A Success Story – A Tale of Hard Work and Never Giving Up

I have a very exciting story to tell you! It’s a story of hard work and never giving up – a success story. I want to share it with you, because we could all take a page out of this person’s book.

This writer did everything that we’ve talked about on my blog: She attended as many conferences, writing retreats and writing workshops as she could. She volunteered to help at SCBWI events, not only her New England SCBWI Chapter, but also for our New Jersey SCBWI Chapter.

She made friends with other authors, signed up for as many critiques as she could. She committed to reading every evening before bed. Networked with editors and agents and worked on her craft every day – getting up before sunrise and working all morning, listening to the characters inhabiting her head. She opened her heart and let her words spill onto the pages in order to tell the stories that only she can tell. Then it was off to work at her local toy store, where in addition to selling toys that encourage creativity, she hand sells children’s books. Working at The Toy Soldier gave her the wonderful opportunity to interact with children, which constantly spurred new ideas. She entered contests and as her writing grew, she won many of them.

I first met this writer when she called on the phone to ask a few questions back in February of 2007. I suggested that she join SCBWI, which she immediately did, and then I talked her into coming to a weekend Mentoring Retreat, where she was off and running – listening to the comments on her work, taking notes, revising her writing, and just plain learning. She continued this over and over during the past 5 ½ years, and I’ve had the pleasure to see her grow as a writer and as a dear friend.

Things really started to come together at the New Jersey SCBWI Conference this past June. Not varying from what she was doing, she volunteered to be part of the conference committee, which got her into the faculty dinner and allowed her more networking time with the editors and agents. Since the conference allowed for more than one critique, she signed up for as many as she could get. She revised and polished some more before she submitted and when they read her work, they were all impressed and asked to see the full manuscripts. Right away there was interest with an agent and an editor in signing her up. It was very exciting as the clamor spread to other agents and editors. Believe me that even though this was exciting, it was a nail biting experience for the author to try and come to the right career decision. In the end, she trusted that her heart, and her gut, would lead her to making the best choice for the stories she longs to share with the world.

I am thrilled to announce today that this story is about Betsy Devany. She just signed with a power house agent and wonderful person, Emily Van Beek from Folio Lit www.foliolit.com , and already there is a lot of interest from publishers. I am sure you will be hearing more good news about Betsy in the near future. I am very proud of Betsy. How she kept improving, kept revising, and how she always welcomed rejection with such graciousness, because she felt it gave her the opportunity to move her writing to the next level. And it did. She will continue in this same vein—always learning and with the desire to give her best to the world. Betsy believes that children (our readers) deserve no less.

Betsy was schedule to join our writer’s group full manuscript critique Ocean Retreat with Agent John Cusick and Dial Editor Jessica Garrison, when everything broke her way. Of course, now the need is gone. We’ll miss sharing our work and spending the time with her.

CONGRATULATIONS BETSY!  If you know betsy, then you know who that big creature is in the picture above.  It’s Betsy’s Best Friend –  Norman the Gorilla.  You can visit Betsy and Norman at: www.betsydevany.com  And Congratulations to Emily Van Beek to snatching Betsy up.  We love you here in New Jersey!

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy