The Miracle of Birth: My First Novel
by Pamela duMond
1990
I wanted to write. Something. I wasn't sure what. Here's how it played out...
*Goddess Book Idea. Non-fiction. Like tarot cards but with Goddesses. WHY? Seemed like a cool idea, feminist, fun. RESULT: Met my future husband. Got married. Left my business, friends, family in Chicago and moved to L.A. Dropped Book Project.
1994
*The Portable Pooch Book Idea. Non-fiction. Where to find dog-friendly places, restaurants, etc. to travel with your dog. WHY? For solace after my Dad died and husband walked out on me. RESULT: Found some cool, dog-friendly people and places. Dropped Book Project.
*Edited 2 of husband's books. WHY? Co-dependently, stupidly thought this would encourage husband to return to the marriage. RESULT: 2 editing credits and being served divorce papers by a guy in a bad suit, while I was in pjs drinking coffee. Dropped Marriage Project.
1996
*Wrote 2 articles published in Soul Moments: Marvelous Stories of Synchronicity – Meaningful Coincidences from a Seemingly Random World, edited by Phil Cousineau. WHY? To channel my grief of losing my father, marriage and favorite cat into something positive. RESULT: Inspired me to create and edit my own non-fiction anthology. Yay! First official Publishing Credits!
1997
*Mending America's Quilt non-fiction anthology project. I wanted to put together a book on teaching tolerance. 2 co-editors. (The first bailed, but Cheree Plank stuck around for the hard work.) 2 Agents. (The first told us to hire his expensive friend to make the proposal more marketable.) Agent #2 shopped it all over town. It didn't sell. WHY? We were told the project was excellent, but we didn't have a platform. RESULT: Discouraged, I decided to try writing fiction. Dropped Anthology Project.
1998 - 2006
Erin Brockovich pitch got made into the movie. Yay! Let's try Screenwriting! 7 classes at UCLA Extension Nightschool. 4 screenplays. 1 hip-pocket Manager. 1000 notes. 1000 re-writes. 1 boyfriend. 3 crushes. 1 new house. Severe anxiety attacks. Building my business up. Screenplays were cute, almost there, good idea, not quite good enough, etc. WHY? Why not? I lived in L.A. and everyone here writes screenplays. RESULT: Frustration. Then, a friend sold a 3 book deal.
2007
Cupcakes, Lies, and Dead Guys. An idea for a comedic mystery novel about a baker girl who is haunted by the ghost of the guy who ruins her marriage. My heroine, Annie, is originally from Wisconsin but moved to L.A. (This is how I envisioned her: Thanks to Aurora de Blas, model/actress and The Trailer Guys.)
Seemed funny. 99,000 words in the first draft. 3 Beta Readers. 4 more drafts. 1 Query Letter. 20 Agent Rejections. 1 Agent Request for the Full MS. A rejection but she asked to read again if I revised. More Agent requests for Partials. More re-writes on Query Letter. 1 Synopsis. Hired an Editor to help me spiff up the ms. Trimmed word count down to 85,000 words. (Yes, that's a lot.)
2009
More Queries. Changed title 1 time. Changed it back. More rejections. Agent Gal requested a Full. Agent Gal LOVED Cupcakes ms and offered Representation! RESULT: Much Celebrating! Agent Gal shopped it. Polite rejections from Editors. Agent Gal suggested I re-write it with more romance. (Sigh.)
2010
Agent Gal is let go from her Agency and I am 'orphaned'. WHY? Because the Agency didn't want to keep a new writer who hadn't sold yet. RESULT: I am heartsick. My friend offers to ask her Indie Press Editor if he would take a look at it. He says yes.
Editor at Krill Press loves Cupcakes, Lies, and Dead Guys just the way it is and offers to publish it. RESULT: One very beautiful debut novel. One deliriously happy and grateful author, (me.) Cupcakes, Lies and Dead Guys available November, 2010 on Kindle, Trade Paperback on Amazon in the next couple of days and on Nook, probably by next week.
Keep writing, people. Don't let anyone tell you, "No."
I'd love to hear your stories.
xo,
Pamela DuMond
Here's the link to the Kindle Book:
1990
I wanted to write. Something. I wasn't sure what. Here's how it played out...
*Goddess Book Idea. Non-fiction. Like tarot cards but with Goddesses. WHY? Seemed like a cool idea, feminist, fun. RESULT: Met my future husband. Got married. Left my business, friends, family in Chicago and moved to L.A. Dropped Book Project.
1994
*The Portable Pooch Book Idea. Non-fiction. Where to find dog-friendly places, restaurants, etc. to travel with your dog. WHY? For solace after my Dad died and husband walked out on me. RESULT: Found some cool, dog-friendly people and places. Dropped Book Project.
*Edited 2 of husband's books. WHY? Co-dependently, stupidly thought this would encourage husband to return to the marriage. RESULT: 2 editing credits and being served divorce papers by a guy in a bad suit, while I was in pjs drinking coffee. Dropped Marriage Project.
