LMP and WMP

I am headed to the Library today with all the girls in tow...sounds like fun, right? Anyway..I am going in search of two books which Leonard Goss, an editor in Michigan, (Thanks to Dave for directing me to him and thanks to Leonard for his help!) suggested might be of help to me. Literary Marketplace and Writers Marketplace. Apparently these books list all literary agents, along with their current contact info. They publish it every year and it is available for purchase at Barnes and Noble but he tells me it is quite expensive. Thank Heavens for the Library! These two books also have publishers and can tell you #1 whether they accept unsolicited manuscripts and #2 which genre and/or style of books they are into publishing. We are off! Wish me luck..I will need it and not for the author stuff...The six girls is th part that has me concerned..LOL

Here is a link to the 2004 edition of LMP..WOW...pricey does not even cover it.:) http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Literary-Market-Place-2004/Information-Today/e/9781573871785/?itm=8

Why no illustrations?

I have had a few questions about whether I have an illustrator and the answer is No. I do not yet have one. My oldest daughter is an amazing artist and has been working on some sketches but her talent may be too raw for this type of challenge yet in life. Give this girl 10 years though..and watch out! Also, Publishers often do not want illustrated manuscripts unless it is a famous artist. They generally have illustrators that they want to use. If you submit a manuscript with illustrations your story can be judged more by the art than by the story line. I may, in the end, end up self publishing so I would actually like to see what artists might see in my story. I purposely did not "humanize" the animals but I do not see them as entirely cartoony either...it is hard to explain...anyway..if you are an artist and see illustrations please let me know...I would love to see what others see and as I said before I may self publish in the end and in that case I will absolutely need an illustrator.

Moo here and Moo there...

Actually a chinchilla started it all...I have been writing since I was in Elementary school. I wrote books in my Elementary school in East Grand Rapids and received awards for them. I believe that was 1st grade. Throughout my life I have always enjoyed writing. I write poetry and some novels and papers..lots of things and I have loved it. It has always been my dream to become published. I thought that would be of a non-fiction or fiction novel but ideas for Children's books have been foremost on my mind for some time. I had a series in my mind last year that I worked on briefly but it just wasn't flowing. A few months ago I started forming the idea of a chinchilla who wanted to be a Broadway star. In talking with my girls and hubby the chinchilla morphed into a Hedgehog. She was given a name by myself and Paige. Then in writing the actual story she became a TV star rather than the Broadway star. So...Hannah Henrietta was born. She has made many changes over the writing process and I am still very open to any suggestions other may have regarding the storyline or even the characters. The point of this blog is for me to be able to share stresses, successes etc..regarding my books. I might never end up published but I have to pursue my dream. I doubt I will look back at my life and regret trying to reach my dreams. I don't want any what-if's when I look back. If you are reading here please offer HONEST opinions. I don't want false flattery here, I want people's honest opinions. If you like the stories PLEASE tell me so. I need positive and negative feedback...