On a roll here...

I've finished my proposal, edited it and turned it in. I've also finished the proposal's cover page and created a table of contents for all of my work this trimester. I've even edited other peoples' proposals. My next step is to complete the outline of all my notes.

Much Has Been Accomplished

First and foremost, I have finished writing my proposal and have gotten revisions. Secondly, as I am considering different publishing choices such as self publishing, I'm going to meet with Ms. Johnson this afternoon for lunch to talk about the self publishing process. I've also sent out my first four chapters to Ms. Watson and Mrs. Savido for constructive criticism. Things are looking good and I'm really excited!!

SUCCESS!

On Friday, I successfully interviewed Ms. Johnson and learned alot of interesting things. For one, she is a self published author with her own self publishing agency (Words With Wings). She agreed to be my mentor on this project and said she may have another author for me to interview. Additionally, she said that if I want to be a self published author, she could set me up for that (in case I can't get any publishing houses interested). I'm not sure if I've said this before, but I finished my prewriting and the first paragraph of my proposal. For now I'm continuing my research of the publishing process (taking notes), editing my story and finishing this proposal.

Revising

I revised a chapter of my book today and made a key change. I'm really excited over where this book is going. :)

Yay!!!

I finished the pre-writing for my graduation project proposal. Right now I'm editing my manuscript. I would like to have that fully proofread before break so I can give it to Ms. Watson...so if she wants to look over it...it's not like an overload of work (grading papers, preparing for class, etc.) I hope she'll want to read it. Crossing my fingers.

Prewriting

Today I worked on the prewriting for my graduation project proposal. Nothing else to share, except I'm taking the SAT's on Saturday. I'm kind of nervous...any suggestions on how to do well?

Grumble, grumble, grumble

I swear I don't mean to be neglectful. Updating this blog is the least of my worries when it comes to my grad project. It's hard to keep it up when I have ten million things to do for other classes. Errrrr.....

Sadly, my interview with Mrs. Johnson had to be postponed because she had to go into the hospital for surgery. I don't really mind though. I just hope all goes well. Right now I'm working on a "show n' tell" presentation of what I've done so far with my project for the rest of the class. I'm also still working on notes/research...yeah. fun fun.

Update

I've read up to page 166. Yes I know I'm far behind my own schedule but it is rough as I have other work from other classes to worry about. An interview with Mrs. Johnson has been set for March 2nd, after school and it will be video taped. Nothing much more to report right now. I have a lot more reading and notetaking ahead of me. There is a lot more to the publishing process than I thought. I have a lot of work ahead of me, but I'm not discouraged. Writing a book and publishing it is what I dream of doing.

Long Haul but Getting There

I've calculated that if I read 50 pgs. per day of Putting Your Passion Into Print, it will take me approximately 8.5 days to read it. Afterwards, I have to read all my other sources which equates to about eight others.

Although I have a lot to do still, I have accomplished a lot as well. Firstly, I've finished my first draft of interview questions and emailed a request for an interview with Patrice Wade Johnson, author of Wisdom Seeds and Lundyn Bridges. Ms. Johnson is also one of the administrators at my school and we are well acquainted, as I am the Vice-President of her Pearls group. After, the interview, if all goes well, I'd like to ask her to be my mentor on the whole project. The whole correspondence would be very convenient for the both of us. We are in the same building everyday. Additionally, I have OK-ed switching stories with my teacher and I sent an email to Vicky asking if she is okay with that.

As for the story I'm now going to use, it is a finished product. All I have left to do is edit and revise it. Once that is finished, I'll ask someone close to read it over and give me feedback. But for now, I'm going to go back to taking notes and prepare for the interview (camera for pictures, and a tape recorder? video camera?....)

SOoooooo much to do.....


Did You Know Facts cont.

Bestsellers represent less than 5% of Barnes & Noble's total sales
Paper is the largest manufacturing cost for a book
Publishers make less than 10% profit on each book sold
Less than 10% of books earn back their advance
Average American buys fewer than 2 books per year
How well a book sells is 15% dependant on its content and 85% dependant on author's ability to network
A manuscript needing a hefty editing can cost up to $25,000