{"id":2354,"date":"2011-10-30T17:56:17","date_gmt":"2011-10-30T22:56:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=2354"},"modified":"2011-10-30T18:00:21","modified_gmt":"2011-10-30T23:00:21","slug":"i%e2%80%99ve-done-it-i%e2%80%99ve-taken-the-plunge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=2354","title":{"rendered":"I\u2019ve done it. I\u2019ve taken the Plunge!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What plunge is that you might ask? Well, let me tell you. On October 11, in response to my submission to 4RV Publishing<\/a>, after a successful pitch the previous week, I was offered a contract!<\/p>\n

Some of you are saying, yeah, yeah, we\u2019ve heard that already. And you\u2019re right. But this is a huge deal for me. I\u2019ve been on the receiving end of reject letters more times than I can count (or care to for that matter) so receiving the offer was a huge morale booster.<\/p>\n

For the first week, I babbled like an idiot. Nothing I said made sense. I was in such a state of awe, that my feet didn\u2019t touch the ground. How I managed to accomplish anything at work still amazes me.<\/p>\n

One of the first things I did was tell my fellow writers at two of the groups I belong to of my offer. Then I told everyone at loveahappyending.com. I mean it\u2019s not every day that a contract offer comes along. If it did, then it wouldn\u2019t be such a big deal.<\/p>\n

Over the past few years, for many a weekend during the summer, and a week in February I did what became known in our family as \u201cmother-sitting\u201d since my mum wasn\u2019t able to be home alone. I always took my laptop with me and spent many hours writing and revising whilst there. When friends dropped by, whether they\u2019d heard the story before or been introduced to me previously, she always started the conversation, \u201cYou\u2019ve met my daughter, Melanie? She\u2019s a writer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sadly, my contract offer came a year too late for me to celebrate with her. When I spoke at her funeral in September 2010, I said she would have been the first person I told after my husband, who has supported my dream all these years, eaten burnt offerings (tonight was no exception since I let the potatoes boils dry) when I\u2019d been deep in writing a particularly gripping scene, or just taken over the kitchen duties for me.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>So, since I couldn\u2019t celebrate with my mum in person, I took the celebration to the cemetery, complete with a copy of my manuscript (just back from one of my beta-readers), my contract, and champagne! That was my mum\u2019s favourite tipple. We always had it on special occasions \u2013 birthdays, anniversaries, Mother\u2019s Day, Christmas, Thanksgiving and sometimes just because\u2026<\/p>\n

The last two years, my mum used a walker to get around. She called it D.N. (short for damn nuisance). But even though she depended on it to get around, I think when I landed in at hers and my dad\u2019s graveside she tossed it aside and did a happy dance right along with me.<\/p>\n

My dad died when I was twelve, long before I\u2019d been bitten by the writing bug. The reading bug had long since bitten and I almost always had my face in a book or a pencil in my hand drawing. He knew I was creative and maybe even thought someday I\u2019d be a writer or artist.<\/p>\n

You can see why the celebration, albeit in a less than conventional location, was so important for me to do. And all of this was just because I\u2019d received a contract offer!<\/p>\n

In the weeks that followed, I did a lot of research, read and re-read the contract, asked the publisher questions, digested the answers received. Taking the next step would be enormous. Did I accept? Did I decline?<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t make this decision lightly, although had I gone with my initial instincts, I would have signed immediately. Thankfully, my logical, down-to-earth side of me kept me grounded so that I could ask the questions, do the research and in the end make an informed decision.<\/p>\n

Now, two signed, witnessed and notarized copies of my contract are in transit to my publisher – first stage via Canada Post followed by the US Mail. In due course, I\u2019ll receive a copy back with her signature witnessed and notarized.<\/p>\n

