Getting over the disappointment
First off, thank you so much to all the love, support and encouragement for my last post. I am really so thankful to all of the sweet comments, emails, texts and phone calls I have received since my last post. I wanted to write everyone back, but I was just overwhelmed with the many comments I received, so I hope you all know how grateful I am to you and will forgive me if you didn't receive a personal response back.
I feel like I have learned a few things, I am human and I was depressed for a few days - I haven't even posted for a week and that isn't like me. I am sure that Clint and my sister Jessie were ready to beat me because of the many outbursts of tears. I also realized that I was treated very unprofessionally. I should have never been given the go ahead and strung along for so long of the publishing process, just to have my idea dumped at the last minute. So, now I know before I go through this process again that I will expect communication and honesty. That being said, I won't say who the publishing company is because I am sure that plenty of authors have had a positive experience with them and my bad experience doesn't warrant me to slander their name.
I have looked at all the different options on how to move forward. Self publishing seems a little out of reach for me now, just because of all the extra effort I would need to go through to hire someone to photograph my projects, do the illustrations and also the layout. I am sure if I really wanted to do that I could, but I am not in this to make the most amount of money I can. I just want to get my ideas and projects out there and I think going through a publisher would be the best option for me. While, I am a little nervous about going through a publisher - especially the submitting process again - my experience with the last publisher can't make me gun shy. So, it is back to the drawing board.
I received my projects back from the publisher last night and I opened them up and just starred at them and realized that the publisher is crazy. I don't want to sound too proud - I hope you don't think that about me, but these projects are beautiful! It makes it easier to think about submitting my idea again because all the work is done. Who knows, maybe something good will come of this and a better publishing company will take on the project. All in all, I feel better and I plan to move forward. Life sends us experiences to build our character and hopefully make us stronger. Thanks again for all the love and support. It really means more to me than you can ever know.