I'll be participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in November. I'm changing genre's from memoir to romance and will be writing an Amish romance novel in one month. I have spent the last four months doing research, have started an outline and am ready to write that first sentence and more. I will commit four hours per day to writing and leave the editing for December and January. It's said that the best way to complete a project is by letting others know of your plans. What better way than by announcing it on my blog and my author facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Win-Quier-Author/240055379451054.

It's in the process!!!

Wednesday, August 29, 2012, I signed my contract with Tate Publishing from Mustang, OK, my book was accepted and the publishing process has begun!  As expected, I am very excited about this process and hope the 6-7 month process will go swiftly.

So far I've reformatted my manuscript to their requirements and am waiting for the person writing my Introduction to finish his piece.  He is my therapist and needed to check with staff to ensure he wouldn't be overstepping his boundaries of our relationship of patient/therapist.  He has been with me during the hardest steps in the book and his input would gladly be accepted.  I'm hoping for a positive outcome.

Without revealing actual costs (this is a self-published company) I'd like to tell everyone not to take any self-publishing company's original price as the final say.  I think every one of them will work with you either with a payment schedule or a reduced price.  Don't be afraid to ask...it won't hurt and you might come away with a better deal.

I'll keep you updated as I go through this process.  My prayer is that things will go smoothly and we'll come away with a money making book in the end.  I'll keep being realistic and realize that most books, unless they hit the New York Best Seller's List, aren't going to make you a lot of money.  All I want is to help with our retirement since my husband and I are reaching that stage in our life.

If it's successful then you'll be seeing my next book, an Amish romance novel.  I'm in the research and outline stage of my new book now and it's taking a lot of reading to delve into their customs and lifestyle.  After being told that they (publishers) can't get enough Amish romance novels, I thought it would be the best place to start with my second book.

In the meantime I am submitting query letters to magazines on two different articles I have written.  This may not turn out to be fruitful, but having the right to say I have a book in the publishing process will carry more weight in my query letter.  I've done my reseach well and only have submitted the query letters to magazines that might be interested in my articles topics.

Join me in the joy of reaching this stage as an author.  Getting your book published is like giving birth (almost) and it's only 6-7 months long instead of 9!  lol

The Publishing Process - Step Two

Step One was submitting my book for publication and now we are on to Step Two, the acceptance email and phone call.

I received an email last Friday...my book has been accepted for publication by Tate Publishing!  My original email from them said it would take weeks to hear from them was correct, but not as long as I had anticipated. The email said the contacts in the mail and little else except for the fact that my book, "Jeremiah's Journey", had been accepted.

I received a phone call yesterday while I was at the dentist, and the message that Eric, my Acquisitions Editor, left was positive, upbeat and helpful.  He called to follow-up the email and to offer support and the next step in the publishing process. Since this is my first book I have a lot of questions and will call Eric today to ask some of them.

I've read some of the books published by Tate and was pleased with their covers and inside details and professionalism.  It's my hope that my book will turn out just as good or better.  One thing they said was that they receive approximately 15,000-16,000 submissions each year and only accept between 4% and 6% for publication. An impressive number to be a part of and I hope it wasn't just to make me feel better about choosing their company to publish my book.

It's my understanding that they (Tate) will set up book signings at local book stores, and put together a notice for the newspaper.  While my book was written in Oklahoma and will be published by an Oklahoman publishing company I hope that it will not limit us to this state.  It will be available on Amazon in book and e-book formats so I'm hoping for a broader audience.

I'll keep you posted on the publishing process.  I'm sure there will be some editing as Eric put it "I think your material has a lot of potential..." which translates to me...editing.  I look forward to the next steps and sharing my journey with you.

Well, I've taken the next step...that is with my manuscript of course.  I've submitted it to Tate Publishing and am now in the waiting stage.  To date I've received an email and a phone call, both which I take as positive steps in the publishing process.  I was told it could take weeks before I hear from them next and that's the toughest part...the waiting.

My book, Jeremiah's Journey, Gaining Our Autistic Son by Losing Him to the System, was a heart wrenching book to write.  Having to relive some of the difficult parts of our lives wasn't easy, but necessary. To make the book "real" I had to include the mistakes we made and the results from the mistakes, the depression that can come from raising a difficult and sometimes violent Autistic child, and the pressures that can be made on your marriage.  We were fortunate and despite the marital stresses our faith in each other kept us close and working as a team.  All too often divorce is a result and one parent is left with the bulk of responsibilities.  During our rough patches we both looked at that aspect and decided it wasn't fair to the other partner and worked on coming closer rather than letting it cause a rift.  Having a close relationship with The Creator helped most during those rough spots.

I'll keep you posted on this exciting process of getting my manuscript into book form.  Celebrate with me as I take each step in the process.  Tate may turn out not to be the right publisher but it's a starting point.  I'm learning as I go and enjoying the experience.  It'll help me with my next two projects, a children's book and a romance novel.  It's fun to branch out and experience the different genres.

