{"id":1336,"date":"2014-05-30T08:00:27","date_gmt":"2014-05-30T15:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/?p=1336"},"modified":"2014-06-18T21:25:48","modified_gmt":"2014-06-19T04:25:48","slug":"guest-blogger-jared-gulian-never-gave-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/guest-blogger-jared-gulian-never-gave-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Blogger Jared Gulian never gave up."},"content":{"rendered":"

Guest blogger Jared Gulian<\/a> wrote a fun story about his dream of being published. I love publishing stories that are inspiring and enjoy stories that take place in San Francisco, my home town.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m giving up,\u201d I said. \u201c\u2018Moon over Martinborough\u2019 is never going to be a book.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ever since I\u2019d started this blog <\/a>I\u2019d wanted to turn it into a book, but I was losing hope.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe you shouldn\u2019t give up just yet,\u201d Uncle Oscar replied.<\/p>\n

Uncle Oscar was here on his annual visit from New York, and we were sitting at the Gamekeeper, the restaurant at Alana Estate vineyard just down the road. CJ and I were having lunch with Uncle Oscar and our friends Leelee and the Wolf.<\/p>\n

\u201cUncle Oscar\u2019s right,\u201d Leelee said. \u201cDon\u2019t give up.<\/p>\n

Although the blog had gained some recognition, after 3 years of hard slog I still felt no closer to my book goal. It didn\u2019t matter that I already had a first draft of the book manuscript put together, or that my stories were appearing regularly in Wairarapa Lifestyle Magazine. I was ready to throw my hands in the air.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy don\u2019t you write a book proposal and send it to publishers?\u201d Leelee said. \u201cI have a great book which tells you how to write a book proposal. You can borrow it.\u201d<\/p>\n

CJ and the Wolf joined in, and the group\u2019s gentle cajoling continued until I finally agreed to write a proper book proposal.<\/p>\n

Writing a book proposal<\/strong><\/p>\n

Leelee\u2019s copy of \u2018How to get published and make a lot of money!\u2019 by Susan Page was my guide. The title is a bit embarrassing, but it has a very good chapter on how to write a book proposal. It explains how to write sections on the author, the audience, the marketing plan, analysis of the \u2018competition\u2019, and chapter-by-chapter outline.<\/p>\n

I spent almost two months working on that proposal. I honed and crafted and redrafted. On 16 May 2012 I sent that proposal \u2013 printed handsomely and filled with gorgeous photographs \u2013 to four publishers. I figured it would sit for months in their \u2018slush piles\u2019 of unsolicited material, and I\u2019d be lucky if I ever got a response.<\/p>\n

Well, blow me down if I didn\u2019t get a response less than two weeks later. It was from Nicola Legat, Publishing Director at Random House New Zealand. She said, \u201cMany thanks for sending in your overview of Moon Over Martinborough. I am impressed by and grateful for the very detailed analysis it contains. I\u2019d very much like to see the first draft.\u201d<\/p>\n

Huh? Was this possible? I quickly sent her my manuscript.<\/p>\n

\"Hourglass\"<\/a>Waiting for the decision<\/strong><\/p>\n

Then the painful waiting began. Each day was sheer torture. What was Nicola thinking? Would she hate my manuscript? Would she love it?<\/p>\n

After a week that felt like an eternity, Nicola emailed saying, \u201cJust a quick note to say that I am halfway though, and I am loving it! I\u2019ll be back to you next week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yeah! But it wasn\u2019t final yet. Maybe the second half of my manuscript was horrible. Maybe she would change her mind.<\/p>\n

Finally Nicola\u2019s response came. \u201cI\u2019ve now finished my read and I am going to propose to the Publishing Committee at our Wednesday meeting that we accept this book for publication early next year. I will let you know that afternoon what their decision is.\u201d<\/p>\n

What?! OMG! I was thrilled. But Wednesday was four whole days away! How on earth was I going to survive the wait?<\/p>\n

\"SF<\/a>In San Francisco<\/strong><\/p>\n

As it turned out, that four-day wait coincided with my and CJ\u2019s big plane trip back to the States for a long-overdue visit with friends and family. Our first stop was San Francisco, where we stayed with our old Tokyo friends Josh and Tina. At their house I checked my email, and sure enough there was an email from Nicola.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan you give a number where it\u2019s convenient to call you later on this afternoon?\u201d Nicola wrote.<\/p>\n

I responded that I was in San Francisco, and I sent Josh and Tina\u2019s home phone number. Literally moments later the phone rang.<\/p>\n

Tina answered in her best I\u2019m-a-corporate-lawyer voice. \u201cYes, Jared is here. May I ask who\u2019s speaking?\u201d<\/p>\n

I felt like screaming, \u201cJust give me the damn phone!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you, Nicola,\u201d Tina said calmly. \u201cI\u2019ll get Jared.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tina handed me the phone with a huge smile on her face. \u201cJared, it\u2019s Random House calling for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

What hopeful writer doesn\u2019t want to hear those words?<\/p>\n

I took the phone and walked out onto Tina and Josh\u2019s back deck, which overlooks an amazingly beautiful canyon. I can barely remember the details of the conversation. My head was spinning. I have a piece of paper I scribbled notes on, and it hardly makes any sense at all.<\/p>\n

But the most important thing I heard in that conversation was this. The Publishing Director of Random House New Zealand said very clearly, \u201cWe are really keen and would love to publish your book with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a yes<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I feel like I\u2019ve stepped into some bizarre parallel universe where all of my dreams come true. Thank God my friends and loved ones intervened just as I was ready to give up. Thank God.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> for information about purchasing print and ebook:\u00a0 Moon Over Martinborough: From Michigan to the Wairarapa… How an American city boy became a Kiwi farmer<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Reposted with Jared’s permission.\u00a0 You can stay in touch with Jared’s adventures as told on Jared’s Facebook Page, Moon Over Martinborough<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I originally learned about Jared and his blog-to-book story on Nina Amir’s post<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guest blogger Jared Gulian wrote a fun story about his dream of being published. I love publishing stories that are inspiring and enjoy stories that take place in San Francisco, my home town. \u201cI\u2019m giving up,\u201d I said. \u201c\u2018Moon over Martinborough\u2019 is never going to be a book.\u201d Ever since I\u2019d started this blog I\u2019d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[104],"tags":[471,472,473,29],"class_list":["post-1336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-bloggers","tag-jared-gulian","tag-moon-over-martinborough-olive-oil","tag-moon-over-martinborough-from-michigan-to-the-wairarapa-how-an-american-city-boy-became-a-kiwi-farmer","tag-nina-amir"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p43Dj8-ly","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1336"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1336\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1491,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1336\/revisions\/1491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}