I finished the first draft of my book a week ago and I felt so jubilant, I was walking around with a spring in my step and a huge smile. Now I get to start the editing process! I get the feeling that finishing the first draft is just the beginning of the work? I decided I needed to hire an editor because I have high aspirations for my book and I know, I need some help!
I reached out to my writing group and a friend, asking for editor suggestions. I was given a few great referrals but the first one who emailed me back, seemed like the perfect fit. Jean, who is an author, editor, speaker, researcher and teacher specializes in helping authors write their memoir’s. She even teaches a workshop at the library on memoir writing. I mean could you even get a better fit? Anyways, she asked me to send her my manuscript and I also directed her to my blog, so she could get a feel of my writing. I don’t want an editor who was a serious stickler for grammar, since I am the queen of run on sentences. I need someone who can embrace my very non-literary style. She liked the blog and we agreed to meet. We met for coffee or rather iced tea a few days later and I liked her instantly.
She was easy to talk to and had some great ideas for the ending of my book. I have a prologue and was struggling with where I should end the book and she suggested adding an epilogue with some details about where I am today and how did I get there after losing Tiara. I was thinking of a similar idea and totally agreed with her suggestion. I decided to hire her after 5 minutes and she agreed to take me on, so the rest is history. I wrote the epilogue, forwarded her the entire manuscript and then decided I should add a few more chapters towards the end of the book. I started on them yesterday and should be able to finish them tomorrow. Just when I thought I was done, I decide to add more. This weekend I decided to start researching agents. My goal is to get my book published by a large publishing house, which is a one in a million shot, but I ‘m going to try it anyways. If it doesn’t work out, I can go the self-publishing route.
So how to find an agent? Wow, it’s a bit of daunting process to get a top agent who can actually get your book in front of a big publishing house. I am very new to the literary world so I don’t have any personal connections but having a blog is a very tiny advantage, which could possibly help? I need to come up with an amazing query letter to lure them in and entice them to look at my book. I figure if I was able to keep Tiara alive for 16 years despite everything she endured, I should be able to convince an agent to represent me? We will see.
Aside from keeping busy with the book stuff, our life has gone through some big changes the past few weeks. Lou transferred to BMW of Ontario, which is still a Penske dealership, and is now commuting an hour each way to work instead of 10 minutes. Luckily he is against traffic and doesn’t hate driving, like me, but it has been an adjustment. He was home for almost a week without work during the transition and I was very eager to get him back out of the house. Now that he has been gone so much, I have actually missed him. I said to him this morning: “Don’t tell anyone, but I have kinda missed you the past few days.” He laughed and said: ” I’ve really missed you, but I can’t believe you just admitted it out loud!” I then said: ” I know! I even wrote it in the blog, but I still have time to delete it!” I decided to keep it in, despite me constantly “playing hard to get”, even after 27 years.
As for the other big news: Tabitha and Chandler got a puppy named: Blu Lapis Bordier Gregory and she is the cutest dog in the world. Shhh, don’t tell Stella! Chandler’s deceased grandma loved the name Blu Lapis, and said she wanted to name a dog or child Blu Lapis. so they named their puppy in her honor. Plus, it is a fabulous name! Chandler has trained her to pee on the pads, sit, and fetch in less than 2 weeks. We introduced Blu and Stella and Stella was a bit threatened by Blu’s playful jumping and puppy banter. I think someone will always hold Blu when she is over visiting at our house, just so Stella doesn’t give her any fleas or she doesn’t bite Blu. Stella can’t be on flea medication because of her autoimmune disease so I have to run the flea comb through her everyday, but she still has fleas. I have a really good approach involving a flea comb, tweezers and a wet paper towel, but since she goes on the grass everyday to pee, I’m losing the flea battle. As for the biting, I don’t think she would actually bite Blu, but she did snarl at her with her teeth protruding. Better safe than sorry, until Blu is no longer a puppy.
As for Trinity, she started her senior year of high school this week and doesn’t hate it, yet! She is taking 2 weeks off from her job at Simply Straws to get acclimated to school but I keep telling her to go back to work, she doesn’t need a break! She just left for a friend’s house because her small amount of homework was already done by 4:30. She is a sweet, responsible child, but she is not a big academic. Which is why she needs to go back to work right away. Plus, when she works she pays for her own gas and food which is a huge amount of money, which I have enjoyed saving this summer. She spends more on gas in 1 week than I spend in 3 weeks.
Last but not least, I got a new haircut today and I decided to have Sandra add bangs because of my recent obsession with Nicole Kidman’s bangs in: “Big little, lies.” I have never had bangs with a middle part, so it a little bit different from a few years ago. Plus, now I can cover my forehead wrinkles when my botox is wearing out!
Have a wonderful week and if anyone has any great advice on getting a literary agent, please feel free to pass it on.
ALSO: The Tiara Goff Southern CA Annual TSC picnic is Sunday, August 25, from 12-3 at Mason Regional Park, Irvine! If you would like to attend, please rsvp to me at: tiffanigoff@aol.com
xoxo tiffani
You look beautiful xx