Out with the Old, In with the New-ish

There I was a week or so ago blogging about being on the last stretch of a revision. I finished –yay! – but due to some family drama, my drop off at the post office felt quiet and unceremonious. Still, I’ll take any belated wish-my-little-manuscript-well pleas anyone cares to offer up.

So what next? I’ve resurrected notes on one of my beloved women from history, known, then pretty much forgotten. That pattern. I tried to present her life first as a picture book, but editors found it a bit too foreign and too much information crammed in. They weren’t convinced a picture book could be made featuring someone whose name gets jumbled in your mouth. They were mostly right (I’m not sure about that name thing..). A year ago I wrote out the story as a chapter book, then left it to tend to other projects. Now I’m seeing the book as a combination of poetry and prose, for while I want to keep the pace moving, the words spare, the subject matter is more appropriate for older readers. Why not blend some genres?

Last night my husband asked what I was working on.
“A book about Enheduanna.”
“Remind me who she was,” he said.
“Another obscure woman.”
“But not for long,” he said. (bless this man) “I can’t wait to wear my Enheduanna T-shirt.”