| MY WRITING JOURNEY |
HOW DID MY WRITING JOURNEY BEGIN?
I remember the exact day I decided to become a writer. It
was in 1991. I sat in a hotel room in Indianapolis on a
rainy summer Sunday afternoon and tried to make sense
out of what had happened to me, and how my life had
spiraled so far out of control that my husband of nine
years sat in prison, convicted of trying to murder me.
Then it came to me. I needed to share my experience to
help others. I needed to write a book. Little did I realize
that my story was far from over. But I had taken the first
step - I had found my passion.
I remember the exact day I decided to become a writer. It
was in 1991. I sat in a hotel room in Indianapolis on a
rainy summer Sunday afternoon and tried to make sense
out of what had happened to me, and how my life had
spiraled so far out of control that my husband of nine
years sat in prison, convicted of trying to murder me.
Then it came to me. I needed to share my experience to
help others. I needed to write a book. Little did I realize
that my story was far from over. But I had taken the first
step - I had found my passion.
How many times have you heard an unpublished, untrained writer say they're going to write a book, as if they could sit down,
without any training, and put the correct words on paper or computer screen. Oh, there might be the occasional natural talent
that could, but most aspiring authors trudge along the path to becoming published, and one of the first stops is to learn the
craft of writing.
After I had found my passion, I used patience and persistence to reach my publication goal. I went to the library (the writer's
friend) and found a newly published book "How to Write and Sell True Crime" by Gary Provost. I checked it out and devoured it.
In a brave move, I wrote a proposal letter to the author, illustrating each point in his book with events from my story. I said that
I worked full time and asked if he would be interested in co-authoring my book. Then I waited. Within a month Gary wrote
back, saying his project list had him extended for the next couple of years and that he couldn't help me. He added the caveat
that, based on my proposal, he felt I could write the book myself. Wow! Little did I know that two years later Gary and his wife
Gail would come back into my life.
Life got in the way for the next two years, but when I was finally able to go beyond myself I found the International Women's
Writing Guild on a Timepeace calendar. I attended their Summer Conference at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New
York in 1993. What a fabulous experience to spend 10 days with 400 women interested in writing. I discovered my fairy tales
and dabbled some on my story, but I did little beyond the conference.
The next year I went back to the summer conference and in a miraculous sequence of events, was put back in touch with Gary
and Gail Provost who just happened to have a last minute cancellation for their Writer's Retreat Workshop, held at that time in
Bristol, Connecticut. In October 1994 I rolled up my sleeves and delved into the intense schedule and worked on the first
scene for my book in the chapter where I meet Homicide Detective Greg Smith. At the end of the conference Gary said he had
never seen anyone's writing improve as rapidly as mine during the ten days. Gail gave me a sparkling fairy wand at graduation
and Gary agreed to mentor me.
I attracted my first literary agent at the Writer's Retreat Workshop in 1994, but his interest fizzled before I had seriously started
writing. Looking back, I can see that I wasn't ready and he had rightfully passed. Around this time I also queried for my fairy
tales, but did not pick up any bites. In fact, one agency returned my manuscript minus the cover illustration. I was
disillusioned, and mad. But I didn't have that much time to commit to my writing. I was immersed in dealing with the
psychopath and changing the divorce law of California.
When Gary suddenly passed away in May 1995 at the young age of 50, Gail jumped in and became my mentor, leading me
through the process of outlining. I scoured all my materials like calendars, organizers and family photographs to piece together
my story and recorded events on note cards, which I then used to write scene cards (actually I used a table that I created in
Microsoft Word and most scenes filled at least one page of paper).
I used passion, patience and persistence to continue my writing quest. In 1996, I focused once more on my memoir and worked
with my mentor Gail Provost to get a paragraph outline and three chapters on paper, using the scene cards that I had so
patiently prepared. Then I got sidetracked with getting married and combining two households. When I decided once more to
seek a literary agent, it was 1998. I sent out fifteen query letters to literary agents on the International Women's Writing Guild
(IWWG) list available as part of my membership. I received fourteen rejection letters and one request to read my work. The
prospective literary agent looked promising, but after several months we never even got to negotiating a contract. Even though I
had sent my materials with return postage, I had a devil of a time getting them back after the agent quit and moved across the
country. Looking back at this part of my journey, I see now that I did not have a proper proposal prepared.
