And here's the rest of the story...

So I fretted. And fumed. And fretted. Much like most of you did in my comment trail when you discovered my inadvertent cliffhanger in yesterday's post. I didn't mean to leave you hanging, I promise. I was sooooo tired and that's just how it ended up. But the outraged reaction was worth it, I have to say. (Evil, much? Mwah hah hah hah!)

Anyway, I fretted and fumed. I fumed because I didn't agree with the suggested changes. I fretted because I wanted to make the smart decision.

I thought about it long and hard. The first company loved my manuscript. They offered me the contract without going to committee and they were excited. But the second company...they're the big boys. They've got some serious distribution and based on everything I've read from them, good editors. And that made me think: maybe there's a good reason for the changes they requested.

I took a deep breath and a huge leap of faith. Based on my gut and some advice from two author friends, I informed the first company that I would have to decline their offer and pursue a different opportunity. I dreaded sending that email, but I finally did.

I had to reread the evaluation the second company sent to me a bunch of times to take it all in, to get what they wanted fixed. There couldn't be anything wrong with MY-absolutley-perfect-the-first-time story, right? RIGHT?! And then I began to see it, to understand their point-of-view. So over the Christmas holidays I thought about it. All but one of the changes made sense and eventually, that one fell in place, too. I dug in and made the changes.

Now I'm making it sound like there was a ton to change. There wasn't. I had to write more instant messages into the story, tweak two scenes, and add one chapter. The thinking about it took a lot longer than the writing did.

Finally, mid-January I sent it in.

Now, mind you, the first time I submitted, their evaluation took five weeks. That's it. They knew I had a contract offer from another company and they were hustling to make a decision. Now that I had willingly given up that contract, this company was under no pressure to rush through a re-evaluation. They could afford to take their time.

And boy, did they!

A month went by. Then another one. Then another one after that. By Storymakers conference time, I still hadn't heard from them. But I had a pitch session scheduled with one of their editors. When I sat down and mentioned who I was and that I had turned in a resubmission at their invitation, the editor's eyes got really wide. And the editor said, "Um, I can't go on the record with this, but I'm pretty sure you're going to be getting some good news soon."

Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!

What?!

Aaaaaaaaahhhhhh!

Turns out, Click cleared committee and they were working up a budget on it. (I don't actually understand what that means yet). The editor said that if the numbers looked good, the managing editor would be in touch to let me know they were accepting the manuscript and that I was supposed to ACT SURPRISED.

So I went, "Squeeeeeeee!" really quietly on the inside, told almost no one about it, and went home to wait impatiently.

A week went by. Nothing.

And then the Family Night fundraiser craziness heated to boiling point. I had no time to write or do anything except the Family Night stuff. And when I didn't hear from the publisher after another week, I thought maybe the budget numbers didn't work and it wasn't going to go my way. I just couldn't deal with that in the middle of all the stress I was under, so I made a decision that as soon as the Monday after the event rolled around, I would email them and follow up.

So I did.

It was just kind of a, "Hey...remember me?" type note. "I sent you guys something in January...you kind of liked it...do you remember that? Because I totally remember that. Just wondering if you remember that."

And then I sent it.

Tuesday, I pulled out my laptop to pick up on my new manuscript that I hadn't touched for three weeks. And I checked my email. And there it was.

A message from my new publisher saying they had accepted my manuscript and that I had "official permission to celebrate. :)" It was even their smiley face.

It isn't even close to matching my smiley face. My smiley face is HUGE. The smile part, anyway. My face is actually normal-ish size.

When I sign and return the contract and do a thousand happy dances, I will tell you exactly which company and when the book is coming out. But let me just tell you, I'm thrilled with this publisher. They put out such GOOD stuff. GREAT stuff. And I get to be a part of that.

Tomorrow. . . .I'll tell you a teensy bit about my UPCOMING BOOK! Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!