Publishing News update

The Lumiere Review

I submitted a reprint of my short story “Two Jellyfish” - an excerpt from one of my chapters in The Shape of Normal and the story was published today!

It first appeared in Write City Magazine, but you can read it here! https://lumierereview.com/issue-12

But on to other exciting developments regarding my book. I started working with my editor at Vine Leaves Press for the developmental edits. Read this quote from her comments about my manuscript and drop a comment about what you think!

“This is somewhat different than how I usually do a developmental edit. But I found that the story is very clean and so haven't written you an editorial letter but rather have comments in the document showing you where I think changes can be made. For the most part, I am asking for more! For expansion, description, and showing. I so enjoyed reading it and feel it has incredible power.”

After I turned in my revisions to the editor, I decided to get a head start on some of the other items VLP will require in May. I spent days crafting the author’s note. How does this sound?

This is a true story, written from my perspective alone—an intimate glimpse into my life as a mother of a child with disabilities. Stigmatizing language, including “mental retardation” and “retarded,” appears in parts of this book, because that was accepted terminology used during the 1980s, an era I write about. Perceptions about and the medical terminology for people with an intellectual disability have since changed. In some cases, I have altered names and identifying features to protect the identities of individuals and institutions. This story is told from memory, but in some instances, I have merged, compressed, or omitted details for the sake of narrative clarity. I hope this book will serve as a valuable resource for those who seek stories about parenting, especially parenting a child with a disability, and contribute to an awareness of the similarities rather than the differences between non-disabled children and children with disabilities. Perhaps readers will find they aren’t so alone after all.

I have to credit Andrea A. Firth for her part in helping me tackle this task. I have taken a few online classes with her through her Diablo Writers’ Workshop, so asked her for help in reviewing my drafts. I also had to prepare requests to get ‘endorsements,’ (which are similar to reviews in that they offer social proof, but are usually acquired before publication and are solicited from “recognizable” or “important” people, thus upping the trust factor.) And once I felt satisfied, I decided to ‘test the waters’ and sent three requests. I have already heard from two people!

The first was Jacquelyn Mitchard, an American journalist and author of the best-selling novel The Deep End of the Ocean. I am thrilled she said to send her the manuscript and then she’d let me know! I also heard from Heather Lanier, an essayist, memoirist, poet, and author of the memoir, Raising a Rare Girl, along with two award-winning poetry chapbooks. This doesn’t mean I have an endorsement (yet) but I appreciate the chance to win them over! I will keep everyone posted as I get further along!

I am excited about the next steps, sending out galleys, and ARC ( advanced reader copies,) and getting testimonials from published authors. My next step is to develop a plan for my launch team. I asked a couple of other writers who are ahead of me on this journey, exactly how I go about doing this. Basically, the author puts out a call for volunteers who are willing to spread the word via social media and other resources, so if any of you wonderful readers are interested in helping, please let me know as I come up with a launch plan for this book.