I'm an Author! Checking in....

[CaminoDebrita]

Dear old friends and new:

I apologize for being so absentee. It's not that I've forgotten about you. It's that spending six to eight hours a day, for nearly a year and a half (breaks in there too, trust me!) sapped my "writing" energy for the forum. I know you understand.

Currently, I'm working with an editor who has been through my book and given me great advice. My book is a memoir about my time backpacking through Southeast Asia, and living in Cambodia for eight years. It's also a saga of loss and resilience, and I feel glad to have written it, although I am still editing. I'm feeling good about it.

Today, my editor discouraged me from self-publishing. He said, get an agent. This one's good. I am excited, but also know that I'll be walking another camino (figuratively speaking) to find an agent. Please throw a good thought or prayer out there for me.

If you are an agent, or know an agent, or (for at least one of you), if your close family member has a great agent, send me a note. Also, I am trying to create a Facebook platform. If it's not totally against all decorum, the name of my platform is Dancing in Circles: An Expatriate in Cambodia. Bet you could find me. Camino brothers and sisters, I'd love you to support my platform if at all possible.

Drop me a line. Today was a rough day. I got a box of stuff from Cambodia that includes some objects very special to my relationship with my ex, who I was close friends with. I'm just a bit "out of sorts" today, but wanted to share some love, and kind thoughts your way.

Deb

 

[C clearly]

Best wishes to you, Deb. I think what you need now is a long walk.

 

[Bala]

Wishing you all the best in this venture and I look forward to reading your book. I hope you find an agent quickly. Your site came right up with a quick Google search, by the way.

 

[William Garza]

Things..are only as important as the value we attach to them
You can read a person by what they value.

Things... of the heart are of utmost value
Love, kindness,respect,honor,integrity...self love.
Other things we mearely attach sentimental value to which ride in on the backs of what we value by association to a person,place or thing
Nouns have little to no value but what attributes we attach

I have a stone tool artifact i am going to leave at Cruz de Ferro...in and of itself. It has intrinsic value as a ancient man made and used object..but in itself? A portion of stone.

Its value is that mom and dad held it before passing.

Your greater sum and worth is that your an awsome,well traveled and somewhat worn to a pleasing shine person who has value far and above what people outside the forum may see.

Maybe those things will become place markers in your book of days.

But not in the way of where your going.

Be well and abundantly blessed..on "this" Way...until your next Way opens before you.

 

[Anamya]

Wishing you all the best, Deb!

And can you believe I've seen you on the forum all these years and never realised you were called Deb?
Maybe because I always read your username as "Camino De Brita", which in Portuguese (my native language) means "Camino of Pebbles". Now I see it's not pebbles, it's Lil'Deb!

Good to hear from you, and again, Buen Camino in this new adventure!

 

[VNwalking]

Glad to see you back, Deb!
Congrats. and very best wishes for ease with the rest of the process...
I sent you a PM...

 

[natefaith]

Congrats, Deb! We *have* missed you, but are so glad your hard work is coming together.
Hugs!

 

[Peter Fransiscus]

Deb , congrats with this new adventure .
Hope you will find a Agent soon .

Wish you well , Peter .

ps , found your facebook page. Looks great .

 

[SabsP]

Yeah Deb is back! Hope to be able to read your book very soon.
Please inform us about the progress.
I did miss your wise words here.

 

[susanawee]

Welcome back Deb - i have read many, many of your posts and have always learned a lot from your words and advice on the forum...wishing youn all the very best witth further progress of your book and looking forward,to reading it when it is finally published.

