Confession

Ella Roselyn is actually my pen name. My real name is Kierstyn King (yes, the illustrator). This month has been an experiment in writing, sort of my own adventure on top of an adventure and a motivation for me to continue even when I became discouraged.

I'm proud to say it worked. I've managed to write and illustrate an inspiring and well written story in less than a month. Oddly, I think writing it under an alias and on a crazy time table enabled me to do it better than I would have otherwise. Less over-thinking, more writing and when I wasn't doing that, I was painting.

Emotionally, it's been a roller-coaster. When I was talking about days feeling like I was just oozing everywhere and pouring my soul on to pages I meant it. It feels weird to be done, except for the few things I have left to do - like upload the file and publish. After a month of working like nuts, rest is weird, I feel a little lost, and a little healed. I had to face some things while writing, I realized some things about myself - some things I don't yet understand. Like why do I love even when it's painful and it'd be easier to forget? is it because it's worth it, even though it's emotionally hard, or is it because I just don't know what else to do? Is writing this story even worth it?

It's a kid's book, to be sure, but to me, it's so much more than that.

Wait, I did that?

This week has sort of been a rough one. Even though the book is written and edited, the illustrations done today, and we're almost ready to format...there's something about writing that takes a toll. Writing at all is an exertion, a pouring out of your thoughts and heart into words onto pages - with this story, it was like pouring out my soul. After I wrote the first draft there were a few days when I felt like the deepest parts of me were just oozing and spilling out everywhere. When I got distracted with life, or went back to bed sick, I felt like I was losing so much ground, there was more work to be done, just not enough energy to do it. I'm on the home stretch now, and powering through the questions and the doubts (is this even good? will it help anyone?) sometimes I feel like a failure waiting to happen. Then I remember...

A month ago I didn't even have a story. In such a short amount of time I've come such a long way, and I can't stop now, not when I'm so close to finishing. I literally wrote a book in less than a month. How often does that happen?

Checklist #2

Written: check
Edited: check
Illustrated: 3 left

I'm so excited! I sent my manuscript to Veronika Walker a few days ago, hoping she could work on my tight time-table and she was thorough, easy to work with, and most importantly got back to me quickly. I couldn't have asked for a better editor. It was fantastic working with her, I couldn't recommend her enough!

We're 3 illustrations away from completion now, and those should be done before Thanksgiving.

It's off!

I sent my manuscript off for editing today! Now I get to sit here and twiddle my thumbs for a few days until I hear back. I suppose I could try and format, instead of twiddling...that may be a better plan.

Proofing

Thanks to some soup that sent me to bed all of yesterday afternoon, I regretfully missed posting. I'm much better this morning though and I made some progress on finding someone to proofread/edit for me on my crazy deadline. Connections are great (thanks Kiery)! I also played with some formatting earlier this week. I say played, but I really mean failed and handed to my boyfriend to make it better - this is quickly becoming a group effort.

Kiery sent me some more shots of her illustrations, she only has 8 to go and then we can move on to real formatting and hopefully getting a proof print. We're so close!

Catalyst

You know when you write a story, but you (semi-intentionally) leave out a key element of that story?

Yeah. In an attempt to leave things open-ended...I kept out the one fact that held everything together. Obviously the story didn't make much sense without it. I was scared though, it's a painful and happy story all at the same time and this one detail, while vital, I was afraid might be too much. It's real, it's pain, it's confusion and hurt, and yet, it's the catalyst for all the good to come.

So I put it in.  

Publishing Thoughts

I really like my story - everyone around me likes my story, but I know just because people like my story doesn't mean it's going to actually go anywhere. I want to make sure I have one or two copies of my own, If it doesn't fly, then it's no big deal, I'd just like to have a hard/printed copy.

This is where it gets interesting.

It would be fantastic if my book took off, and for some reason my boyfriend seems to think that it will. I however, know nothing about actually publishing books which is why there are self-publishing services, like lulu, for instance. With lulu though, it's also expensive to make the books and order them in bulk, we're talking hundreds of dollars for 50 22page full color books. Since it's a children's book it does actually have to be colored. I could look into their children's book package, but that starts at around $500 (also, I already know how I want it formatted and I already have an illustrator, so I wouldn't need half of their package).

The other thing is my timeline, and this is what's keeping me from asking publishers about my book. I want to have it completed by the end of the month. Most places take, well, significantly longer than that to start and finish the process.

Right now, it's looking like I'll just stick with lulu and work out their online services and print myself a copy and go from there. I'd like to figure out if I have any other options, but so far I haven't turned up anything better.