A Tale of Two Headshots

Okay, so I was born with this birthmark on my upper lip.  I first noticed the thing when I was about 4 and I was jumping on my mom's bed and looking in the mirror at our house in Louisville, Kentucky. I remember that I thought I had been drinking Kool-Aid and couldn't get the stain off my lip.  After a while of trying to lick the thing off, I tried to wash it off.  Finally, I asked Mom about the Kool-ade and why it wouldn't get off my lip.  After she got done laughing she explained that it was a birthmark and wouldn't come off.  God put it there she explained.

There it is.  It doesn't bother me.  Teaching class kids ask me all the time, "What's that thing on your lip?" Or sometimes waiting tables a guest will say, "I use ______ (insert the name of a product) to get rid of those." To which I always reply, "that takes off birthmarks?"

Anyhow, one year in my 20's we got our picture taken for the church directory and they edited the thing out.  I thought I looked weird. I figured out it was missing pretty quickly, but it was too late, it was gone. 

Fast forward to now.  I am going to put my headshot in this proposal.... Will they think it was a birthmark? Gorbechev made a lot of fame with his birthmark after all.  Or will they think it is a cold sore that I failed to have edited out? Well, with that consideration my entire thought process changes and I decided to edit the thing out.  Most of them will probably reject me anyhow, so they will never meet me in person to discover it was missing to begin with! SO, after the photoshoot with Scott Shrecker (visit scottshcrecker.com if interested) I had him edit the thing out and here's the headshot I'm sending with my proposal:

Soooooo.  Does this say "buy my book" or what?

Head Shot

Apparently that doesn't refer only to a shot to the head, but also a photograph which I apparently need for this proposal.  It is a shame to have to fork out so much dough on the front end for something that may or may not take off, but I am about to drop a couple bills on some headshots with a fellow church member. 

I do like a lot of the photos on his webpage, and I would encourage you to check him out if you live in Nashville and are looking for a good photographer.

http://www.scottschrecker.com/

He's the best I know of and I suppose if I want the initial reaction to the proposal to be good I should try and include the best quality in stuff. I hope that is a good perspective as I go forward that yields good results because otherwise I am wasting money! (and as a school teacher with two kids in preschool that is a rarely located substance.)

Good News

Okay, Home now from Job #2 at Longhorn and I'm able to give you just a little more information. I finally heard back from my agent, and he has some areas of the proposal that need to be tweaked, but he is prepared to shop it to some publishing houses (YAY!) Makes me a little nervous as I continue to try and get the manuscript up to snuff.  I am excited because I am ready to tell the tale of "Stargazer" and getting book 1 into the hands of publishers is simply the first step on the journey.  I am grateful for the connections which have helped to make even this much possible, and I am anxious and excited to see what happens next.  If this does become a reality and someone publishes this book, PLEASE help me spread the word.  I am told to make it land on the big radars you need to get 7,000 sold.  The profit margin is small too, so it's not just simply sell a book and make money - it's sell a LOT of books. 

I would love to make money, but right not it's more important to tell the story than become the next J.K. Rowling. Everyone keep your fingers crossed and let's do this America! (And Europe, Africa, or any other region which is interested in the protection of our planet.)

Temptation to be impatient.

So a good friend of mine, and former roommate from college days (the details of which shall remain undisclosed to protect both reputation and the letters lambda chi and alpha) came to Nashville to run the country music half marathon last weekend. While it was great to visit with him, our topic quickly turned to his publishing business. While his company is still young and developing my likelihood of getting published is far greater with my friend rather than some anonymous publisher off in New York. On the flip side the volume of publications he has is far less than random house, McGraw hill, or scholastic to name a few- so is it worth getting published to get published, or better to wait patiently on my agent? This is frustrating to say the least. It's been months since I heard back from my agent, and I am starting to wonder if my book proposal has made it's way to the surface of his sea of proposals....