In January of 2003 Lifetime TV aired a new hour show hosted by Erin Brockovich called "Final Justice." I thought my story fit
their profile. I copied producers names from the VCR tape my husband had made and wrote a letter. Within a week I received a
telephone call and the following week the film crew was at my home. My segment aired in May 2003. No, I didn't get to meet
Ms. Brockovich. But the experience spurred me to venture out once more for an agent.
By August 2003 I had nine chapters written. The query letter went out to twenty-one literary agents on the IWWG list for
members. Two asked for my full proposal - one passed. My feet hardly touched the floor when the other agent offered me a
contract, which I signed. This agent was very nurturing. She needed to be as I was still very naive in the requirements for an
industry-standard proposal. With her help, I put together a proposal that she started soliciting to publishers. We were stopped
cold when she found out she couldn't sell my story as true crime, the way she envisioned it. Why? Because I was not dead.
True crime must have a dead victim to meet the criteria for the genre. The agent released me from my contract and we parted
amicably.
Also in August 2003 I was forced out of my job of 38 1/2 years but I did receive a financial package that helped to cushion the
blow. That fall we traveled to New Zealand and Australia for seven weeks (five in NZ and two in New South Wales) and my
writing fell by the wayside.
Gail, the excellent mentor that she is, allowed me to spread my wings and take on the rest of the manuscript myself. I didn't
get back to the manuscript until April 2004, when I wrote Chapters 10 and 11. To say I was sporadic in my writing is an
understatement. I did Chapter 12 in June. Then starting in September 2004 I became a hermit in the upstairs office. The
creative juices flowed and my husband's support allowed me to hibernate. Since he had retired in July 2004 he was able to fix
breakfast, lunch and dinner and call me when they were ready. I'd pop downstairs, gobble down my food, and climb back to my
"tower" - actually the office on the second floor. For the next seven months I religiously pounded the computer keys and
declared the first draft "done" in March 2005. Whew! It was only 800-some pages. Yikes! I let Gail know and in her gentle
manner she let me know that no publisher would want such a long manuscript for my story.
I let her words percolate and knew I had to cut the manuscript down. But where? One of the problems with being so close to
the story was that it was hard for me to determine which little tidbits of information were important and which ones are not. I
worked on editing during the summer and reduced the manuscript by 150 pages. I think it's very important for a writer not to
be married to his or her words and to be open to deleting words, no matter how beautiful they sound or how long they worked
to get them just right. This lesson would come in handy much later when working with my literary agent and publishing editor.
By September 2005 I decided I needed to hire an editor. It's one of the best decisions I ever made. I consulted an ad in the
IWWG newsletter and found Lois Winsen, Editor-on-Tap. She read the manuscript for $200 and sent me back five pages of
suggestions to improve my writing and cut out more pages. I worked on her suggestions and the next month had another 150
pages gone. But I knew it needed to be pared down even more. So I hired her to do a thorough edit and she deducted the $200
from the total bill. Changing the font to Times New Roman condensed the text and eliminated a few more pages from the total
count. With Lois' final edit, another 30 pages disappeared. By January 2006 I had a finished polished manuscript.
without any training, and put the correct words on paper or computer screen. Oh, there might be the occasional natural talent
that could, but most aspiring authors trudge along the path to becoming published, and one of the first stops is to learn the
craft of writing.
After I had found my passion, I used patience and persistence to reach my publication goal. I went to the library (the writer's
friend) and found a newly published book "How to Write and Sell True Crime" by Gary Provost. I checked it out and devoured it.
In a brave move, I wrote a proposal letter to the author, illustrating each point in his book with events from my story. I said that
I worked full time and asked if he would be interested in co-authoring my book. Then I waited. Within a month Gary wrote
back, saying his project list had him extended for the next couple of years and that he couldn't help me. He added the caveat
that, based on my proposal, he felt I could write the book myself. Wow! Little did I know that two years later Gary and his wife
Gail would come back into my life.
