Thursday, February 21, 2008

Shamed Into New Post

I realized that I haven't updated my blog since I first started it. Of course, I wouldn't have noticed if friend Syd hadn't left me a comment. I really do enjoy hearing from others, so feel free to comment whenever (if ever) you check into the site.

I'm in the throes of taking on another parttime job. I just can't seem to sit still. Hopefully it'll keep me young rather than "take me out". Two parttimes makes a fulltime job, right? ...the difference is that it won't get monotonous since it's two entirely different types of tasks. One is a sit-down office job and the other is outside/travel/visiting stores job. Hopefully the gas prices won't cause me to reconsider the latter, cause it sounds like it'll be interesting.

Now...writing children's books has been a long time dream of mine, and while I have written about five total, I've never submitted any for publishing. I personally think they're quite good, but I'm not knowledgeable enough to know how to go about submitting them to a publisher. I guess I could publish my own, but then that would cost a lot of $$, and I'm not that flush. Anybody out there got any ideas?

I would love to have you comment ... tell me about yourself. It's so much fun to read about other people. I feel like I know you... I just don't know about you. Leave me some info and I'll try to keep up on my posts more often.

4 comments:

Terry is a Texan! said...

meb---thanks so much for your kind words and prayers. Its interesting to me that you write childrens books, a long dream of mine as well. I wrote several 'object lesson" type books but was told to keep trying.
I need to let you know I did find Tylers myspace page, but it is marked private and I have asked to be his friend. Im sure there is much parental control there...the step father and mom want to pretend they are the only happy family...and my son was told they are adopted by the stepfather (no papers ever shown) and they have no interest in getting to know him.
Since the family is military its hard to get information!
Last I heard they lived in Clarksville TN, the stepdad is stationed at Ft Campbell KY....but this is old info....
thanks again, it means so much
I tried to go for grandparent rights early on, but because the military doesnt intervene, and getting civil matters on a base is almost impossible, and the price tag was $25,000 and no promises..

Sydney said...

Hey Meb --

I saw you made another entry the other night but didn't have a moment to write back to you here. I think it's great to have 2 part time jobs -- you won't get too bored and if there is someone you don't love there you don't have to spend 40 hours a week with them!!! There are books on getting published and you may want to go to a few different book stores to thumb through them on free time, see if one resonates before you buy as there's a lot out there.

The other trade secret I've heard is to find an editor or two or three who publish kids books you feel are kind of like yours. Many have a type they tend to like. Make sense? Also, in the old days you could submit without an agent, but that is something you might want to research... how do you get one or can you still submit on your own.

There's a dispute about the ethics of multiple submissions. It takes them so long to get back to you it's hard to send one out at a time (don't know if it moves faster w/kids books), but it's like dating too many people at once. What if two propose at once? Anyway, that's something else to decide on.

I keep wondering what my next step is in the area of work... I am signed up to volunteer with the zoo and will know in a few weeks if I've been cleared. This is a way for me to see if I can work with animals, whom I love but am so allergic to that meds and shots can't do enough. But there's something about the fresh air that's allowed me to be with animals in the park here that gave me the idea. We shall see. I write about that stuff in the other blog I have that you may have seen called Adventures in Nature. I haven't been writing enough and I am deciding I need to spend more time doing that. (You heard it here first, lol)

Laurie said...

Hi Meb,
I thought I'd join the "good" people over here and say hello to you on your blog.

It's so nice to be getting to know some of the BB Bloggers a little better, isn't it?

Good luck with your books. Terry and I have a mutual friend who is trying to get two books published right now. One is an adult novel and one is a children's book. She's had a few rejections but she is still plugging along. I know it's a tough business but if it's your dream you must pursue it!

Is it spring in your area yet? I'm so fortunate to live here in San Diego. We have pretty good weather sometimes and excellent weather most of the time. I love to garden and this is a great place for it.

Talk to you again soon. Just wanted to say hi to you and to Terry and Sydney.

Donna in Alabama said...

Hi MEB,
I just thought I would let you know I read your blogs. My mom is 71 and I wish she would blog and get online but she thinks the computer is too complicated. She would like to take on any job to occupy more of her time too. So I am in awe of you and your multi-tasking.

BTW - MEB is my oldest son's initials. My younger son, who reads the BB blogs with me, has asked if that was his brother! ha

Chat with ya later.