Show me the book deal.

First, I want to thank "Tabitha" from http://iuniversebookreviews.blogspot.com/ for the upcoming review of MY SISTER'S WEDDING. Second, I want to thank author LYDA PHILLIPS author of the award-winning YA novel Mr. Touchdown, for pointing me in the direction of contacting "Tabitha".

Now, there's something I haven't shared with anyone really, at least writer friends or colleagues or students. It's this: I am tired. Not of writing but of pounding the pavement and even the cyber pavement, peddling my books. I need to go the other way, inward (my horoscope said I would feel this way around this time of the year and at the time I thought 'what a load'....HA!). So, going inward means focusing on teaching and writing. I can only focus on three things at a time and do them well. The third is always my family. So....that leaves book marketing out, at this time. Unless I am invited to an event and don't have do much pounding of the pavement and knocking on doors, I will not be actively publicizing my books that are currently out. Doing stuff online, like contacting reviewers is very easy, so unless it doesn't continue to be that way, I will still do that.

I am letting my agent really just take hold and take over and do all the work of trying to get a book deal. I finally feel ready. I know that sounds weird, but I look back on the three years of being a self-published author, and I realize I wasn't ready for a publisher to take a hold and take control of my work. I think I needed to know what it felt like to really be in total control, and I now appreciate how difficult it is. The thing that suffers is usually the presentation of the work, and my books are GREAT stories but do have their share of typos. If, after a bit of time away from the publicizing and publishing of my work, I get the "bug" again to be my own midwife to another "birth" of a book, I will do it again and do it with iUniverse. But I will spend more time proofing and thinking about art work. Although I do LOVE the cover of MY SUMMER VACATION, MY SISTER'S WEDDING's cover wasn't on mark for my target audience.

I have no illusions that getting a book deal means the load and weight of promotion is off me. It will probably become more of a load. However, at that point I will be ready again. It's not like I don't want or even like to do it, it's that I pushed so hard for two years straight and had a baby at the same time AND wrote two more books. Tired is not even close to what I felt.

So, that's where I am in this publishing thing. I really want a book deal and that's not something I have said enough, out loud. I do believe in the "law of attraction". So it's time to start singing to the universe...."show me the book deal!"