Signs, Signs, Everywhere There's Signs

Today is the day, I bring to you yet another blog to read. I can hear the “Yay”s from here. I’m using Top Shelf Newz as a little writing exercise. Since I always read the news, I thought I might as well share it with a twist of funny. Does that new place mean there won’t be posts here anymore? Haha! Um… no. It’s just a different venue to try a few different things. So there’s the link on my sidebar, toward the top. Go ahead, give it a click.

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You ever feel like stuff guides you, as if life has already been planned out and all you can do is sit back and try to enjoy the ride? That is my little world in a nutshell. Some event or occurrence comes along and changes my plans. It happens way more often than I’d care to admit.

Yesterday, the mother of all hit. I keep wracking my brain trying to figure out what it all means, but I keep coming up empty. I’m going to throw it out to you guys today and see if you can make any sense of this. By the way, today’s post isn’t funny. It isn’t sad or overly serious either. But if you are looking for plain old funny, skip this and go check out the newz blog instead.

Here goes, I wrote a series of children’s books. The first was started four years ago. I have five that I believe are finished with minor polishing needed. I’ve had trouble getting an illustrator friend of mine to commit. So I thought it best to tell him he is dragging his heels too much on a project that means a lot to me, which means I have no other option but to move on without him.

My next step was to find a new illustrator. And as many starving artists as there are out there who roam this world, I have had no luck whatsoever finding one. Everyone who was remotely interested wanted money upfront, which is something I couldn’t offer.

The latest step was to send letters to agents seeking representation. I could come across as though I already have an illustrator, and when I land an agent, I could go back to illustrator one and let him know someone is serious about representing the project. I thought this would get him off of his ass and back to the drawing board, literally. And if he still dragged ass, I could get another illustrator onboard since money wouldn’t be as far out of reach with an agent in tow.

I sent 12 to 15 letters, about two months ago. I finally heard back from one of the agents. He said that his firm represents several illustrators who they pair up with authors they also represent. They never sign on a writer who comes with their own illustrator.

I guess I should have researched the subject more before sending all of those letters out. So again, the first illustrator is out and I am on my own. My intentions were to get new letters to the same group, plus others and seek representation for myself.

This new plan was set into motion in my head while trying to go to sleep the other night. After I shuffled the kids off to school, I started my computer and planned to rewrite those letters. I opened my browser, where CNN is my homepage and I saw my plans change before my eyes.

“Pluto is no longer a planet,” read the top headline. My children’s book series is about space. Book one is all about… guess… go on… you know the answer… Pluto. This news was obviously a sign of some sort. It felt more like a kick in the kinishky, however.

So what is your take on the latest development from this four-yearlong, time-wasting project?