Things start to get interesting ...

I heard from a well-established Canadian publisher (let’s call them Publisher ‘A’). The Senior Editor apologized profusely about how long it had taken them to respond (close to a year) and they requested my full manuscript. Around the same time, two American agents requested my full manuscript. I also heard that a personal essay I wrote, about how much I hate yoga,  “No Sweaty Enlightenment for me” would be published in The Globe and Mail (November 2007).

Then I went to the Surrey International Writers Conference (SiWC) and things really got interesting. People came from all over the world for it. There were 700 people there and 70 workshops on writing. In between running to workshops you are able to book appointments with editors and agents and have one Blue Pencil session. I had an editor appointment on the first day, the pitch went well, and she requested a chapter. My Blue Pencil session the next day with Eric Walters went well.  He said it was “good stuff” and gave me the names of some editors to send it to. Coming from a children’s author of over 50 books that was a great sign, and very encouraging. It was only the second day and I was walking on air as I made the twice-daily trudge, through the Surrey rain, back and forth to my hotel. Little did I know the best was yet to come.