This seven-part series will cover the 2 ½-year time span between the day I set out to become an author and the day I became one.

Becoming an Author – Part Three
Summer 2006

My first six months of writing would result in 12 bylines in magazines and anthologies. Throughout the next year, my work would appear in Boy’s Life, Budget Travel, All You, Chesapeake Family magazine, Field N Forest, Wisconsin West, Corporate Report Wisconsin, Transitions Abroad, Poetica Grandmatica, and Chicken Soup for the Soul: Celebrating Mothers and Daughters. The grand total income for my efforts was about $1,700. It’s not bad for a first try at a writing career, but the amount of time I spent to earn it would make anyone question whether it’s a sustainable profession.

When the kids were home for summer vacation, I took a break from the querying and switched gears to other pursuits. I did contract resume writing and learned more about photography, with my new Canon. And I got more serious about my blog, and found that I really loved writing about my life and kids.

Then the director of publishing contacted me from Search Institute Press. They’d like to look into the book idea I’d sent back in March. Could we talk about it?

This is the part of the story where I suppose I should paint myself as a stoic picture of professionalism. I should indicate to you that I said something like, “Let me look at my schedule and I’ll get back to you.”

But of course, this would be ridiculous. This was a life-list thing for me.

I did a happy-dance.

And so the proposal process began. The idea morphed from the anthology I had suggested, into a thorough look at the Empowerment assets. It would define youth empowerment for those who hadn’t considered it before, while providing inspiration and ideas for those who already understood the concept. It would provide concrete examples and doable activities. It would be based on my experience as a school counselor and peer tutoring advisor, but also interviews with youth leaders from throughout the world, and the adults who empowered them.

The publishing team wrote a proposal which included sales and marketing data, competing titles, and promotional concepts, as well as other details about the book I hadn’t even considered. I felt so relieved that others were walking me through a process I’d never seen before. After they completed the majority of the proposal, I made suggestions based on the questions asked and parameters set by the team, and the proposal went on its way…

Becoming an Author series:
Part One — Winter 2006
Part Two — Spring 2006
Part Three — Summer 2006
Part Four — Fall 2006
Part Five — Winter-Spring 2007
Part Six — July 2007-February 2008
Part Seven — Spring 2008
Photos of Search Institute Press

My book, Empowering Youth: How to Encourage Young Leaders to Do Great Things, is now available, from Search Institute Press.