Interviews and Reviews

I appreciate all the people who take time out of their busy lives to write their reaction to our story. Until I wrote a book, I had no idea how important reviews are to an author.

It’s nice to know someone read my words, that someone found a worthwhile tidbit in what I said, and now I understand how reviews can lead others to read it, too.

Interviews allow me to reflect on new questions, plus it allows readers a chance to get to me a little better. So I appreciate it when another author, or a radio personality reaches out to ask me questions.  At a recent author fair, I had a request for such an interview by another author, who’s reached out to another segment of our culture –  military families. Of course I said, “Yes!” to Jocelyn Green, the author of fourteen books!

I met this award-winning author many years ago at a christian writers conference when she critiqued my work and gently showed me ways to improve. In addition, I’ve read three of her four Heroines Behind the Lines series set during the Civil War and recently started book four in the series, Spy of Richmond. Jocelyn interviewed me for a post on her website during Mental Health Awareness Week, October 1-7, 2017. I’m grateful to her for her thought-provoking questions and the graphics she included in the interview. The graphic used for this post is from her. (Thanks, Jocelyn!)

I’ve added the link to her website. Interview for Mental Health Awareness Week.

A reminder, Broken Brain, Fortified Faith is on sale from the publisher for Mental Health Awareness Week.

P.S. Share this post to your social media page, let me know where for a chance to win a free copy of this book. (U.S. address only.) I plan to draw the winner on October 8 at 8 p.m. CST.

 

 

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How to Eat An Elephant, Part 4

     Still with me? Keep chewing…

     I sent my book query off to a publisher, Familius. To say I was nervous would be an understatement. I prepared myself for a rejection e-mail. After all, almost every speaker I had heard repeated numerous times, “Nobody gets a contract on the first time.” One even said they’d been rejected over fifty times. So I got ready for the “I’m sorry…”  

 Imagine my surprise when I received a note back with a request to see more of my writing. I reviewed my book proposal for a final time, making sure I’d dotted every i and crossed every t, attached it, hit send and held my breath. The idea of a published book seemed distant, far away.

After what seemed like months, in reality, a few days, I heard my proposal was under consideration and a contract may be offered. “What? No way!” were my sentiments. The publisher wanted a phone conversation before we solidified the deal, so now we played a game of tag. He was busy, I was busy, he was gone, I was gone. After a couple of months, we finally connected.

I explained why I thought I was qualified to write this book about mental illness. My qualification? I lived it, I breathed it, I already shared my story with others as a volunteer for our local NAMI organization, on church retreats and in conversations. I wanted others to know recovery is possible and support is vital.

On August 1, 2015, I received the contract! Excited doesn’t begin to cover it. I shared my joy with a gathering of cousins and aunts within the hour. How convenient the luncheon was on my day’s list already. I had a hard time wrapping my head around my good fortune. One book query sent. One book proposal sent. A contract for me who still didn’t have confidence that I had reached maturity in the life of a writer.  The deadline for my completed manuscript was March 31, 2016.

I signed the contract on September 22, 2015, with the deadline for my completed manuscript on March 31, 2016.

Time to buckle down and finish recording my story using the required format: Times New Roman 12, double-spaced, one-inch margins.

 

 

Welcome to Virginia Pillars’ blog.

Welcome to the thoughts and musings of Virginia Pillars. My goal for this site is to share with you, my readers, my journey through an extremely difficult time in my life. And like most experiences in life, it changed me. But for today, I want to share my incredible, and exciting news.

My book, Broken Brain, Fortified Faith: Lessons of Hope through a Child’s Mental Illness is complete. The release date is September 6, 2016, although at this writing I know Amazon began shipping copies last week.

You may be asking, what’s the book about?

It’s about my journey into the world of mental illness with my daughter. In 2004, her brain broke and I didn’t know what happened or how to deal with it. The book is my story, how I coped, what I felt, and what happened to our family as we learned of her diagnosis, schizophrenia and entered her world, so much different what we perceived it to be. We had to learn about mental illness, about her specific brain disorder, medications, therapies, and all the things that accompany schizophrenia.

But how did my story get to this stage? How did I go from a confused, and sometimes angry mother to a published book?  I have been given a gift, a wondrous, incredible, unexpected gift. I’m excited to share this with my followers, as well.

Thank you for visiting. Please check back again.

Virginia