 

[CaminoDebrita]

Thank you, good old (and young!) friends! Here is a description of what my book is:

Dancing in Circles: An Expatriate in Cambodia is my memoir of approximately 80,000 words. I’ve spent a year and a half writing it, and it has been professionally edited. It is a completed manuscript.
I was raised in Canby, Oregon, a rural community about twenty-two miles southeast of Portland. As a teen in the late 70's, we ran wild, partying around our logging bridge road. A tragic accident happened: my only brother died. I learned to grieve young. My close friend had sunk her car in the North Fork of the Clackamas just eight months earlier. As a nineteen-year-old, seeing two of my closest people lying in coffins was difficult beyond words. Could things get worse? They could, and they did. I was the witness, and worked to care for my people. I would not give up on them.
At twenty-five, I went to college and then transferred to University of Oregon, where I fell in love with a philosophy major, a Michigan guy in a black leather jacket. We got married, moved overseas, and we backpacked around Southeast Asia. I dealt with plenty of sexism--grabbed in Sumatra, groped on a ferry, and tugged into a shack in Phnom Penh. Life had its challenges for women in Southeast Asia. Nevertheless, we landed in a magical place and stayed. That place was Cambodia.
Our lives there took twists and turns, as we experienced political turbulence and military fighting. Learning firsthand the horrors of the Khmer Rouge—as six young people were murdered in our first months there-- and witnessing the aftermath of the Vietnam War, we longed to help. In time, we established a publishing company, named after my hometown here in Oregon--Canby Publications. While we encountered great success with our business, my near death experience and the encroaching lifestyle of Southeast Asia, its nightlife and young women, began to "turn" my husband. Ultimately, I left everything I had worked to build.
My memoir includes themes of loss, resilience, hope, love, forgiveness, and war. My point-of-view, as a woman, gives attention to women's issues everywhere. Sexism, the loss of babies, and caring for others is not glossed over, and I wish to assert and maintain my woman’s point-of-view. My writing is observant and detailed. A strong narrative arc carries the reader from rural Oregon to the other side of the world, where eight years then pass. Following military conflict in the streets of Phnom Penh, in which tanks roll through and bombs explode, and a fellow teacher is shot dead in the streets, things fall apart, as Yeats and Achebe would say. Soon after, I got out.
Readers will include adults who enjoy armchair travels, backpacking, issues related to Vietnam and Cambodia, and plenty of Khmer Americans (Americans from Cambodia). Because women's issues are addressed, as well as issues of loss and coping with death (and death of a child), this book will appeal to those dealing with grief as well.

 

[carryoncouple]

Dear old friends and new:

I apologize for being so absentee. It's not that I've forgotten about you. It's that spending six to eight hours a day, for nearly a year and a half (breaks in there too, trust me!) sapped my "writing" energy for the forum. I know you understand.

Currently, I'm working with an editor who has been through my book and given me great advice. My book is a memoir about my time backpacking through Southeast Asia, and living in Cambodia for eight years. It's also a saga of loss and resilience, and I feel glad to have written it, although I am still editing. I'm feeling good about it.

Today, my editor discouraged me from self-publishing. He said, get an agent. This one's good. I am excited, but also know that I'll be walking another camino (figuratively speaking) to find an agent. Please throw a good thought or prayer out there for me.

If you are an agent, or know an agent, or (for at least one of you), if your close family member has a great agent, send me a note. Also, I am trying to create a Facebook platform. If it's not totally against all decorum, the name of my platform is Dancing in Circles: An Expatriate in Cambodia. Bet you could find me. Camino brothers and sisters, I'd love you to support my platform if at all possible.

Drop me a line. Today was a rough day. I got a box of stuff from Cambodia that includes some objects very special to my relationship with my ex, who I was close friends with. I'm just a bit "out of sorts" today, but wanted to share some love, and kind thoughts your way.

Deb

Hello!
If you have problems finding an agent, you might want to consider KDP publishing on Amazon. I just published my Camino adventure/ memoir (like you, it took me a year and a half) and it is working out well. KDP has directions for formatting; it isn’t easy, but I am not a tech wonderkid. Prople are finding my book and I am already getting reviews. Amazon also allows you to set up advertising campaigns. My book is Camino Sunrise: Walking With My Shadows. I hope publishing works out for you...it is quite a journey in itself.
Best regards,
Reg Spittle

 

[Former member 49149]

Thank you, good old (and young!) friends! Here is a description of what my book is:

