I mentioned Melody's book last week. Here is her response to my request for more information about her book. I love her description of her writing process and her struggles with publication. I hope to say more in the future about publishing our works.Hello to all of the wonderful readers of Pat’s Terrific Blog:
My name is Melody Chatelle. Pat and I work out at the same place and time (early in the morning around 6, I might add) several times a week. Pat has been just wonderful in her support of my recent book as published by LangMarc Publishing (http://www.langmarc.com/) entitled Journeys of Heartache and Grace: Conversations and Life Lessons from Young People with Serious Illnesses. Pat invited me to say a few words about the book, which I am honored to do.
This is my first book published and stems from interviews with young people ages 6 – 20 living with life-threatening illnesses in amazingly strong, determined, realistic and honest ways unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Of the 13 young people I interviewed, five are still alive. All of the stories are powerful, practical and paint a realistic and hopeful portrait of times we all face in our lives involving serious illnesses of loved ones or for ourselves. In the book I offer a learning piece based on each story and I lay out specific phrases of what to say and what not to say during times of serious illness. The applications apply to people of all ages. My own story of losing my mother and grandmother within a 12-day-period sets the stage for the stories from the young people.
Pat also asked me to say a few words about the process of writing and getting published which I am thrilled to do. Doing this book took four years, not including the work I did on the dissertation itself which took about two years. Finding a publisher took time and most of all perseverance given that I did receive many rejections and non-responses to my submissions. In fact, my original response from LangMarc Publishing was a decline given that the owner of the company was thinking of retiring. Yet when I noticed that she was from Austin where I live, I called her up, thanked her for the very nice decline letter, and asked if I could buy her a cup of coffee to ask about the unfamiliar world of publishing. She agreed, and out of that conversation she changed her mind about retiring and agreed to do the book. So the moral of that story is this: never give up, and never assume ‘no’ means completely no – there always might be an opening somewhere! In terms of writing the stories themselves, while they were challenging in some respects, they also flowed quickly out of my mind and onto the computer pages because of the passion I have for the young people themselves and the value and importance of stories themselves, like Pat has known for years.
If anyone reading this blog is interested in the book, please contact me at 512/502-9545 or mchatell@onr.com or visit my website at http://www.chatelleandassociates.com/. Also, I am very interested in speaking to groups of any kind about the book. Thanks for your interest and most importantly, for your love of stories and your connection with Pat! -Happy Story Sharing Always.
Melody
My name is Melody Chatelle. Pat and I work out at the same place and time (early in the morning around 6, I might add) several times a week. Pat has been just wonderful in her support of my recent book as published by LangMarc Publishing (http://www.langmarc.com/) entitled Journeys of Heartache and Grace: Conversations and Life Lessons from Young People with Serious Illnesses. Pat invited me to say a few words about the book, which I am honored to do.
This is my first book published and stems from interviews with young people ages 6 – 20 living with life-threatening illnesses in amazingly strong, determined, realistic and honest ways unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Of the 13 young people I interviewed, five are still alive. All of the stories are powerful, practical and paint a realistic and hopeful portrait of times we all face in our lives involving serious illnesses of loved ones or for ourselves. In the book I offer a learning piece based on each story and I lay out specific phrases of what to say and what not to say during times of serious illness. The applications apply to people of all ages. My own story of losing my mother and grandmother within a 12-day-period sets the stage for the stories from the young people.
Pat also asked me to say a few words about the process of writing and getting published which I am thrilled to do. Doing this book took four years, not including the work I did on the dissertation itself which took about two years. Finding a publisher took time and most of all perseverance given that I did receive many rejections and non-responses to my submissions. In fact, my original response from LangMarc Publishing was a decline given that the owner of the company was thinking of retiring. Yet when I noticed that she was from Austin where I live, I called her up, thanked her for the very nice decline letter, and asked if I could buy her a cup of coffee to ask about the unfamiliar world of publishing. She agreed, and out of that conversation she changed her mind about retiring and agreed to do the book. So the moral of that story is this: never give up, and never assume ‘no’ means completely no – there always might be an opening somewhere! In terms of writing the stories themselves, while they were challenging in some respects, they also flowed quickly out of my mind and onto the computer pages because of the passion I have for the young people themselves and the value and importance of stories themselves, like Pat has known for years.
If anyone reading this blog is interested in the book, please contact me at 512/502-9545 or mchatell@onr.com or visit my website at http://www.chatelleandassociates.com/. Also, I am very interested in speaking to groups of any kind about the book. Thanks for your interest and most importantly, for your love of stories and your connection with Pat! -Happy Story Sharing Always.
Melody
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