Sometimes my life just takes an unbelievable turn. My agent emailed me last week and said that my memoir, which she has been shopping for some time, had received an offer. Since I am the least business minded person ever, I wanted to scream, TAKE IT. This, however, is why you want an agent. She unflappably said that she wasn’t done negotiating. This week, things were finalized (though we still need to sign at some point).
Basically, two books in less than a year (although by the time this one is published it will probably be 2017 sometime). How did I get so fortunate? I’ll tell you how.
I wrote two books at once.
Does that sound terrible? It’s not, really, Working on two very different books helped a lot. I would get stuck and sick of one, and then move to the other one. That way I didn’t just languish in writer’s block for weeks. There was always something I could say in the novel if the memoir was not happening. It allowed me to step away but still keep writing. Kind of like when you are sick of running, so you ride your bike. Then eventually you want to run again.
Anyway, my first thought was….YAY. Then, oh no! It’s easy to hide behind fiction, but a memoir is..well…true. There are real people in there. Your story is always going to be different from theirs. This book is a lot different than Geography.
It hasn’t really sunk in yet.
OH YES….the elevator speech! “Fire in the Heart, a memoir of friendship, loss and wildfire,” Intrigued? I hope so.