It’s been a whirlwind this week – lots of events, all good, one after the other.
First: my book is back on track! If you didn't know it, here's the back story: back in 2009, I signed a book contract with a publisher I once worked for to write 100 Questions & Answers About Your Child's Type 1 Diabetes, part of a wide-ranging patient education series this publisher had developed when I worked there in 2003. The "gimmick" of the series is that the questions are addressed from the point of view of two experts on the disease -- one who treats it (an MD or NP, usually) and one who lived it (a patient, or a parent of a pediatric patient). In this case, the publisher paired me with an endocrinologist in Texas that he'd worked with before, and I started developing the manuscript -- wrote the whole thing in about 9 months, with little input from the doc, on the understanding that the doc would review it for accuracy and make edits as needed once it was finished.
Well... the doc flew the coop. I sent her the final MS in January and nobody heard a peep out of her despite repeated calls and emails. So the project has been stalled since February while the publisher looked for an alternate. After two prospects didn't pan out, I insisted that he let me ask the person I'd originally proposed for the project -- Eric's own endocrinologist, Dr. Olshan of Maine Med. I was given that permission and pitched the book a couple of weeks ago.
Now, back to Thursday. I was in the midst of a company meeting in, of all places, a bowling alley (Senior Management felt bowling together post-meeting would be "bonding", and it was actually a LOT of fun!) Suddenly, my cell phone rings. My ring tone is the "Sir Robin" song from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which may not really be the ideal ring tone for work, so I quickly adjourned to the ladies' room with my phone. It was Dr. Olshan, and it took me a minute to figure that out because he called himself "Jerry" and I have never yet used his first name. In retrospect, a good sign. He quickly told me that he loved the book and wanted to be on the project -- and that was just sooooo validating for me! I know my skills as a writer and I'm not going to pretend I didn't think the book was readable, but its medical accuracy was the big question mark. Once I heard his response, I knew he wouldn't have been so enthused if it had been wildly off base in terms of the answers to the questions... so I took it as a big time confirmation that I'd learned what I need to know when it comes to taking care of a child with diabetes. And that's what it's all about, really -- I wrote this book in part because I learn best when I regurgitate what I've learned on paper (well, on computer!).
The other two bits of exciting news came one atop the other yesterday -- my husband's older son, who is 19, just became a daddy. His fiancee emailed me from the Philippines to let me know that she was in labor (a couple weeks early) on Friday night, and at 3 pm local time on Saturday gave birth to a 6 lb 4 oz girl named Meryelle Tatiana. At the same time all this was going on, we had been contacted by a woman who wanted to look at two of our horses -- and yesterday she wound up buying one! Of course, she bought the less trained, and therefore less expensive, of the two (which I expected) but in the process, the trainer who'll be working with the horse gave me some tips about the best way to market the more trained/expensive horse so as to sell him to a premium buyer better able to afford my premium price. All good! The irony is, the money I got from the sale of the horse goes straight to my stepson's fiancee in the Philippines (the hospitals there apparently don't allow you to leave with your baby until you pay them -- interesting system!) but I'm perfectly happy with that, given that my stepson has been here all week chopping wood and cleaning paddocks. I would have had to pay that money to him anyway, so I'm happy enough with that solution.
But thanks Teena for confirming… I was worried people might think I was a gullible idiot conned into sending money overseas.