And after tons of rejection lettersįrom literary agents, I had a choice to make: give it up or step it up. Success, this one’s paved with rejection. Had a BFA or MFA in creative writing, which I had not. Certainly, they’d give me more credence if I It’s nearly impossible to get an agent unless you’re a famous celebrity, In order to get a literary agent, you need to have already been published. Oh, did I mention the Catch 22 in traditional publishing?Īpparently, you need a literary agent to get traditionally published. One-page query letter, synopsis, and whatever their submission guidelinesĬalled for.

When I felt I was ready, I tried soliciting literary agents with a Through the manuscript, trying to bring the level of writing up to the level of But whatĪbout my writing style and voice? It needed to be just as good as theīest-selling authors’, because they don’t put an asterisk next to your nameĪlong with an explanation about your education. Process, I felt that the story had risen to a level of brilliance. I soon learned Lesson One in writing: writing is rewriting. Professional to critique the story, who gave me some great advice, which meant Rewriting the story, and when I was done, I rewrote some more. Wrote a manuscript now what? The first thing I did was to copyright it,įollowed by sending it out to all of my friends who read a lot, to getĬonstructive criticism. Line” of my manuscript – that magical day when you type, “THE END.” Okay, so I Months of writing everyplace and everywhere, I finally reached the “finish I thought would take a couple of months, took a couple of years. I had never written a book before, and I had no idea what I was getting And so, quite fortuitously, my career as an author hadīegun. Has experience in writing screenplays, I made the commitment to novelize Sandĭollar into a book. Kicking a movie treatment around for a couple of months with my brother, who I thought the visual of a sand dollar exploding on the big screen would makeįor an awesome opening scene in a movie. After Sand dollars differently, the way I do, though my eyes. Our lives today are easily shattered tomorrow. For me, theįragile sand dollar has come to represent life, for the blessings we have in After diving down to pick up a sand dollar from the ocean floor, itĮxploded in my hand and disappeared in the clear water around me. Movie concept, which stemmed from an experience I once had while snorkeling on Trying several new careers without success, I conceived Sand Dollar as a

Path to take was not as easy as I had thought. Lead to happiness and personal fulfillment. So I put myself on a path that I’d hoped would Twenty years until I decided to take a leap of faith and leave my family’sīusiness to pursue my dreams. In Economics (Economics, of all things!), I worked in corporate America for

After graduating Brown University in the 80s with a degree

Sand Dollar by Sebastian Cole