No, that title has nothing to do with the fact that it’s bathing suit season and I still have Winter Weight. No, it’s a different thing altogether. Hm… where to begin?
An elephant’s gestation period lasts about 22 months (630-660 days), the longest gestation period of any mammal. (Source: Toledo Zoo Website)
So what does this have to do with anything? Well, because basically, the lengthy gestation of the elephant is basically mirroring the evolution of my latest project. Lemme ‘splain. No, there is too much, lemme sum up. (Sorry, couldn’t help myself.)
April 25, 2007: I’m at Romantic Times in Houston (and actually kind of wondering what I was doing there) when I stagger up to my room to check my email. One pops up with the subject line, “A Proposal.” I figured I’d just won the Nigerian lottery again or that some long-lost relative had passed away in Hong Kong and left me a small fortune if only I’d be so kind as to share my bank account information. Because I’m perpetually curious, I checked anyway.
No Nigerian lottery. It was an email from an editor introducing herself, saying that she’d read Adiós to My Old Life and most importantly, that she’d loved it. She went on to say that ever since her twin sister had taken a university course on the character of Carmen and all her various iterations, they’d both been in love with the story and she (lovely editor) thought it would make a nifty young adult novel. Having read Adiós she thought I’d be a great person to give it a go, was I interested?
(*insert momentary break for much squeeing*) Um, that would be a yes.
May 2007: I come up with proposal for a young adult story that’s set in the world of drum and bugle corps. With a dancer. And an intense music prodigy. And a soccer player. (No, seriously, this works.)
June 2007: Lovely editor thinks it’s great, we’re a go for Carmen. (*and there was much cheering and celebrating throughout the land*)
September 1, 2007: Turn in first draft of Carmen. Wait anxiously for editor’s reaction.
Late October 2007: She loves it, but of course, there are revisions that have to be made. It needs to be beefed up in places, some character motivations need to be clarified, in other words, good stuff.
January 2008: Turn in revised manuscript. Wait anxiously for editor’s reaction.
Late February 2008: She loves it, but now that some things have been clarified, there are other places that need work and as a whole, what we need to focus on is streamlining overall. Economy is key. This time, she’s sending the actual manuscript along with the revision letter. (*insert break for Barb to freak mildly because this letter is longer than the first one*) Many darlings have to be killed for the good of the story, but overall, revision is accomplished without too much bloodshed otherwise.
April 15, 2008: (no, I’m not kidding on that date) Turn in revised manuscript again. Wait anxiously for editor’s reaction.
April 29, 2008: Just past a year to the day that Lovely Editor first emailed me about this project, she emails me back and raves over the revision. She loves it. I really pretty much nailed everything she was looking for this time around. (*pause for giddy celebration*)
However.
We’re going to need one more pass, we’re so close, but there are some pacing issues towards the end. While this did induce a mild *headdesk* moment, it wasn’t entirely unexpected. I knew when I turned in the second revision that I’d made some changes to the beginning of the manuscript that were in all likelihood going to necessitate further changes towards the end, but I didn’t feel comfortable making those changes until after I knew how Lovely Editor felt about the changes at the beginning of the MS. They’re easy fixes, all in all and combined with her other suggestions, will only make the MS even stronger. More darlings will have to be sacrificed, but that’s okay. That’s what the deleted scenes section of the website is for, right?
May 8, 2008: We had our Big Talk and discussed which of her proposed changes were totally right on and which ones I thought we needed to compromise on and end the conversation completely on the same page, if you’ll pardon the pun.
June 2, 2008: Proposed date for third revision to be submitted. Hopefully, this is the last overhaul before line edits and copy edits and galleys and all that good stuff. Oh, and we still have to come up with a title.
Proposed birth, erm, release date?
July 2009
(*counts on fingers*)
That’s… twenty-seven months. Hey, look at that—I’ve got the elephant beat!
But, like actually giving birth, I know this is going to be so worth it. It’s been such a labor of love for both my editor and myself. We’re both so emotionally invested in this, which is why, even though it feels like it’s taking forever, ultimately, it’s okay. I know it’s so that every part of the book can be as fully developed as possible. Actually, elephant gestation analogies aside, this process can also be likened to something like making homemade bread—it’s something that requires time and patience and multiple stages in order to pull the perfect loaf from the oven.
Elephant gestation to bread making. No, my brain isn’t completely fried as of late.
Anyhow, have you had one of those in your life? Any kind of project that meant so much to you, that even though you were anxious to get it “out there” you were also willing to be infinitely patient and wait to get the perfect result? Tell me about it. Entertain me so I have happy stories with which to retreat into Revision #3.
It’s going to be 20 years this July, and I’m still waiting.
