I've Been Published!!!! (How My Art Became My Career)Sep 29 '04 (Updated Sep 05 '05) Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Thank you all for being such a strong support and source of encouragement for me.
Hi. I'm Candice. I turned 28 years old this past September 23. I have lived in 12 different states. I attended 3 different colleges. I have been married. I am at the tail-end of a horribly messy divorce. I am engaged to the most wonderful man that I have ever known. I have had countless jobs. I have been writing on Epinions since March 2000. I wrote my first play, A Journey to Chocolate Land, when I was 9 years old. The teachers at Brookhaven Elementary School were so impressed that we actually produced the play in my Enrichment class. My 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Polonski, recently told me that she hated grading my papers because of all of the dialogue that I used. I continued playwriting throughout grade school and into college. I wrote tons of skits for the various Variety Shows at my high school, Bellport High School. Once I got into college at The George Washington University, I found a lot of opportunities to write more and even have my plays produced. What Happened Last Night was the first full-length play I wrote. I produced it in the Mitchell Hall Theatre, where it grossed the highest box office in the history of The George Washington University. It was later turned into an independent movie of the same name a couple of years later. (I wrote that script, too.) Two other scripts that I wrote and were produced at GW were Bermuda Triangle (Now known as Days Like This) and Stay. None have yet been published. In 2000, before leaving for University of Alaska - Anchorage, I ran an acting school kids ages 5 - 18. Truthfully, it did very well and I had a lot of fun. I needed a final presentation for the younger kids, so I wrote a play called The Lovesick Cat. It is based on one of Aesop's fables. The play was a hit with the kids and the parents. After it was performed, I forgot all about it. That is, I forgot about it until I moved back to NY from CA this past January. I was cleaning my files off of my mother's desktop, and I found The Lovesick Cat. I decided to publish it on Epinions. As soon as I published it, the response was absolutely ASTOUNDING. People emailed me for copies of it. They wanted to know if I had more to read to their children. I got nervous about plagiarism, so I registered it for $20 with the Writer's Guild of America. I told my mom about the response, and she suggested that I attempt to get it published. For Christmas, I had received Writer's Market 2004 as a gift. I went through the index and found several publishing companies that published children's plays. I queried several, and received rejection letter after rejection letter. Finally, I was fed up and submitted 3 query letters with my script to 3 different publishers: Meriweather Publishing in Colorado, Anchorage Press in Kentucky and Baker's Plays in Massachusetts. Meriweather sent me a rejection letter immediately. It was actually scribbled in the margins of my query letter, which I found incredibly rude and unprofessional. My hopes were dashed by that one pen stroke. I figured no one wanted me at all. Then, I got "ballsy." I figured I had nothing to lose, so I called the two other publishing companies. Anchorage Press took a message, but no one ever got back to me. When I called Baker's Plays, however, the managing editor happened to answer the phone. I told her who I was and the play that I submitted three months prior. She told me that the former managing editor had been fired, and she had just taken his position. She also informed me that he took a lot of scripts home with him and never returned them. She said that she would look for my script, then call me back. Boy, was she true to her word. Not even an hour later, the managing editor of Baker's Plays called me back and asked me to resubmit The Lovesick Cat for consideration. She informed me that the deadline for the Fall catalog was on April 26, just 10 days away. I got off of the phone with her, typed a cover letter, grabbed a copy of my script and sent it to her through Express Mail. She received the copy the very next day. Two days later, she called me. She told me that there were some rewrites that she wanted done, but The Lovesick Cat would be published in the Fall. I nearly fainted! Furthermore, she asked me if I had another play that I could submit to her. I had been kicking around an idea for my own adaptation of The Lion & The Mouse, so I told her that I had it written. She told me to send it with my rewrites of The Lovesick Cat. That afternoon, I rewrote The Lovesick Cat. That night, I headed to Craig's house for some peace and quiet while I wrote The Lion & The Mouse. Craig was astounded when I handed him a completed script to proofread two hours later. He read it and loved it. I published it on Epinions to see what the reaction would be. Once again, my loyal Epinions readers read it and let me know exactly what they thought of it. Needless to say, it went over very well. I was inundated with emails requesting copies of the script, compliments from parents, suggestions to get published and so on. I was thrilled. I submitted both my rewrite as well as the new script to Baker's Plays. They got back to me on April 30, and let me know that both of my plays would be included in the Fall catalog. I removed both scripts from Epinions, as the publishing rights now belong to Baker's Plays. I signed my contract 2 months ago for both plays. Furthermore, they want to read more from me, so I submitted my latest, The Woodsmen & The Fairy for their consideration. I am almost finished with The Tortoise & The Hare, which I will also submit to them for publication. The Baker's Plays Fall catalog was released last week. I am on the 6th or 7th page in the lower right-hand corner. Unfortunately, the catalog isn't printed online just yet. (Believe me, I'll let you know when it is!) However, you can order a copy of the catalog for $1 from www.bakersplays.com . The managing editor called me with very exciting news this afternoon. The catalog was released last week, and there are already orders for my script. I haven't even seen the galleys (author's copies) yet, and Baker's Plays has decided to do an early publication of my work. I was told that, as a new author, it is unheard of that my work is already being ordered. And, no, it's not by people that I know! Hopefully, both The Lovesick Cat and The Lion & The Mouse will be listed in the Epinions database once they are listed on the internet-- or even sooner, if possible. I had kicked this idea around with several Epinions members, and they suggested that I get someone that I don't know personally to review the book(s). I think that I will leave that to chance... for now, anyway! I cannot begin to even attempt to express to you how happy I am to have the opportunity to write as my career. I have been working toward this goal for a very, very long time. I wrote my first play 19 years ago. I have been writing ever since because I love it. It is my passion, my art, my life. Okay, now it's time for an absolutely shameless plug. Can you blame me? If you want to order either The Lovesick Cat and/or The Lion & The Mouse, call Baker's Plays at (617)745-0805. Tell them the name of the play that you want to order and say that it is by Candice Cook. Each play costs $3.50. I don't know what tax and shipping is-- I imagine it is different for every address. I would REALLY appreciate it, of course... Especially if you just wanted to donate it to your local library! If you would like me to sign your copy (people close to me have asked me to do this), just email me at Dicewoman@optonline.net and I will tell you where to send your copy. I will sign it and send it back to you IMMEDIATELY. I'm sorry if this sounds conceited or whatever, as I don't mean it that way. I am extremely excited about this and wanted to share it with everyone. If you do happen to order a copy from Baker's, please let me know either through email or in my comments section.  |
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