1996
*Wrote 2 articles published in Soul Moments: Marvelous Stories of Synchronicity – Meaningful Coincidences from a Seemingly Random World, edited by Phil Cousineau. WHY? To channel my grief of losing my father, marriage and favorite cat into something positive. RESULT: Inspired me to create and edit my own non-fiction anthology. Yay! First official Publishing Credits!
1997
*Mending America's Quilt non-fiction anthology project. I wanted to put together a book on teaching tolerance. 2 co-editors. (The first bailed, but Cheree Plank stuck around for the hard work.) 2 Agents. (The first told us to hire his expensive friend to make the proposal more marketable.) Agent #2 shopped it all over town. It didn't sell. WHY? We were told the project was excellent, but we didn't have a platform. RESULT: Discouraged, I decided to try writing fiction. Dropped Anthology Project.
1998 - 2006
Erin Brockovich pitch got made into the movie. Yay! Let's try Screenwriting! 7 classes at UCLA Extension Nightschool. 4 screenplays. 1 hip-pocket Manager. 1000 notes. 1000 re-writes. 1 boyfriend. 3 crushes. 1 new house. Severe anxiety attacks. Building my business up. Screenplays were cute, almost there, good idea, not quite good enough, etc. WHY? Why not? I lived in L.A. and everyone here writes screenplays. RESULT: Frustration. Then, a friend sold a 3 book deal.
2007
Cupcakes, Lies, and Dead Guys. An idea for a comedic mystery novel about a baker girl who is haunted by the ghost of the guy who ruins her marriage. My heroine, Annie, is originally from Wisconsin but moved to L.A. (This is how I envisioned her: Thanks to Aurora de Blas, model/actress and The Trailer Guys.)
Seemed funny. 99,000 words in the first draft. 3 Beta Readers. 4 more drafts. 1 Query Letter. 20 Agent Rejections. 1 Agent Request for the Full MS. A rejection but she asked to read again if I revised. More Agent requests for Partials. More re-writes on Query Letter. 1 Synopsis. Hired an Editor to help me spiff up the ms. Trimmed word count down to 85,000 words. (Yes, that's a lot.)
2009
More Queries. Changed title 1 time. Changed it back. More rejections. Agent Gal requested a Full. Agent Gal LOVED Cupcakes ms and offered Representation! RESULT: Much Celebrating! Agent Gal shopped it. Polite rejections from Editors. Agent Gal suggested I re-write it with more romance. (Sigh.)
2010
Agent Gal is let go from her Agency and I am 'orphaned'. WHY? Because the Agency didn't want to keep a new writer who hadn't sold yet. RESULT: I am heartsick. My friend offers to ask her Indie Press Editor if he would take a look at it. He says yes.
Editor at Krill Press loves Cupcakes, Lies, and Dead Guys just the way it is and offers to publish it. RESULT: One very beautiful debut novel. One deliriously happy and grateful author, (me.) Cupcakes, Lies and Dead Guys available November, 2010 on Kindle, Trade Paperback on Amazon in the next couple of days and on Nook, probably by next week.
Keep writing, people. Don't let anyone tell you, "No."
I'd love to hear your stories.
xo,
Pamela DuMond
Here's the link to the Kindle Book:
http://tinyurl.com/293k9ph
Click 'Like', (Over 400 people already have,) for tons of fun stuff, behind the scenes snippets and the Book Trailer on Facebook at Cupcakes, Lies, and Dead Guys.
I love hearing your journey! So inspiring. Thank you for sharing it with us. It always takes a lot of hard work and not letting no's stop you.
ReplyDeleteGood Lord, girl! Is there no end to the stuff I don't know about you? If you weren't such a night person we could have lunch! :)
ReplyDeleteThis was hysterical. Loved it.
xoxoxox
Thanks Aurora and Julie D. Yeah there, it's been a journey. Let's do lunch soon! xo,
ReplyDeletewow oh wow! I loved reading about your journey Pam. And congrats on getting published. you are an inspiration to unpublished writers everywhere! ;D
ReplyDeletecheers!
jojo
Tx, Joanna.
ReplyDeleteWas it The Grateful Dead who sang, 'What a long trip it's been'? If not, they should have sung that!
xo,
Great post. Funny and interesting. I love the title of your book. You've managed to keep your sense of humor through all the bad times. Congratulations on your first release. I had a long journey to publication, but not nearly as interesting as yours.
ReplyDeleteCarolyn/Cara Marsi
Thanks Carolyn. My sense of humor got squashed many times over the past 20 years, but somehow managed to survive. Without laughter, where would we be? I bet you've got some good stories as well, which I would love to hear. Most of us writer types do.
ReplyDeletexo,
Love the timeline! Thanks for sharing! And congrats - love the title of the book!
ReplyDeleteWhat a journey, Pamela!
ReplyDeleteThanks Kathy and Kim. Glad you liked. I guess perseverance is part of the plan, eh?
ReplyDeletexo,