Dear Lit Loves,
Greetings. I see that at least thirty of the 100 counties in North Carolina had schools that participated in the North Carolina March For Education on May 1st, 2019. That's still too few counties and too few schools folks if you want to see REAL change with this stubborn, ornery legislature we have sitting in the halls of Congress and on the board of education in Raleigh, N.C. Thank you, Governor Roy Cooper, for being present at the rally and speaking! Thank God we have you as governor of our state. Personally, I will try and motivate more people to vote for individuals in Congress and on the board of education to try to support you and your efforts to keep North Carolina progressive come each and every state election.
Meanwhile, as most of my friends and acquaintances know, I chose to walk away from teaching in North Carolina. This was mostly due to the fact that I have several, unusual chronic illnesses that I have been plagued with since the ripe age of sixteen. I'm losing my hearing thanks to Meniere's disease; I'm losing my sight thanks to Uveitis and Uveitic glaucoma (not to mention a swelling retina that just happened to occur recently), and I have learned that my potential true autoimmune disease underlying or giving rise to the previously mentioned chronic illnesses is sarcoidosis or at least my Duke retina specialist says I have the ocular form of it. Technically, a patient has to demonstrate sarcoidosis in at least two organs before he/she can be "officially" diagnosed with it. Sarcoidosis can show up in the liver, kidneys, lungs, heart, skin, and eyes. Evidently, my autoimmune system is attacking my organs and specifically in my case, my eyes and who knows what else in the future. In order to tamp down my immune system such that it will not wreak havoc with my body, I take oral chemotherapy once each week. And that medication my dear friends is wicked. After taking it each week, my energy goes out the window, just the smell of food makes me feel wretched, and my gastrointestinal tract gets placed on the roller coaster ride from hell. Finally, I had a medical specialist say to me, "You know, I think you are going to have to step away from teaching till some measure of stability can be achieved with all the chronic illnesses you have currently." I didn't think that would mean "forever".
So, after reading the memoir titled Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom several years ago, I had the ridiculous notion that I could write a book like that and it would still allow me to maintain a way to "teach", but using a different format. Someone should have knocked me out right then with a two by four, thrown me in Lake Jordan, and said, "Wake the hell up! That's the most idiotic idea you've had yet!" I would have never thought attempting to obtain publication would mean an assault on my qualifications to write and my dignity, but there you have it! And then social media comes along which I find an utter waste of time aside from keeping this blog, my Web site, and LinkedIn. To me, Facebook is a brag board I do not wish to have; Twitter is a form of useless communication with no significant meaning; and if I wanted to do Instagram I would just make myself a poster-size collage and be done with it already. But to literary agents and evidently the entire publishing community here in the United States, if you're not utilizing social media then you are not developing your "brand" or building an audience. "Oh really, well who died and appointed you as chief publishing god is what I want to know?!" We've had successful writers since before social media and no, I don't think all writers/authors need to utilize social media to be "successful". The publishing community appears to be completely lost when it comes to how to acquire, develop, and promote new authors and debut books. And eventually that is what may take publishing as we currently know it to the grave. Sad isn't it? And it could have been avoided.
Good lord, I thought trying to calm a middle school female teenager pitching a fit inside the classroom while threatening to throw a desk at someone was difficult until I started querying literary agents. God FORBID!! A writer researches an agent's book interests, sends them a query letter, sample pages, and possibly a proposal and then guess what you receive in return? Crickets, my friends. The Sound Of Silence. No response. And if you do get lucky enough to receive an actual response as opposed to a form response, it usually is via email and says, "No thanks, I'll pass; This just doesn't fit my list at the moment; I'm no longer accepting clients except by referral; I just could not relate to the story; or my personal favorite, This is just not what I'm looking for," and naturally, I've already checked the agent's manuscript wish list which specifically states he/she is looking for books that deal with disability, #ownvoices, and chronic illness.
And heaven help a writer if you try to contact an editor directly. It's like you have committed "The Ultimate Sin" and they shoot you an email saying, "I or We can only deal with authors through their literary agents." My point is, what if the literary agent does not know a good piece of writing or idea when he/she sees it and what blasphemous deed will happen if an editor speaks directly with a writer/author?? Does the world come to an end?? Does the editor get fired?? Did anyone think it might be more fruitful to have writers/authors deal directly with editors and get rid of "the third wheel" aka literary agent?? What's so tremendously wrong with that notion?
And yes, I've tried submitting to publishers who do not require an author to have a literary agent. These folks generally never return an email to a writer, are ignoring their query queue entirely, are so overwhelmed with literary talent they are bursting at the seams and have no time to check queries and book proposals, or indicate that if you do not hear from us in six to ten months then we are passing on your material! In six to ten months, that publisher might have gone bankrupt, been acquired, or no longer exist. I mean, in six to ten months the world could have come to an end or I could be dead at the rate it's going! It's a war zone out there for new writers of southern lineage. And the reading public is missing out, publishing is missing a potential bestselling author, bookstores are continuing to go out of business, and the unknown writer of southern heritage is so overcome with disgust and angst that he/she just gives up the writer's life and habits entirely. Now publishing community, I ask you: Who Does That Benefit, My Pretties??
I've almost decided to no longer swing when I'm at the plate; to no longer potentially even pick up the bat, and eventually, I may get to the point when I no longer even show up at the ball park period. And if the whole team goes to hell in a hand basket and ceases to exist, I'll say, "You Did It To Yourself."
Holding On By An Unraveling Thread,
Grace
(Amy)
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