Kids are never done, are they?
by azteclady May 12th, 2008 at 9:48 am
Gee, I dunno. I don’t really think of my projects in the same way. 
by Kimber An May 12th, 2008 at 9:58 amI do in fact have an elephant hanging around. I’m going to get it shoved out of my circus tent this year. Congrats on your elephant child!
by Charlene Teglia May 12th, 2008 at 10:06 amazteclady- no, the kidlets, they are NEVER done. Although their evolution can make for some great moments—I had the joy of explaining to my husband yesterday that the song our daughter was singing was a new Jason Mraz single that he’d written just so he could say he had a song a stripper could use in a routine.
Poor husband is STILL shaking his head.
Kimber, I never thought of my projects that way either—of course, this could be simply because I’ve had more caffeine in the last few months than any human probably should,
but normally, I’m a fast writer and with my first two books, the turnaround was surprisingly fast, given the fact that publishing has a tendency to move at glacier speeds. This has been just such an interesting learning curve for me, you know?
Charlene- and congrats back to you! And now I have an amusing image of standing at the back end of the elephant, trying to push it out of the tent. Yeah, definitely too much caffeine.
by Barbara Caridad Ferrer May 12th, 2008 at 10:37 amWell, I’m used to
new business development.
The product I work on today
will be out (cross my fingers)
5-10 years from now
(depending on how innovative it is).
My writing timeline is 4 years.
Yep, the first concept
for Breach Of Trust was drafted
4 years ago.
I test concepts for a year,
write the book,
get it pre-edited,
make the revisions,
test the revisions,
submit it to my publisher (Champagne),
and then, if accepted,
Champagne edits it for a year.
Lucky I’m in no big rush.
by Kimber Chin May 12th, 2008 at 10:57 amThe current book I’m shoping to editors I started in June of last year. Revised. Sent to CP. Revised. Sent to Beta Reader. Revised. First three chapters critiqued….You get the point. So by the time this book makes it to publishing it’ll probably have the gestation period of three pregnant elephants.
by Melissa Blue May 12th, 2008 at 11:39 amMy elephant? Grad school, having raised two boys with an active-duty Air Force husband (who, as you might imagine, is rarely home) and teaching full-time throughout.
I started my M.A. when the boys were 13 and 15, and I now have one son in college, another who just completed his enlistment with the Navy, a sweet daughter-in-law, a brand new granddaughter, and I’m halfway through my PhD (with my second foreign language exam, my comps, and my dissertation still on the horizon).
‘Nuff said. Except…I’m loving every brain-boggling minute of it.
I just keep reminding myself that it’s the journey, not the destination that’s important.
by Kacie J May 12th, 2008 at 1:34 pmMy elephant? The quest for publication itself. I’ve been writing seriously since Summer 2001, though it took me forever to finish that first manuscript (well, over 2 years, anyway). And until I sent it out in the world and started getting rejections, I didn’t realize how much I needed to learn before I was even close to publishable.
So I wrote another novel, and then another. I got faster, but I was slowed by a complicated pregnancy, the challenges of early motherhood, and having to go back to work full time to pay the bills. I got an agent and came much closer to selling, but the feedback in my rejections convinced both my agent and me that I needed to change genres.
Now I’m finally getting close to finishing my first manuscript in my new genre. I’ve been at this for seven years now, which is longer by far than I’ve ever worked at something without anything concrete to show for it. I hope that changing genres is all it’s going to take to put me over the top, and that by this time next year I’ll have a 2010 release date marked on my calendar and will be sweating over cover art and the like. But if not, I’ll keep writing and putting my work out there anyway.
by Susan Wilbanks May 12th, 2008 at 3:23 pmKimber C- Oy, God love you for your patience, girl. While I’ve always been involved in endeavors that involve a certain amount of discipline to master, therefore, there’s some elapsed time before a payoff, I’ve never had to wait 5-10 years. Man, I think I’d go nuts.
Melissa- So by the time this book makes it to publishing it’ll probably have the gestation period of three pregnant elephants.
Points to you for making me snort Diet Coke up my nose!
Hang in there!
Kacie- *bows down* We’re not worthy. Wow—grad school, active military husband and two boys?. Definite hats off to you for all you’ve accomplished. And you’re so right—it’s the journey that really counts and for me, at least, makes the destination that much sweeter.
Susan—I hear you. Especially since I’ve watched as you’ve gone through the transition of switching genres. I have everything crossed for you, that you’ve found your niche and that this will be the year that brings good publishing news to you and that cranky BDH who gives you such fits.
by Barbara Caridad Ferrer May 12th, 2008 at 3:37 pmCongratulations on being almost done! I’ve had stories kicking around in my mind and heart for years before they’ve finally seen the light of day. I wrote a behemoth of a novel nearly 17 years ago, and it is only now being published in a totally different–and better–form. I have other stories that I don’t feel ‘ready’ to write, although I think about them a lot.
by KateHewitt May 12th, 2008 at 10:11 pm