I have some news, which has been over a year in the making: I added to my book collection! In August of 2023, one of my friends told me about a company who publishes language learning proficiency books for learning French, Spanish, and other languages. She told me I should give it a shot, since I speak French. The company’s premise is that exposing language students repeatedly to the most frequently used words in a language will most effectively help them acquire proficiency. I’m no expert in this method, or in the principles of learning languages, but the concept makes sense to me.

The method is identified by the acronym TPRS (of course there’s an acronym), which stands for Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling. You can read all about it on their website here. In my relatively uninformed terms, students will do better learning French (or any language) if the lessons have three key elements. First, they’re interesting and fun, next they reinforce (through repetition) the most important principles (in this case: vocabulary and grammar), and finally they allow the student to actually use what they’re learning.

The approach to provide students this experience is to write short, fun, stories with only the fewest (say top 100) most frequently used words in the language. Those 100 words are used in 75 percent of all communication. Therefore, reinforcing those few words will help propel the student towards learning French with proficiency. I didn’t understand all of that at first, though.

Learning French with My Book

I took my friend’s advice and wrote a short story in French and sent it to the people at TPRS. They sent it back. No thanks. You missed the point. This story was supposed to be about language learning proficiency, and I was way off track. So, I went back to the drawing board and tried again. TPRS was nice enough to send me some instructional information to guide me. I hadn’t understood one of the key ideas at first. Although, I used 100 unique words to write the story, they weren’t frequently used or common enough. The vocabulary was too difficult for a French learner.

I bought a special kind of French dictionary called a frequency dictionary, which lists the vocabulary for the language in order of usage. Then, I made a list of the most-used words, and tried again. This time, TPRS connected me with one of their editors—Françoise—one of the most helpful and nicest people I have ever worked with anywhere. We spent the next four months revising, discussing, and exchanging emails as I wrote, and re-wrote, and re-wrote. Finally, around February of 2024, we reached the final draft…for the words.

As it turns out, since one of the principles of TPRS is to make the story fun, we needed illustrations. I will tell you, visualizing art isn’t my strong suit. I can write it, but not picture it. Fortunately, TPRS assigned my project an incredible artist, Nami, who was very skilled and helpful. By June we had interior illustrations and cover art. Cover art definitely took the most time and effort (and probably patience by TPRS). But as we all know, despite the adage, we judge every book by its cover. The combination of the story and art should make learning French much  more fun.

And so, after all of this work, we arrive at: Qui est Élise? (Who is Elise?), which TPRS published and made available on their website on October 30, 2024.

My French Story

I wanted to write something that would interest high school and older middle school readers. “Qui est Élise?” is a level 1 book in terms of language learning proficiency, intended for readers learning French who are at the beginning of their linguistic journey. TPRS created an excellent blurb:

Meet Élise, a curious elephant who longs for adventure and dreams of being different. One day, Élise decides to leave her family and explore the world beyond the herd. Along her journey, she meets fascinating animals—like fast, striped zebras—but quickly learns that fitting in isn’t as easy as it seems.

Join Élise on her quest to find her place in the world and discover what it truly means to embrace who you are. Will Élise find the happiness she’s searching for, or will she learn that sometimes, being yourself is the greatest adventure of all?

I hoped with the story I’d crafted to reach the adventurous and exploratory side of the readers. Also, to help convey the message that being unique and understanding who we are can help contribute to our inner peace and self awareness. That’s the subtext, though. The story is about fun interactions between some animals of the savannah on an adventure.

My hope is that this book will be of use to teachers in the classroom.

How to Write in French

As it turns out, writing a book for helping students who are learning French is both easier and harder than I thought. The language level for me is fairly basic, in that I know all the vocabulary and at least have a working knowledge for the grammar. I’ll just say, the grammar is the harder piece of these two items. So the building blocks were not especially hard.

However, writing an interesting story while limiting my vocabulary to only 100 unique words is very challenging. Fortunately, we get the free use of cognates, which are words that are the equivalent in English and French. Two examples are “couleur” and “éléphant”, which you understand instantly whether you speak French or not. It’s hard to move a story forward while each sentence is at risk of repeating the exact same thing from a few paragraphs earlier. Also, getting into complex scenes and situations with my characters became a balancing act between active storytelling and understandable vocabulary and grammar.

At the same time, it was fun. I haven’t used my French language skills a lot since returning from France back in 2000. I took about six classes at university, which was nice but not an immersive experience. And since then, I’ve had limited chances outside of a vacation or two, some emails with friends, and reading. I was very grateful for this outlet and opportunity.

If You Want to Learn French (or some other language…but why not French?)

Learning French (or another language) is something I think benefits everyone. If you’ve always thought about it but never moved forward, give it a try. You can order my book here, along with many other books in French, Spanish, German, English, and Chinese. Learning French can be really fun, especially when it doesn’t feel like a classroom, but more like an adventure as you enjoy a fun story with cute pictures.

