The Memoir

As many of you may know, I have written a book about our yearlong road trip back in 2006-2007. About a year and a half ago, I submitted it to a publisher who requested the full manuscript. After completing the read, the publisher/editor called to give me feedback. The main gist of her idea was to make the marriage be the main storyline and have the travel element (our visit to all the National Parks in the lower 48) be secondary, with Zane carrying the tertiary storyline. Doing it required a complete rewrite.

Obviously, I didn’t get to work on it right away. Instead, I focused on my fiction writing and self-publishing ventures. Well, I just completed another YA novel (which I love dearly), so I thought it was time to return to Our Life on the Road.

After a year and a half of thought, I decided I do not want the marriage front and center in the story. I like the travel component as the focus. Don’t get me wrong, the editor is 100% right. In order to appeal to a broader audience, I need to do what she suggested. In fact, she said if I write primarily about the marriage, then I won’t need her any longer; I’ll want a big NY agent. While that’s appealing on so many levels, it’s not the book I want to write.

So I’ve reached a compromise. Instead of turning the book into the ups and downs of my marriage, I’ve decided to simply strengthen that part of the book while maintaining travel as the focus.

I’ve been working on Our Life on the Road this past week at the library off and on. I am less likely to surf the Internet when I’m out in the world, working. I am 1/5 of the way into the rewrites/edits, maintaining a good portion of the original work. My goal is to finish by the end of May in order to shop it around to agents.

Since it appears I will be working full-time in the fall and going back to school to get my certificate in Special Education, writing will likely fade into the background for a while.  Thus, the need to have a strict writing schedule for the next several months.

Anyway, here are a few photos from our life on the road. And, if you didn’t know, Jeff has a website dedicated to the trip, aptly entitled Our Life on the Road. 

Justin at Grand Teton NP

(he was two, so I'm technically not breaking his "no pics" rule. I consider this one a grandfathered photo)

Justin and I goofing around at Yellowstone.

Gavage feeding at Arches. I so do not miss those days. Zaner still does the fingers-in-the-mouth thing.