Averyl's Attic, which offers a variety of Victorian clipart, posted a very short 1901 Ladies Home Journal story (http://www.averyl.com/attic/victorian-christmas.htm) about a little girl's Christmas wish for a real doll.
She was living in the Colorado mines with her father, where recources were scarce. Yet, the men at the mining camp made an interesting sacrifice to create an unforgettable bit of Christmas magic.
Check it out. Definitely worth the five minutes of reading.
The official blog of Denise M. Baran-Unland, author. Discover her books for all ages at bryonyseries.com.
Showing posts with label resources. Show all posts
Showing posts with label resources. Show all posts
Friday, December 10, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Daily Bread
I used to consider myself one of those people who lived in the moment, back when I could afford to live in the moment.
When the recession first hit, we pulled up our socks, tightened our belts, and dragged the cobwebby resources we used during other money-poor times in our lives, confident we could batten the hatches and weather the storm.
Ahem! Enough cliches. :)
Unfortunately, challenges hit us so fast, I felt like crouching in a corner and letting them drown us. In one twenty-four period in October, we had so many troubles, my twenty-year-old son audibly wondered what seventeenth century witch had cursed us.
Although I was still praying, "Give us this day our daily bread," I really meant, "Give me back security, financial, medical, and otherwise, a week or more at a time." I wanted to know a future on my terms was promised us.
In the meantime, some interesting things happened. With each new dilemna, someone or something stepped up to fill the gap. It's been two months since my husband lost his job and our health insurance. No one has gotten sick (yet, despite the fact I still need thyroid surgery), we're not behind in bills, and we're still eating. I have more writing assignments than I ever have. Even Bryony is moving along the virtual assembly editing line toward publication.
Earlier this week, a telephone call brought a financial blessing. The next day, another job threat occured, and we reeled under that blow. Yesterday, relief for that crisis came from a highly unlikely source. Saturday, nine people are planning to attend Bryony's first "meet and greet," an opportunity for those involved in the project to say, "Howdy" and shake hands.
I'm not feeling completely ready to "Let go and let God," but, like it or not, He's certainly inching me along in that direction.
When the recession first hit, we pulled up our socks, tightened our belts, and dragged the cobwebby resources we used during other money-poor times in our lives, confident we could batten the hatches and weather the storm.
Ahem! Enough cliches. :)
Unfortunately, challenges hit us so fast, I felt like crouching in a corner and letting them drown us. In one twenty-four period in October, we had so many troubles, my twenty-year-old son audibly wondered what seventeenth century witch had cursed us.
Although I was still praying, "Give us this day our daily bread," I really meant, "Give me back security, financial, medical, and otherwise, a week or more at a time." I wanted to know a future on my terms was promised us.
In the meantime, some interesting things happened. With each new dilemna, someone or something stepped up to fill the gap. It's been two months since my husband lost his job and our health insurance. No one has gotten sick (yet, despite the fact I still need thyroid surgery), we're not behind in bills, and we're still eating. I have more writing assignments than I ever have. Even Bryony is moving along the virtual assembly editing line toward publication.
Earlier this week, a telephone call brought a financial blessing. The next day, another job threat occured, and we reeled under that blow. Yesterday, relief for that crisis came from a highly unlikely source. Saturday, nine people are planning to attend Bryony's first "meet and greet," an opportunity for those involved in the project to say, "Howdy" and shake hands.
I'm not feeling completely ready to "Let go and let God," but, like it or not, He's certainly inching me along in that direction.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Navigating Publishing Options
I had scant knowledge of the book publishing industry when I wrote Bryony. Until then, I figured you either mailed a manuscript to a publisher and crossed your fingers or paid a vanity press thousands of dollars for a badly edited and bound book.
So, before I became part of the mix, I consulted an updated Writer's Digest and took a ride on the web to find out exactly what that mix was. Along the way, I found other useful resources: Writer Beware, Absolute Write Water Cooler and Preditors and Editors. I learned the difference among then unfamiliar terms: self-publishing, POD, independent press, and vanity press. I studied how "traditional" publishing worked, how to recognize those sites that billed themselves as traditional publishers when they really were fee-paying sites in disguise.
These were my choices:
* Find agent representation who would then try to sell the manuscript to a publishing house, hopefully a large one. Most major publishing houses refuse to look at a manuscript unless submitted by an agent.
* Submit to a small, independent press.
* Pay a company to edit and pubish the book and (possibly) buy the company's add-on marketing services (although I had seen few successful titles with these companies, leading me those marketing services were not valuable).
* Truly self-publish, which meant overseeing the entire project from start to finish (from formatting to design, to editing, to locating a printer, and playing marketer, etc.), a daunting prospect for me.
* Use a cooperative press (the publisher pays some; I pay some).
Tomorrow: The pros and cons of the above for Bryony.
So, before I became part of the mix, I consulted an updated Writer's Digest and took a ride on the web to find out exactly what that mix was. Along the way, I found other useful resources: Writer Beware, Absolute Write Water Cooler and Preditors and Editors. I learned the difference among then unfamiliar terms: self-publishing, POD, independent press, and vanity press. I studied how "traditional" publishing worked, how to recognize those sites that billed themselves as traditional publishers when they really were fee-paying sites in disguise.
These were my choices:
* Find agent representation who would then try to sell the manuscript to a publishing house, hopefully a large one. Most major publishing houses refuse to look at a manuscript unless submitted by an agent.
* Submit to a small, independent press.
* Pay a company to edit and pubish the book and (possibly) buy the company's add-on marketing services (although I had seen few successful titles with these companies, leading me those marketing services were not valuable).
* Truly self-publish, which meant overseeing the entire project from start to finish (from formatting to design, to editing, to locating a printer, and playing marketer, etc.), a daunting prospect for me.
* Use a cooperative press (the publisher pays some; I pay some).
Tomorrow: The pros and cons of the above for Bryony.
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