On Submission

A poppy in the field next to where the Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers conference was held in June 2019

I have been waiting to use the phrase “on submission” about this book for over a decade now.

In 2006, I was new to writing and began a story about a boy named William who was in love with a girl named Kate. That was back before I knew about Prince William dating a girl named Kate Middleton. Since then, these two have managed to break up, get back together, get engaged, get married, and have three babies.

All while I was working on this manuscript.

I did some other living in between and in the meantime (and I managed to find a different name for my main character), but this has been the one thing that has stood as a metaphorical blockade between myself and my other creative endeavors for longer than I have felt like an actual adult.

But now it’s done (until the edits begin), and I have begun submitting to agents. And even if it never makes it past this stage, I am happy, because now I can get to work on all my other stories that have been waiting.