Dancing in Circles: An Expatriate in Cambodia is my memoir of approximately 80,000 words. I’ve spent a year and a half writing it, and it has been professionally edited. It is a completed manuscript.
I was raised in Canby, Oregon, a rural community about twenty-two miles southeast of Portland. As a teen in the late 70's, we ran wild, partying around our logging bridge road. A tragic accident happened: my only brother died. I learned to grieve young. My close friend had sunk her car in the North Fork of the Clackamas just eight months earlier. As a nineteen-year-old, seeing two of my closest people lying in coffins was difficult beyond words. Could things get worse? They could, and they did. I was the witness, and worked to care for my people. I would not give up on them.
At twenty-five, I went to college and then transferred to University of Oregon, where I fell in love with a philosophy major, a Michigan guy in a black leather jacket. We got married, moved overseas, and we backpacked around Southeast Asia. I dealt with plenty of sexism--grabbed in Sumatra, groped on a ferry, and tugged into a shack in Phnom Penh. Life had its challenges for women in Southeast Asia. Nevertheless, we landed in a magical place and stayed. That place was Cambodia.
Our lives there took twists and turns, as we experienced political turbulence and military fighting. Learning firsthand the horrors of the Khmer Rouge—as six young people were murdered in our first months there-- and witnessing the aftermath of the Vietnam War, we longed to help. In time, we established a publishing company, named after my hometown here in Oregon--Canby Publications. While we encountered great success with our business, my near death experience and the encroaching lifestyle of Southeast Asia, its nightlife and young women, began to "turn" my husband. Ultimately, I left everything I had worked to build.
My memoir includes themes of loss, resilience, hope, love, forgiveness, and war. My point-of-view, as a woman, gives attention to women's issues everywhere. Sexism, the loss of babies, and caring for others is not glossed over, and I wish to assert and maintain my woman’s point-of-view. My writing is observant and detailed. A strong narrative arc carries the reader from rural Oregon to the other side of the world, where eight years then pass. Following military conflict in the streets of Phnom Penh, in which tanks roll through and bombs explode, and a fellow teacher is shot dead in the streets, things fall apart, as Yeats and Achebe would say. Soon after, I got out.
Readers will include adults who enjoy armchair travels, backpacking, issues related to Vietnam and Cambodia, and plenty of Khmer Americans (Americans from Cambodia). Because women's issues are addressed, as well as issues of loss and coping with death (and death of a child), this book will appeal to those dealing with grief as well.

Hi. Your post here predates the new one of just a day or so ago. Thank you, because you have laid out on an invisible cloth the realities of our poor human world. And it helps me to be reminded of that, as I inhabit my safe world. more words of mine are not needed. I await good news of your search for a publisher.

 

[CaminoDebrita]

Thanks so much! I have used the Amazon CreateSpace site before to format books, but I'm going more of a traditional route this time if I can---in other words, getting "them" to pay "me" rather than paying to publish! My aim is to be available on Amazon eventually, but also several other venues. Some of the private and larger book companies--brick and mortars--will not purchase and stock a book that is published through Amazon, so I'm aiming high with this one. Of course, that may not work out.

I have a university press that is currently within about a month of deciding whether or not they want to work with my book, and if that doesn't work out, I've got a few other publishers I can work with. I'm just holding out until I can figure out my best options!

 

[Former member 49149]

Thanks so much! I have used the Amazon CreateSpace site before to format books, but I'm going more of a traditional route this time if I can---in other words, getting "them" to pay "me" rather than paying to publish! My aim is to be available on Amazon eventually, but also several other venues. Some of the private and larger book companies--brick and mortars--will not purchase and stock a book that is published through Amazon, so I'm aiming high with this one. Of course, that may not work out.

I have a university press that is currently within about a month of deciding whether or not they want to work with my book, and if that doesn't work out, I've got a few other publishers I can work with. I'm just holding out until I can figure out my best options!

Well, in that case, let's talk to St Luke. Isn't he the one with the quill? (and if he isn't, who cares? Someone must be the patron saint of this request!) I will seriously hope and pray for a light to shine through your words for the one publisher who is the only one you need! from here to my little notebook before I forget Once it is down in writing, it happens every day....