 

 

Also, you might like to read one of my favorite blog posts entitled All the Light.

Photo credit: Rob Shenk on VisualHunt.com

I probably haven’t walked “the long road” long enough to earn the right to even talk about it. I’m referring to the long road of publishing. Others have travelled further than me, and over rougher terrain. Many don’t reach their destination.

As for me, I don’t know if there is an end. Perhaps I’ll find only endless curves leading to more curves. A never-ending series of false hopes. There are plenty of places to stop, pause, or exit altogether if the road runs too hard. I hear plenty of inner voices and feel the pull of a dozen alternative activities that offer respite from self-imposed work. Why and how do I resist? Sometimes I don’t, after all, it’s easy to give in. Deciding now’s the perfect time to eat a bowl of cereal is the simplest out there is. But there’s something inside me that fights against that, and if it doesn’t get me back in the computer chair, at the very least it makes me feel guilty for neglecting this second job.

Perhaps this is the universal journey of authors.

Why Has It Been So Long, Friend?

My last blog post appeared almost three years ago. I’m not sure if I can fully explain why it’s been so long. Partly I think I’d been writing so many blog posts while neglecting to write stories, almost as if the blog was one of those temporary escapes. The loss of focus on what I really wanted to do ate at me. For a variety of reasons, from the time I started the blog I was trying to publish every week (which then became every two weeks, and then every month, and then…nothing). Authors in similar positions as me said having a blog was the only way to sell books once they’re published. I believed them. Since then, I have come to two realizations. First, I don’t think it’s true. Second, I don’t have any books published.

Allegedly, publishing companies don’t market books they print (true or not? I don’t know), and it’s left to authors. Those who have an online following—for example a successful blog—are more likely to sell books. If you don’t have the followers, you don’t sell. This is the line people feed each other, and at the time I thought it was good advice. So I blogged.

Please don’t misunderstand, I like writing blogs. I can’t say why, since I’m not usually inclined to share my thoughts in person, but the blog feels different. It might be because I can type and delete and retype, and in the end say everything the way I want to. Talking is hard after all. Either way, for the past three years I’ve focused on writing the stories I want to write instead of the blog. The novel I posted about in November 2019 ended up being rejected by all the agents I sent it to (maybe 50 or more). And in the end I stopped sending it out, because it obviously needs more work.

Then I started a new book. I’m halfway done with what might be the “almost done” draft. That’s part of the reason this post has come to be. I’m stuck on Chapter 13, and I need an outlet to clear my head.

Writing is a long road.

Where Am I Going?

I wish I knew how to answer this question. A vision has enticed me for a long time:  published author, books signings, reviews, and so on. Seeing the book on the bookshelf at Barnes and Noble would be the achievement that tells me “I’m there”. But writing solely for the purpose of getting to that point has been less than fulfilling. On the other hand, writing only the stuff that pleases me and doesn’t interest anyone else might be mentally relaxing, but it doesn’t eat up the figurative miles. Doing that resembles more of a figurative spinout or something (whatever analogy makes sense for you).

I’m straddling a line that is narrower than I first anticipated. I’m trying to stay true to my course, that is producing the kind of writing that’s authentic to me. At the same time, the book I’m writing needs to be something marketable, or else the Barnes and Noble dream evaporates.

It would be silly to think I’m the only person who’s ever gone through this. I’m sure it’s common to almost everyone trying to do anything in any art. The marketing is part of the job, but the creation is why we got into it in the first place. I think deep down, we all sort of feel like it isn’t a job, but the economics of wanting to eventually sell force job-like characteristics into the process.

That’s kind of annoying, especially for stubborn people like me.

So the question of where I’m going is answered. The long road ahead means balancing salability and self-fulfillment. I need to do both, because the vision is Barnes and Noble, but I won’t ever get there if I don’t enjoy the trip. In the end, I want to retain the excitement I had when I wrote this post back when I hadn’t yet hit any potholes or speedbumps or gravel patches. If I don’t do that, there’s no way I’ll make it to the end.

The long road of writing might be marked by a multitude of exits (and excuses for each), but for now, I only see one destination for me. It’s the continued steps forward.

My Road Trip

From here, I intend to update the blog but only at a frequency of once every few months or so. I don’t want to wait too long between updates, because I like doing it. Besides, it takes forever to remember how to format photos for the website and I’m out of practice. In contrast, I don’t want to feel the pressure to write a clever post every week like I used to (not that anyone but me was pressuring me, and not that they were terribly clever, although I still think the title of my lone movie review post “Rey of Hope” was sort of clever).

But the road I’m on is an author road. So my focus will be primarily there. If I were you, I wouldn’t set a watch by my blog posts. I’m likely to miss a few.