Healing From Surgery

The surgery is done and I'm in the healing process which should be short.  They were able to do the surgery from inside my mouth because my jaw was loose once I was put to sleep.  No damage to the titanium plates had been done and they couldn't find anything wrong.  So that means we are back to ground zero.  I am still in pain, other than from the surgery, and they think it is caused from some muscular damage.  So I need a referral to a specialist that can help with the muscles, possibly have to wear a mouth piece at night to stop grinding and determine what is acutually wrong.  I've reached a point of frustration and I'm hungry for something more than soup, mashed potatoes and cream of wheat cereal.  It'll be nice to be on the healthy side once again and I'm hoping my pain management doctor isn't going to change my medications due to the surgery result.  What he has me on is the best working medications I've been on so far.    All I want right now is to get heathy and pain free.

Surgery finally a go!

It's only taken a little over a year but I finally have a date for my jaw surgery.  I have what the doctor's think is fibrous growths bilaterally in my jaws which are causing havoc with my titanium jaw joints.  I have been in a lot of pain and on medication during this entire process.  The surgery will be to remove the fibroids,  as well as to determine if any of the screws have come loose. I can hear squeaking in my jaws when I chew.  If the screws have come loose and can't be tightened they'll have to remove the joints, wire my mouth shut and have custom made joints constructed for me.  That is a minimum of a six week process.  I'm praying it's just fibroids.  In the mean time I have one more appointment for pre-op testing and then off to the real deal.  By the way, the surgery will be done in Oklahoma City, over 100 miles away because there aren't any qualified surgeons in network with my insurance company any closer to home.  A bit of an inconvenience when it comes to pre and post-op appointments.



In the meantime I'll continue working on my book (I don't have to talk to write the book) and getting closer to finishing my manuscript and having it ready for proofreading, editing and finally going to print.  In a previous post I have given you a glimpse into the book by posting my rough draft of the prologue and a link to where you can become a part of this process.  I come on bended knee pleading for support on my project.  Any support, regardless of the amount, is greatly appreciated.  Here's the link again to make it even easier for you,  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1596973182/jeremiahs-journey-a-book-on-an-autistic-boys-journ


Blessings,
Win

Prologue to Jeremiah's Journey

As promised in an earlier post here is the prologue to my book, Jeremiah's Journey, Gaining Our Autistic Son By Losing Him to the System    I hope it gives you some insight into what the book is about.

“What is he doing right now? What is he feeling?” I asked myself while envisioning him sitting on a chair waiting for his mom and dad to pick him up. All the while he knew they said they wouldn’t, but there was always a chance. Did his head turn to the door each time that now familiar noise sounded beside him? Was he pacing and stimming as he does when he is stressed? Did he hate us? What was he thinking? How did he feel?

The uncontrollable tears, inconsolable sadness and feeling of being a Titanic sized failure as a mother flooded my soul as I watched the minutes draw closer to 5:01 p.m., the time I had to let go of my son. The time I had to abandon him. How could I, a devoted, loving mother, take such a drastic tough love step? How could I not take this agonizing step to get him the help he needed? He had reached the stage where we couldn’t handle him anymore and his outbursts had become more violent.

What did we miss while he was growing up? Was there another doctor my husband and I could have taken him to for more tests? Was there a new treatment that we missed while searching for information on the web? These are the type of questions the parent of a child on the Autism Spectrum ask themselves most of the time.

Our story doesn’t start here. I’ll need to catch you up on our roller coaster ride to that fateful day in January 2009.

If after reading this prologue you feel inclinded to support my efforts to bring this book to print I encourage you to visit Jeremiah's Journey, Gaining Our Autistic Son By Losing Him to the System and consider becoming an active patron.  Any and all pledges are greatly appreciated and an answer to prayer.  Thank you for your precious time and consideration.

Win Quier

My New Book Venture

As I have mentioned in previous posts I am writing a book entitled 'Jeremiah's Journey' Gainging Our Autistic Son By Losing Him to the System.  It's the true story of our son, Jeremiah, and the journey we made with him from birth to us forced into giving him up to DHS and him graduating from high school then getting his first apartment.  It is still a work in progress but my goal is to have the manuscript completed by April 2012 and ready for prfessional proofreading, editing and then printing in September 2012.  That's where you come into the picture.  By visiting Jeremiah's Journey you will have the opportunity to help bring this book to fruition now.  My heartfelt gratitude for any support that you can give.

Win

Happy New Year

Happy New Year my friends!  May this new year bring joy and blessings to you and yours.

My resolutions this year are few.  Finish my book is high on the list but along with that is raising funds to pay for the publishing, getting my manuscript proofread and find a publisher willing to take on my project.  It is supposed to be easier now to get published than ever before but I want to make sure my book is error free before it hits the shelves.  We finally have a working title for it...Jeremiah's Journey; Gaining Our Autistic son by Losing Him to the System.  I'll be posting the prologue of the book here prior to releasing it for sale.  A little teaser.

Another resolution is to take more time to show and tell my loved ones how much I care.  I lost a family member in December and it hit hard because we had lost contact about 25 years ago.  Hard feelings that were never healed took away a possible relationship.  I don't want that to happen again thus the change.  An 'I'm sorry' or 'I love you' go along way and they will be coming out of mouth more this year.

I think that pretty much covers the resolutions.  They'll both keep me busy and make a better person of me.  May you be blessed in 2012 with something unexpected.  Happy New Year!