", about a bumbling country girl trying to make it in a big city while falling for the one guy who digs her cowboy boots. VERY typical Chick-lit. 40K, incomplete.

7) 2005-- THE BROKEN ROAD, the first book i ever wrote with the intention of pursuing publication. A regency set romance in which a blind artistocrat runs away from her guardian and poses as a servant-- and then an Earl falls for her without knowing who she really is. BAD characterzation/motivation, but someday maybe I'll fix it all. 80,000 words, complete. And yeah, I konw, another blind heroine. Someday I'll pull it off! 

8) 2005-- "The Camp Book', about a pair of twins who get sent to Summer camp so their parents can try and save their marriage-- but only one of them knows the real reason behind their summer away. 10K. Realized it needed to be MG and not YA.

9 ) 2005-- GOING DUTCH, 7,000 words, incomplete (proposal). An attempt at a SASS (students across the seven seas) book for Penguin. Scored a revision letter from the editor, but in the end didn't master her request. 

10) Late 2005/2006-- THE JETSETTERS SOCIAL CLUB, 60K, complete. Scored me my first agent. About three girls who become personal assistants to celebrities for 'one crazy summer' after winning a contest. 

11)  2006-- PRADA AND PREJUDICE (then known as "How to Snag a Duke (and other things I learned in College). complete, 50,000 words, about a twenty-first century girl who must learn to navigate high society in Regency England.  

12) 2006/07-- The Greysbrooke Governess, a regency historical about a fallen aristocrat who must learn to be a successful governess to two unruly chlidren-- while trying not to fall in love with their uncle. I keep going back to this one and plan (eventually) to finish it. 20K or so in, incomplete. 

13) 2007--- The Truth about Ever After, about a girl who realizes he husband is a great one but maybe not THE one, shelved because it didn't stand apart. 10K in.

14) 2006-- HORSE POWER, about a girl who saves a horse bound for slaughter and then competes with the elite despite their disproval, 10K words, incomplete. The tone was coming off very "how-to" about horses and i wasn't sure if a horsey YA would do well. Shelved.

15)  2007-- CATCH OF THE DAY, about a teenage girl who spends a week on a crab fishing boat in the Bering Sea (a la DEADLEST CATCH). Agent felt it was a little too quiet and would need to push it up a notch before she'd send it anywhere, and I'm still not sure what to do with it. Shelved, for now. 

16)2007- GETTING CAUGHT, about two rivals in a prank war that won't end until one of them gets caught, co-written with my critique partner. Have a lot of revision notes to master, but this will eventually go on submissions when the timing is right for both of us. 

17)2008-- YESTERDAY, about a girl who wakes up after a night of partying and can't remember the events of yesterday-- only to learn her best friend has gone missing and she might be the cause, 10K or so in (plus full synopsis), shelved for now.

18)2008-- Leaving Atlantis, in which a girl who grew up in Atlantis (an island of Ice, not an underwater paradise) can't get over her desire to see the world, even though leaving the island is strictly forbidden. 5K in when the computer lost it all and I was so mad i didn't go back to it. Someday I will!

19) Twenty-Five Lies, a cinderella retelling from the Step-sisters point of view, in which she dispells all the lies you've been told about  Cinderella (who isn't as perfect as everyone thinks).  My current WIP. The agent will let me know what she thinks around the 24th of this month. 

20) "Snow" a story about an abusive boyfriend, a few pages in

21) "horse story", about a girl who ends up at a boarding school with a snobby A-list she has no desire to be a part of, but would rather show them up by beating them at their own sport-- Jumping (horses), even though her background is in Rodeo.

I knew it was a bad email when the subject line read: "SIGH". Although,I was glad for the warning, becuase I then knew what to expect. 

The editor who asked for revisions-- the revisions that required a complete and total rewrite--has rejected it.

I have no idea what happens next. It may be going back to an editor who had seen an earlier version. With luck Zoe will uncover yet another editor or two who has not seen it. 


 


 

 

I am dying to hear back from Editor X regarding the highly-revised (aka completely scrapped and rewritten) PRADA AND PREJUDICE. And of course, being a writer (and thus, the creative type), I've pooled my resources to read between the lines and infer exactly what is happening. 

Case in point:

Editor X promised to read by Wednesday. Thus, she probably read last weekend and is either A) Trying hard to figure out a nice way to say "YOU SUCK" or B) Penning a one million dollar deal memo to send to my agent after sharing the good news. 

Hopefully by Wednesday I'll find out which scenario it is. Either one is equally possible at this point.

 Editor X Promised to read P&P by the 9th! I have the next 12 days to obsess!

I'm hoping all these 9's are a good omen-- this is the 9th draft of Prada & Prejudice, and they have to read by the 9th. My lucky number is 9. So, you konw, good mojo. 

I'm crossing my fingers but not holding my breath. Here goes nothing.....

  Yes, you read that correctly; I'm about to start on draft 9 of Prada and Prejudice.

Overall, the agent liked the new direction and felt like I was on the right track. She had quite a few notes here and there, things to really push it up a notch. On top of that I have some great notes from mindiscott, and between the two I have another week+ of work to do. 

This is a good thing... I always seem to feel better about my work after its been through the ringer and back. I always seem to miss glaring problems until someone points it out, and then I can fix them and feel good about it. 

When I'm done with this, I swear to you I dont want to see this book ever again. Unless it sells, of course. ha. Then I'll make an exception, becuase I'll still have 150 pages to write since this editor is reading and considering based on a proposal.

But seriously, nine drafts over the course of 18 months, and I'm ready to put a feather in its cap and call it macaroni. I've jsut been wrestling it so long its become tiring, becuase its more like treading water than climbing a mountain. And yeah, i'm sure tommorrow I'll take it all back and say I cant wait to work on it some more, but in any case, for now, I'm ready to ace these revisions, send it off,and return to something new and fresh. 

So there you have it. Draft 8 is in the record books, draft 9 is ready to begin.

 So, there was this big hub-bub recently when an editor posted to the YA/MG writers LJ group, offering to read submissions, and didn't say who she was. It turned out she was with a major house, totally legit, and my agent sent her PRADA & PREJUDICE.


It ended up not working out, but she did say my writing was "reminscent of Meg Cabot." 

At least that was nice to hear! :-)