The Nectar Trilogy

Christmas is over and I can finally talk about my new adventure. In June I started writing a novel for my kids. It’s a story that I started before they were born and have been telling them their whole life.

Over the years I told the story to them and, together, we morphed it and shaped it into something that was truly a collaborative effort. We got so excited about it that it even became a trilogy.

They kept telling me to write it, and I always had an excuse for why I couldn’t. The truth is that I was afraid of it. I was afraid that it would be terrible when it finally got down onto paper. Even worse, I was afraid that it would be average. Ho-hum. A yawner. The kiss of death for the artist spirit.

If there is one thing I’ve learned as a full-time illustrator, it’s that sometimes you do great work, and sometimes you don’t. Sometimes people absolutely love your work, and sometimes they hate it. You can’t let people’s opinions and reactions to your work drive your motivation to grow and create. You just have do what you do and continually strive to improve. Enjoy praise when it comes, and value criticism when it is given. As DaVinci said, they are both Sfumato – a puff of smoke that means very little in the end.

With this perspective maturing in my mind, I was ready for what happened next.

In June of this year the dust had settled (literally) from moving into our new house and finishing the basement. We were new to the area and I was essentially in a start-up business, trying to reestablish myself in a new state, so there wasn’t a lot of work yet. In other words, I had a little time on my hands. One morning I had a conversation with God and wondered what I was supposed to do with this time. I wasn’t used to having such a large void in my schedule. He reminded me that I could write. Oh yeah, I’m a writer. Good idea! I wasn’t sure if there would be any money for Christmas presents this year for the kids, so I decided to finally write the book for them and give it to them on Christmas morning.

I did a little research and learned that the average novel is 80,000 words. Many writers set daily word count goals, and, since I’m a chart-maker and goal-setter, I thought I’d make a plan. I set a goal to write 1,000 words per day, 5 days a week. At that pace I would hit 80,000 words by mid to late October.

My fingers flew for the next few months, and, on September 29, I stopped writing. The first draft of the story had over 90,000 words. I spent the months of October and November reading books about self-editing and refining the first few chapters of the story.

In October I attended the Minnesota SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) conference. One of the speakers was Jennifer Rees, an editor at Scholastic Press. She extended an offer to all conference attendees to submit manuscripts to her, and she promised to look at them. I spoke to her briefly at the lunch break and she asked me to send her the first five chapters of my novel.

On December 15, I dropped a query letter and the first five chapters in the mail to her. At the end of January I will be attending the National Conference for SCBWI in New York. Jennifer will be there as well. We’ll see if anything happens.

Statistically, 99% of all manuscripts submitted each year get rejected. Most manuscripts that have been published were rejected several times before some brave editor took a chance on it. In light of these harsh facts I do not have high expectations. I’d love to be published, and I will pursue it until I’m either completely beaten down or happily published. Either way, I know I can’t quit my day job.

I plan to chronicle this journey on the blog, so stay tuned for the next development. The journey will be under the label “Nectar“.