My first book sale was in the spring of 2004. I had been seriously writing and submitting stories since 2001, and was about to surpass the 100 mark for total number of rejections. (Now that's persistence!)
I remember I was at work, trying not to fall asleep, because I had been up with a very sick child all night. My husband stayed home with that very sick child while I trudged into work.
Around 2:00, my husband called me and said, "an editor just called you! You're supposed to call her back!"
I grabbed my cell phone and ran outside, wondering if I was going to miss her since I was the West coast and she was on the East coast. When she answered, I said something like, "This is Lisa Schroeder, and I'm so glad you haven't left for the day." She said, "And miss telling you the exciting news? No way!"
She was calling to tell me that Sterling Publishing was interested in publishing my picture book story, BABY CAN'T SLEEP. It was one of my favorite picture book stories that I wrote, so of course I was thrilled.
Today, BABY CAN'T SLEEP is still available, in hard cover as well as a board book format, which makes me happy, since it's my first "baby" and all.
Awww. Don't we just love babies and happy endings? Tomorrow we're going to hear another story about persistence from Teri Brown.