Life got in the way for the next two years, but when I was finally able to go beyond myself I found the International Women's
Writing Guild on a Timepeace calendar. I attended their Summer Conference at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New
York in 1993. What a fabulous experience to spend 10 days with 400 women interested in writing. I discovered my fairy tales
and dabbled some on my story, but I did little beyond the conference.
The next year I went back to the summer conference and in a miraculous sequence of events, was put back in touch with Gary
and Gail Provost who just happened to have a last minute cancellation for their Writer's Retreat Workshop, held at that time in
Bristol, Connecticut. In October 1994 I rolled up my sleeves and delved into the intense schedule and worked on the first
scene for my book in the chapter where I meet Homicide Detective Greg Smith. At the end of the conference Gary said he had
never seen anyone's writing improve as rapidly as mine during the ten days. Gail gave me a sparkling fairy wand at graduation
and Gary agreed to mentor me.
I attracted my first literary agent at the Writer's Retreat Workshop in 1994, but his interest fizzled before I had seriously started
writing. Looking back, I can see that I wasn't ready and he had rightfully passed. Around this time I also queried for my fairy
tales, but did not pick up any bites. In fact, one agency returned my manuscript minus the cover illustration. I was
disillusioned, and mad. But I didn't have that much time to commit to my writing. I was immersed in dealing with the
psychopath and changing the divorce law of California.
When Gary suddenly passed away in May 1995 at the young age of 50, Gail jumped in and became my mentor, leading me
through the process of outlining. I scoured all my materials like calendars, organizers and family photographs to piece together
my story and recorded events on note cards, which I then used to write scene cards (actually I used a table that I created in
Microsoft Word and most scenes filled at least one page of paper).
I used passion, patience and persistence to continue my writing quest. In 1996, I focused once more on my memoir and worked
with my mentor Gail Provost to get a paragraph outline and three chapters on paper, using the scene cards that I had so
patiently prepared. Then I got sidetracked with getting married and combining two households. When I decided once more to
seek a literary agent, it was 1998. I sent out fifteen query letters to literary agents on the International Women's Writing Guild
(IWWG) list available as part of my membership. I received fourteen rejection letters and one request to read my work. The
prospective literary agent looked promising, but after several months we never even got to negotiating a contract. Even though I
had sent my materials with return postage, I had a devil of a time getting them back after the agent quit and moved across the
country. Looking back at this part of my journey, I see now that I did not have a proper proposal prepared.
In January of 2003 Lifetime TV aired a new hour show hosted by Erin Brockovich called "Final Justice." I thought my story fit
their profile. I copied producers names from the VCR tape my husband had made and wrote a letter. Within a week I received a
telephone call and the following week the film crew was at my home. My segment aired in May 2003. No, I didn't get to meet
Ms. Brockovich. But the experience spurred me to venture out once more for an agent.
By August 2003 I had nine chapters written. The query letter went out to twenty-one literary agents on the IWWG list for
members. Two asked for my full proposal - one passed. My feet hardly touched the floor when the other agent offered me a
contract, which I signed. This agent was very nurturing. She needed to be as I was still very naive in the requirements for an
industry-standard proposal. With her help, I put together a proposal that she started soliciting to publishers. We were stopped
cold when she found out she couldn't sell my story as true crime, the way she envisioned it. Why? Because I was not dead.
True crime must have a dead victim to meet the criteria for the genre. The agent released me from my contract and we parted
amicably.
Also in August 2003 I was forced out of my job of 38 1/2 years but I did receive a financial package that helped to cushion the
blow. That fall we traveled to New Zealand and Australia for seven weeks (five in NZ and two in New South Wales) and my
writing fell by the wayside.
Gail, the excellent mentor that she is, allowed me to spread my wings and take on the rest of the manuscript myself. I didn't
get back to the manuscript until April 2004, when I wrote Chapters 10 and 11. To say I was sporadic in my writing is an
understatement. I did Chapter 12 in June. Then starting in September 2004 I became a hermit in the upstairs office. The
creative juices flowed and my husband's support allowed me to hibernate. Since he had retired in July 2004 he was able to fix
breakfast, lunch and dinner and call me when they were ready. I'd pop downstairs, gobble down my food, and climb back to my
"tower" - actually the office on the second floor. For the next seven months I religiously pounded the computer keys and
declared the first draft "done" in March 2005. Whew! It was only 800-some pages. Yikes! I let Gail know and in her gentle
manner she let me know that no publisher would want such a long manuscript for my story.
