The Wind Has Been Knocked Out of My Sails

Posted by Jenn Greenleaf Nov 14, 2008

I finished phase one of an art journal page spread and I’m really excited about that! I sketched and colored using only my children’s markers. I did this to show that that there are many ways to use markers beyond the line drawings they’ve been creating. I mixed colors, used textures, and created paint-like appearances.

The next phase is going to be purely experimental. I want to add text using white or yellow gel pens, but I have no idea if it’ll show up. I may have to use some gesso or acrylic paint as a backdrop to where I want to write. I’ll let you know how that goes.

What took the wind out of my sails, you ask?

I’ve been promoting my first book a lot with a release date of tomorrow, November 15^th. I thought it was odd that I hadn’t heard from my publisher in a long time, and that I hadn’t received my author copies . . . so, I sent an email today inquiring about the release date. Here’s the response I received, paraphrased:

“Hi Jenn,

My name is [new editor’s name]. I’m the assistant editor with Atlantic Publishing. [old editor’s name] no longer works with our company and I received your e-mail below.

[old editor’s name] left the company rather quickly about a month ago. Since her departure we have been swamped with her work and many of the books have been pushed back. Your book is one of them. We are trying to read through all of [old editor’s name]’s book projects and we are finding that many of these may need a few revisions. Once we work our way through her projects we will know more about where the book is at. Right now we are estimating that we will be through all the books around the beginning of the year.

Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks!”

Needless to say, this completely threw me for a loop and has left me feeling very “off.” Writing a book is really hard work and having these accomplishments dangling in front of me, just out of reach, is really frustrating me. I need some chocolate.

On the other hand, it’s giving me some great material to write about in my art journal! I have to find the bright side in every situation!