I would say this blog is my rest stop for today as I continue down the long road. When I become unmotivated or writing feels like a chore that I want to quit, this less demanding form will hopefully help re-energize me. At least, I’m going to give it a shot. The Barnes and Noble book-on-the-shelf destination is still my goal. Road trips can sometimes end up at places we don’t intend. Although I don’t know what will happen as I continue on the long road, I’m hopeful I’ll end at a bookstore near me.

Thanks for walking with me for a bit.

 

 

 

 

Also, you might like to read my post entitled All the Light.

 

Image Credits
James Wheeler on VisualHunt
Pasi Mammela on VisualHunt.com
Chris Hunkeler on VisualHunt.com
TimOve on VisualHunt

I sent out query letters about a week ago. I’d describe querying as jumping off a cliff in the dark. You don’t know what’s out in the gloom, where the bottom is, how long it takes to get there, or how much the landing is going to hurt.

If you’re an author, you already know what querying means, and you know it’s stressful. Sending out query letters is how authors find agents. Agents sell books to publishers. Trying to write a query is the perfect way to ruin an introvert’s day.

The good news is, my book is finished (I think). The bad news is, I don’t know if it’s really good enough or not. Only an agent can decide that.

Rejection

I’ve already heard back from three of the eleven agents I sent queries to. All rejections (of course, or else this post would be written in all caps and probably would have no grammar or punctuation whatsoever, way more exuberant than this was). If you’ve spent anytime reading about famous authors, you already know rejection is part of the job.

J.K. Rowling was rejected many times before Harry Potter ended up on bookshelves.

Even knowing that, it still stings.

The agents who rejected me were extremely polite, and I appreciate that. I hope that at least one of the remaining eight (I’m not counting…of course I am) will give me a shot.

Trust me, you’ll hear about it if it happens.

Getting to a Query

Writing is mostly a solitary endeavor. Mostly. I’ve been working on the book I hope to get published since fourth grade. But I’ve only REALLY been working on it (diligently) since 2017. I posted a little about it back then. In January of 2019 I thought I was done.

I was not.

I sent the book to two very reliable and honest people who kindly read it and gave me some feedback. Very good and helpful feedback. Some of it, I didn’t want to hear. But I’m glad they said what they did.

Since this book might never get published, I might never get to write that little acknowledgement paragraph at the end of it where I thank all the wonderful people who helped me out. So I’m going to do it here, just in case.

Jeremy and Kaatje read the rawest and worst version of my story. Fortunately for all of us, it will never be that bad again. They both gave me essential feedback, for which I honestly will be forever grateful.

Jeremy convinced me to “speed up” the beginning, which I really struggled to do, probably didn’t do enough, but I tried my best. Kaatje really helped me improve on some character development and to lose some boring middle stuff. She also helped (prodded) me to put in a little romance (way out of my comfort zone), which I think has added an incredibly important and wonderful dimension to the story.

More Help

Writing is solitary, but editing and revision needs teamwork. I had a wonderful group of beta readers. In all the writing speak blogs I’ve read, as well as words from many authors, Jeremy and Kaatje would be called “first readers.” The next group is called “beta” readers, not second readers. I don’t make the rules.

My beta readers don’t know it, but they should be so grateful to my first readers who saved them from some very horrible reading material.

For four month after my first readers gave me feedback, I went back and edited and revised and edited. I got to the point where reading any of my own chapters really made me angry. I hated everything I had written. But by June of 2019, I was sure I was done.

I was wrong again.

Beta readers take whatever it is the author thinks is ready to publish, and then they say why it isn’t. I appreciated their catching typos, which were many, and plot holes, and out-of-character dialogue, and many more things. I had all of that.

Even more useful were the ideas they had to improve, to refine, and to modify. My beta readers were Caleb, Colleen, Emily, Jeannine, Julie, Ralph, and Scott. I can’t list all the things they helped with, but it was a lot.

I had to write about five new chapters, changed the title three times (not as big a deal as you think), rearranged or cut a lot of things, and revised almost everything (literally). It was all important and to be honest, crucial. I understand my own story much better because of them and the product is better.

It’s impossible to describe how much I owe them for spending their time reading my book.

Agents

I suppose you could call agents “third readers”, but I’m not sure what the code word is. First readers, beta readers, so maybe tertiary readers? I don’t know. I guess an editor might be in there somewhere too. It’s too much trouble to figure that out. I heard from my last beta reader in August or September and spent the next two months working on new edits to prepare to query.

I thought I was ready.

Agents decide if a book gets considered for publishing, the first ones to decide anyway. They reject things quickly, like if there’s a typo in your query letter. They have to be merciless because of the number of submissions they receive daily. That’s only one reason why it’s stressful for me: what if I make a mistake?

But more than that, much more, is that the agent also decides if my writing’s any good. I think it is. And a few other people said they did too. But the agents hold the keys to the door to the publisher. I’ve had nine great people review and give me feedback. But that won’t matter if the agent says no.

Makes it hard to sleep at night.

In the end, if they reject it, hopefully they’ll also include some feedback as to what I can do better, and then I can try again.

 

 

 

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