I let her words percolate and knew I had to cut the manuscript down. But where? One of the problems with being so close to
the story was that it was hard for me to determine which little tidbits of information were important and which ones are not. I
worked on editing during the summer and reduced the manuscript by 150 pages. I think it's very important for a writer not to
be married to his or her words and to be open to deleting words, no matter how beautiful they sound or how long they worked
to get them just right. This lesson would come in handy much later when working with my literary agent and publishing editor.
By September 2005 I decided I needed to hire an editor. It's one of the best decisions I ever made. I consulted an ad in the
IWWG newsletter and found Lois Winsen, Editor-on-Tap. She read the manuscript for $200 and sent me back five pages of
suggestions to improve my writing and cut out more pages. I worked on her suggestions and the next month had another 150
pages gone. But I knew it needed to be pared down even more. So I hired her to do a thorough edit and she deducted the $200
from the total bill. Changing the font to Times New Roman condensed the text and eliminated a few more pages from the total
count. With Lois' final edit, another 30 pages disappeared. By January 2006 I had a finished polished manuscript.
| HOW DID I LEARN TO WRITE? |
| Writer's Retreat Workshop--October 1994--Bristol, CT |
By May I received seven rejection slips, one never responded and four asked to see the complete manuscript. I got four more
rejection slips. Then I got my query letter from Rachel with a handwritten note that she wanted to see my work. She
explained that she normally did electronic queries and liked email, but I had not included a phone number or email address
in my query. Oops! Fortunately she had kept me in her paper pile and followed up. I mailed the manuscript off to Rachel
and patiently waited. She had asked me to email a reminder to her every two weeks to help keep my submission on the front
burner, which I did. In early September I called her to let her know that my husband and I were leaving on a six week trip to
Asia and told her how she could get in touch. She said she'd try to read it before I left on September 17th.
On September 15th my husband had emergency heart surgery for a quadruple by-pass and our trip was cancelled. Early
Saturday morning I checked my email before leaving for the hospital. To my amazement Rachel had sent me an email at
12:30 in the morning, NY time. She wanted me! I have always said this book will happen when it's supposed to. Here I was at
the depths of despair only to be lifted to the highest of heights with the news that I now had an agent. After some minor edits,
Rachel sold my manuscript in November 2006, in four days, to Samantha Mandor at Berkley Books, an imprint of Penguin
USA.
See my BLOG for further developments as I travel through the publishing world.
rejection slips. Then I got my query letter from Rachel with a handwritten note that she wanted to see my work. She
explained that she normally did electronic queries and liked email, but I had not included a phone number or email address
in my query. Oops! Fortunately she had kept me in her paper pile and followed up. I mailed the manuscript off to Rachel
and patiently waited. She had asked me to email a reminder to her every two weeks to help keep my submission on the front
burner, which I did. In early September I called her to let her know that my husband and I were leaving on a six week trip to
Asia and told her how she could get in touch. She said she'd try to read it before I left on September 17th.
On September 15th my husband had emergency heart surgery for a quadruple by-pass and our trip was cancelled. Early
Saturday morning I checked my email before leaving for the hospital. To my amazement Rachel had sent me an email at
12:30 in the morning, NY time. She wanted me! I have always said this book will happen when it's supposed to. Here I was at
the depths of despair only to be lifted to the highest of heights with the news that I now had an agent. After some minor edits,
Rachel sold my manuscript in November 2006, in four days, to Samantha Mandor at Berkley Books, an imprint of Penguin
USA.
See my BLOG for further developments as I travel through the publishing world.
| HOW DID I GET PUBLISHED? |
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| Copyright 2009, Barbara Bentley. All rights reserved. No contents can be used without permission from the author. |
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Memoir..True Crime Inspirational ...California Law Published by BERKLEY BOOKS, an imprint of Penguin USA "This book is truly a page turner....a shocking account of deception and betrayal." |
