Hansville Happenings

In a few weeks I’ll be at another writers’ conference leading a workshop. This made me sort of reflective. When I retired, I started to write fiction as opposed to the technical stuff I’d been writing – and I wanted it to be published.

Published is a big word that has so many meanings. If a piece I wrote gets printed and distributed, I can call myself published, but that’s not what I had in mind. I wanted to be the author of one of those books I saw all the people on the ferries reading during my many years of commuting. I meant really PUBLISHED.

So I wrote a series of children’s books called “Andy Ant.” The stories were educational with the head of the family being Grandma, and no visible other adult family members except for Aunties. Each story had Andy doing something that needed Grandma to clarify and say something meaningful such as, “It doesn’t matter what the present is, it’s the thought that counts.” Riveting stuff, but I was the only one who thought so.

Next I wrote a series of stories about the life of a 7 year old in a logging camp in Idaho during World War II and some of the crew was made up of German prisoners of war that were housed in Sandpoint, Idaho. These got published in the local Priest River, Idaho newspaper but that’s as far as they went.

Then I wrote a novel about women in a Bridge club. Not only did it not get published I think the word got around to all the publishing houses so they would watch for my name on any submissions and quickly return them.

The next book I wrote was called “Necessary Words.” It was a sort of encyclopedia of words beginning writers needed to know before they entered the publishing game. It explained the differences between such words as clips and writing samples, or query letter as opposed to proposal package. I got several nice letters from publishers saying it was a good idea and it was well written but all of them said, “Sorry … not for us at this time.”

I became a master at handling the rejection letter, and some of them came as a form letter where they just filled in my name (sometimes not spelled correctly) and the name of my piece.

Then I wrote the book that got published, “IMJUSTCURIOUS … Internet Dating Adventures-a novel.” A small publishing company accepted it and because they were so small, they did no advertising. Well, that’s not quite true … they sent flyers to the newspapers and bookstores I had on my list, and to 100 of my closest friends to say the book was for sale. Visiting bookstores and setting up readings was up to me. I knew that the writer was responsible for a great deal of the marketing of their book and I worked hard, contacting book stores, newspapers, and anyone that could get me and my book noticed and purchased. I’m still working on that part, still selling my book with the blue cover.

However, now I have a new novel almost finished and I’m about to start playing publisher roulette again, and I’m also looking for an agent. Someone who will work full time contacting publishers for me and get me a better publishing deal.

By now you must be asking why I think this is interesting to my readers? Well, I can only hope you are interested in my writing career, and I can only hope you will want to read the new book “Project Emily.”

Contact Donna Lee Anderson at welltoldtales@aol.com. She has taught writers’ workshops at conferences in Washington and Idaho.

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