Sherihope
HOPE-Sheri Gaynor

Hope-Emily Dickinson

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune–without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

I have heard back from the publisher and they wanted more! That is good news and I wanted you all to experience this with me…no matter what the outcome.  After getting the editors note wanting more and feeling
like I was the pitcher at a World Series game and all the bases were
loaded, I was kind of clutching! My husband thought it was kind of
strange that I was coming up with a sports analogy-as did I- especially because
I had to ask him what "bottom" meant. Honestly, it was the first thing
that popped into my head when describing to him my frozen feeling. I literally had no idea where to go. Paralysis had completely set in and I had a bizarre feeling of surrender.

But here is what happened. I just went to sleep Friday night and did
nothing
around the book, I just let my dreams take me where they needed to go to recharge my batteries and offer up a solution or two.  I woke up at 5:45am yesterday-I am a morning person-grabbed a cup of coffee, and headed for my studio. Then the most wonderful thing happened, I started writing and could not stop! I took the editor’s questions, placed them on a blank screen and started typing. I am on fire and the river is
raging. The request infused more energy into me and the book. My husband said, "Well how awesome is that, some things are worth fighting for!" Again an odd analogy for me, but it works here. Today, I will spend time on the artwork they have requested. In the end I will likely have given them more then they asked for, but I will know that I have done everything I could to make it work for them, and that is a great feeling.

I keep thinking about the envelope getting stuck in the box that
Saturday morning, when I sent in the proposal. I believe it is the
metaphor for where we are right now, just a little bit stuck, so I am
greasing the bases and we are going to slide right into home! Who is
this woman writing about baseball???

I will be sending the follow-up packet to them on Monday. Here is the truth, I know this book
has an audience, so I feel incredibly confident that it will get it
published. I have never felt so strongly about anything in recent years. I can actually see it sitting in my hands in published form some days.

Some things are worth "fighting" for!

Back to work….

One Response

  1. Sheri, thanks for sharing this experience!!! I am sure that we’ll have that book in hand. I find that “sleeping on it” is a wonderful way to work through a challenge.