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Nobody Left Behind

by Deanna Enos

I wondered if I ever would write anything that would fit some editor’s needs. Expect lots of rejection when you’re a writer. It’s a lonely business. Just you and the computer. Clichés, all clichés, I thought as I reached for the children’s book manuscript I’d been working on.
It’s such a good idea! “To sell, it is only necessary to capture the human imagination and touch the human heart.” That was the thought I had carefully placed above my writing desk. I was starting to wonder if editors had hearts.

And then it came. The large envelope addressed to me in my own handwriting. Another manuscript come home. Like a homing pigeon! Secretly I pretended that this time there would be a letter of acceptance.

I hurried into the house, tore open the envelope, and reached in for the manuscript. It wasn’t there. Oh, I thought as I grabbed the little note inside. They forgot to return my manuscript!

I began to read the note, which looked about as significant as most of my thirteen other rejection slips. “The following manuscript which you have submitted to us has been accepted for publication. You will receive remuneration as soon as the processing can be completed in our office. Thank you for submitting your writing to us.”

It had happened! Somebody had finally said “yes.” That somebody was a magazine for teens. They were the publication that gave dignity to my efforts and money to my empty writer’s bank account. They paid me two cents a word in advance for a 1,400-word short story called “Behind the Grease Paint.” It seemed like a million dollars. It meant so much.

The idea was inspired by a circus family I had met. Every summer for three years, I spent four days living in a trailer behind a circus tent on the fairgrounds at a county fair. My husband was a portrait artist at the fair, and while he worked I had a great deal of time to observe and to write. Thus was born a story about a fifteen-year-old boy’s struggle to grow up and find his own identity.
The manuscript tossed around my desk for months before I finally sent it off. It came back in about a month with the standard rejection slip. I wasn’t too defeated by that and hurriedly found another possible publisher. This time the editor commented when he returned it. I revised it a little on his behalf and mailed it out again. It came back once again with suggestions. I reworked the story again.

Then I took it to my writer’s group. With their critical analysis and good strong boost, I sent it out again.
As I was typing the final draft, I realized that there was one paragraph everybody seemed to like. I moved it to the beginning of the story. With that I said, “No more changes.” I picked up the Writer’s Market, turned to the section “Teen and Young Adult,” and sent it to the first listing. They bought it!

I often wonder if they realized how much joy that $28 produced. It would probably be unprofessional for me to tell them, so I never did.

That was my first very meaningful writing success. There have been sales of other articles, but never a book, until now.

A book had been written and was unobtrusively among my other work. My characters were hidden and unable to tell their story. I had to tell that story!

Traditional publishing houses didn’t care about the story the way I did. Many sent handwritten rejections, but rejections nonetheless. Each rejection increased my resolve to go forward. When a 2004 Teacher of the Year read it and said, “There is a great need for this book!” I knew I had to get it into print.

Nobody Left Behind—One Child’s Story About Testing shows that sometimes tests prove very little and somebody gets left behind even when they’re thinking. Storytelling is used as an example of how to begin dialogue between children, teachers, and parents concerning the subject of testing.

Wrapped in that teacher’s words, I researched to find a way to publish and finally settled on iUniverse. Like many writers, I’d always thought self-publishing was a big step down, but I don’t believe that anymore.

When I made the decision to collaborate with this particular company, I opened myself to a remarkable process. Here I found people to join me in my dream, adding their professionalism. I didn’t allow the story to be changed, because I felt it had come to a proper conclusion. Perhaps it could have gone another way, but then it would have been a different story. They respected my choices and pushed me to make it better.

Deanna Enos is a freelance writer who has written for magazines, trade journals, and newspapers. She is a retired teacher and author of Nobody Left Behind—One Child’s Story About Testing, recently released by iUniverse. Find out more at bn.com, Amazon.com, and Booksamillion.com. Write Deanna at dmenos@hotmail.com.