I'M PREGNANT (with a book)! or How book publishing is like expecting a baby.

Okay, so I was teasing a few weeks back on twitter about how me waiting for my book to be out on shelves was like being pregnant.  And I kept coming up with these different comparisions.  Then I started getting comparasions from former L & D nurse and fab crit partner Liz Czukas, and we both decided that I should totally do a blogpost detailing the entire process from writing the draft to book birthday.  So here it is.  I hope you enjoy it, or a least giggle a little.

Querying is like on-line dating.  You put up your best photo and make yourself sound 100 times better than you really are out there—that would be the query letter, minus the photo (don’t send photos of yourselves to agents, peeps.  That’s all kinds of creepy. :P).

You get a nibble and go on that first date.  That’s a partial request.  Sometimes the date is a total failure and you never want to see each other again.  That’s a rejection.  You go back and forth with updating your profile page and going out on first dates.  Of course, that would be revising that query and manuscript until it shines and looks NOTHING like it did in the beginning.

FINALLY you meet someone who’s pretty awesome and you go on more dates and maybe even become exclusive  (Whee!).  That’s a full request!  Yay! (Keep in mind while some agents do ask for exclusives, it is not a good idea for an author to grant it—IMO.  In dating, yeah, might want to consider that exclusive. :P) Sometimes, again, you realize that the person you’re with just isn’t right for you and you break up.  There’s that rejection again.  (BOO!)

But then, the unexpected but completely awesomest thing happens.  He/She asks you to marry him/her!  OMG!  That is, of course, the offer.  You accept and say I do (There’s no engagement period here folks. We’re talking running straight to the courthouse and getting married before that boy/girl can change their mind. :P).  That’s signing the contract.  

Now you get to have fun (I’m not going into details about what I mean here, I’m pretty sure every one can figure this part out by themselves.*Boom, chicka wow wow*)  and you go out on submission.

After possibly a few negative pregnancy tests, you finally get an offer from an editor and accept.  That’s TOTALLY the postive and doctor confirmed pregnancy test. 

Then is the hard work, you revise, revise, and revise.  That’s all those monthly visits to the OB. 

Then, OMG, you get a COVER!  Wow!  That’s the ultrasound.  And like any proud parent you show it off to anyone you can trap for 5 seconds.  All during this time, people are asking when you’re due, and how much longer.  And are you excited? What’s it’s name? 

Then, debut day/labor. Even though you think you’ve been ready for months, you wonder if you haven’t just lost your mind.  You panic and tell people you’ve changed your mind. You don’t really want to be a mom (author) any more, but it’s too late, because before you know you’ve got a beautiful bouncing baby (book) in your hot little hands and you’ve forgotten how much hard work it took you to get there and you can’t wait to do it all again.  Because the book (baby) is perfect, and you love it so much!

Okay, I’m guessing on some of these, because I haven’t gotten that far with my book yet.  I’m still happily at the OB visits and waiting for the happy day I’ll get my sonogram.  LOL.  HOWEVER, I’ve had 2 babies, so I’m pretty sure I know what happens on that side. LOL. 

Waiting on Wednesday: The Other LIfe

Goodness Everyone, I'm doing it again and forgetting my little blog.  I promise to start posting more.  Okay, just so you know, I'm over at the BNW blog today talking about the education system in RENEGADE.  It's short, but hopefully sweet, so won't you please stop on by over there?  Thanks.

Also, don't forget that the Oasis is back in town and we have some nifty stuff over there, including once-a-month crits by all us Oasis ladies, including the new (and totally fab.) Larissa Hardesty.

Okay, okay, here's my WoW post.

Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly event, hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

My selection for this week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:  THE OTHER LIFE by fellow apocalypsie Susanne Winnacker.

What interested me about this was the awesome cover (remember I told you before I'm shallow when it comes to books :P), but the description had me from the first paragraph and I knew instantly it was a book I'm going to HAVE to get the first day it's out.

Here's the deets from her website and don't forget to add it on goodreads.

Sherry and her family have lived sealed in a bunker in the garden since things went wrong up above. Her grandfather has been in the freezer for the last three months, her parents are at each other’s throats and two minutes ago they ran out of food.

Sherry and her father leave the safety of the bunker and find a devastated and empty LA, smashed to pieces by bombs and haunted by ‘Weepers’ - rabid humans infected with a weaponized rabies virus.

While searching for food in a supermarket, Sherry’s father disappears and Sherry is saved by Joshua, a boy-hunter. He takes her to Safe-haven, a tumble-down vineyard in the hills outside LA, where a handful of other survivors are picking up the pieces of their ‘other lives’. As she falls in love for the first time, Sherry must save her father, stay alive and keep Joshua safe when his desire for vengeance threatens them all.

So...what's your WoW?


 

Tor Tuesday: Anna Dressed in Blood Winner Announced

Hey all!  Sorry I'm a little late this morning with the results. I've been buried under a mountain of laundry and have only just now dug myself out.  :P

And now the results you all have been waiting for.  The winner of ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD is:

                                                   
                                                     DONNAS!


Congratulations!  Email me at j.souders (at) jasouders (dot) com.  Remember you only have 48 hours to claim your prize before I pick another winner.

Again congratulations.