You can check out 4RV Publishing here<\/a>. They also maintain a blog here<\/a>. You can find them on Facebook<\/a> and Twitter<\/a>, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What plunge is that you might ask? Well, let me tell you. On October 11, in response to my submission to 4RV Publishing, after a successful pitch the previous week, I was offered a contract! Some of you are saying, yeah, yeah, we\u2019ve heard that already. And you\u2019re right. But this is a huge deal … Continue reading I\u2019ve done it. I\u2019ve taken the Plunge!<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,6,15,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-authors","category-novels","category-publishing","category-writing"],"yoast_head":"\nI\u2019ve done it. I\u2019ve taken the Plunge! - Celtic Connexions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=2354\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I\u2019ve done it. I\u2019ve taken the Plunge! - Celtic Connexions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What plunge is that you might ask? Well, let me tell you. On October 11, in response to my submission to 4RV Publishing, after a successful pitch the previous week, I was offered a contract! Some of you are saying, yeah, yeah, we\u2019ve heard that already. And you\u2019re right. But this is a huge deal … Continue reading I\u2019ve done it. I\u2019ve taken the Plunge! →\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=2354\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Celtic Connexions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-10-30T22:56:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-10-30T23:00:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/champagne-5-284x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Melanie\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Melanie\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/?p=2354#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/?p=2354\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Melanie\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fc1dc45dd87a15ec9c0044a4fe9cd612\"},\"headline\":\"I\u2019ve done it. I\u2019ve taken the Plunge!\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-10-30T22:56:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-10-30T23:00:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/?p=2354\"},\"wordCount\":716,\"commentCount\":13,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/?p=2354#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2011\\\/10\\\/champagne-5-284x300.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Authors\",\"Novels\",\"Publishing\",\"Writing\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/?p=2354#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/?p=2354\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/?p=2354\",\"name\":\"I\u2019ve done it. I\u2019ve taken the Plunge! - Celtic Connexions\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/?p=2354#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/?p=2354#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2011\\\/10\\\/champagne-5-284x300.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-10-30T22:56:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-10-30T23:00:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fc1dc45dd87a15ec9c0044a4fe9cd612\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/?p=2354#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/?p=2354\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/?p=2354#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2011\\\/10\\\/champagne-5-284x300.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2011\\\/10\\\/champagne-5-284x300.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/?p=2354#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"I\u2019ve done it. I\u2019ve taken the Plunge!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/\",\"name\":\"Celtic Connexions\",\"description\":\"My Scottish roots and writing by Melanie Robertson-King\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fc1dc45dd87a15ec9c0044a4fe9cd612\",\"name\":\"Melanie\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ac3ad22152d09e4a7bd2cb3bae125e6661ce011f61dfc62b8aaa5f8f911edff9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ac3ad22152d09e4a7bd2cb3bae125e6661ce011f61dfc62b8aaa5f8f911edff9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ac3ad22152d09e4a7bd2cb3bae125e6661ce011f61dfc62b8aaa5f8f911edff9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Melanie\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.melanierobertson-king.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"I\u2019ve done it. I\u2019ve taken the Plunge! - Celtic Connexions","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=2354","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"I\u2019ve done it. I\u2019ve taken the Plunge! - Celtic Connexions","og_description":"What plunge is that you might ask? Well, let me tell you. On October 11, in response to my submission to 4RV Publishing, after a successful pitch the previous week, I was offered a contract! Some of you are saying, yeah, yeah, we\u2019ve heard that already. And you\u2019re right. But this is a huge deal … Continue reading I\u2019ve done it. I\u2019ve taken the Plunge! →","og_url":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=2354","og_site_name":"Celtic Connexions","article_published_time":"2011-10-30T22:56:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-10-30T23:00:21+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/champagne-5-284x300.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Melanie","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Melanie","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=2354#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=2354"},"author":{"name":"Melanie","@id":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/#\/schema\/person\/fc1dc45dd87a15ec9c0044a4fe9cd612"},"headline":"I\u2019ve done it. I\u2019ve taken the Plunge!","datePublished":"2011-10-30T22:56:17+00:00","dateModified":"2011-10-30T23:00:21+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=2354"},"wordCount":716,"commentCount":13,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=2354#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/champagne-5-284x300.jpg","articleSection":["Authors","Novels","Publishing","Writing"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=2354#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=2354","url":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=2354","name":"I\u2019ve done it. I\u2019ve taken the Plunge! - Celtic Connexions","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=2354#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=2354#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/champagne-5-284x300.jpg","datePublished":"2011-10-30T22:56:17+00:00","dateModified":"2011-10-30T23:00:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/#\/schema\/person\/fc1dc45dd87a15ec9c0044a4fe9cd612"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=2354#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=2354"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=2354#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/champagne-5-284x300.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/champagne-5-284x300.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=2354#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"I\u2019ve done it. I\u2019ve taken the Plunge!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/#website","url":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/","name":"Celtic Connexions","description":"My Scottish roots and writing by Melanie Robertson-King","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/#\/schema\/person\/fc1dc45dd87a15ec9c0044a4fe9cd612","name":"Melanie","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ac3ad22152d09e4a7bd2cb3bae125e6661ce011f61dfc62b8aaa5f8f911edff9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ac3ad22152d09e4a7bd2cb3bae125e6661ce011f61dfc62b8aaa5f8f911edff9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ac3ad22152d09e4a7bd2cb3bae125e6661ce011f61dfc62b8aaa5f8f911edff9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Melanie"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.melanierobertson-king.com"],"url":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?author=2"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2NmRa-BY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2354"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2377,"href":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2354\/revisions\/2377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}