So what's next then?

"So often a woman feels then that she lives in an empty place where there is maybe just one cactus with one brilliant red flower on it, and then in every direction, 500 miles of nothing. But for the woman who will go 501 miles, there is something more. A small brave house. An old one. She has been waiting for you." - Clarissa Pinkola Estes

This is the quote that started my book. This is the quote that gave me a peculiar tingle on the back of my neck. I had read it a dozen times, but then the 13th time I read it, it gave me a nudge. I wrote it down and thought about it a little. I scribbled notes about a book I wanted to write. This was all about 2 years ago. Around this time I was also trying to meditate for the first time. I was not very good at it. I squirm too much. After one particularly squirmy meditation I opened my eyes with a clear full picture of the book I would write. I sat down at my computer that day and started to write. A year and a month or so later I finished.

I write because if I don't my head gets crowded. Stories and characters line up and tap their toes waiting for me to notice them and give them a voice. I feel like this book has been the one I have always been preparing for. It is an unusual book that is full of traditional symbols and archetypes, but then I have always been a slightly unusual traditional girl.

So what happens next? Well now that I have written the end I need to go back and change the beginning. Then it needs a pretty big rewrite followed by a gentle reading by friends and family. In the meantime I will research agents and ask people if they know agents to see which one might be a good one to approach with my chapters. Then I make the first 50 pages as good as they can possibly be and then I send them to an agent to see if they would like to help me get it published. It all sounds terribly complicated, but I really believe in this book. I think that people - and women in particular - will really like it... i hope...

Thank you for all of your kind words on my last post!! It's so nice to just have people say 'Well Done!' and let you bask in an accomplishment for a little while. Thank you for that gift.

xo