Cherilyn Dreams Of Publishing

Here goes.
I am not poor or needy. I am not without food or shelter. This is a different kind of fund.
To donate to this fund is to believe in dreams, in perseverence, in blowing on those candles & dandelions.

I'm a writer and I've written ten books. I've done this while working, single parenting, going to school, etc. You've never heard of me of course because I haven't been traditionally published. I live in Kansas...not New York.

So...on a whim, I applied for the Algonkian Pitch Conference in late September. Unlike other conferences, this is a 'pitch' conference. ..meaning they mold you and your novel, for an actual pitch in front of four major publishing houses in NYC. For a writer...that is huge. Normally these types of publishers don't even accept unsolicited work. Even if they do... you mail or email your book or an excerpt and it becomes buried in thousands of other submissions. This conference puts you right smack at the head of that line!!

So...I got accepted. (What??)

Ya, I know. So great and so crazy.

So next I went bare bones. What is the absolute cheapest way I could manage this trip...in six weeks?? Well the conference fee us $600. This is very normal and reasonable fir three days if eight-hour sessions. But hotel...flight...ugh! It's New York! Again I hit the web. Found a ridiculous deal... $975 for four nights PLUS flight?? Crazy good.

I want everyone to know...my sole mission is to be at this conference. It will be life changing. This is no vacation...no shopping...no Statue of Liberty. The super cheap hotel. ..it's like a hostel where u share bathrooms and sleep in a room not much bigger than the twin bed.

That is all fine with me! I just need to be there and have a place to sleep. How they managed the stay and the flight is beyond me...but I have Hotwire to thank for that.

I will not be taking cabs. I'll walk four blocks to the conference every day. I can survive on coffee and whatever complimentary snacks the conference might provide.

I mentioned I am not poor. But this is my dream, not my husband's or my children's. What if I'm a huge flop? I can't take from our mortgage payments or their school clothes money. I just can't.

I'm a selfish wife just for asking to go, but I have promised him I will figure out the money...sell my china cabinet, something!! But we're talking six weeks from now! I can't start working on conference assignments until I pay and we all know hotels and flights can't be last minute.

I don't have 2500 friends. But maybe out there in the world are 2500 dreamers...for $1...you can make my dream a reality.

My book is called Two Sides Of Wilde and everyone who has read it has just loved it!!

I don't know what else to say. I know there are people who need food and water and cures for cancer. I've done the work. I just need $1.

Thank you for your time.
ch