My stomach had a nervous...

My stomach had a nervous ache. It could have been because this small-town girl was overwhelmed by the crowds and noise in Penn Station, NYC…or the anticipation of meeting with a real NY agent who was actually interested in my first book!

I had taken the train up from Washington, DC where I was working in the White House on the economic team. From Penn Station I took a cab to the St. Regis Hotel where we met in the famous old "Nat King Cole" bar. My dream of becoming a real, published author-a dream I'd had since childhood-seemed on the verge of coming true!

Okay, so this might seem magical and easy: taking the train from the White House to NYC to meet with a big time agent who represented numerous best selling books. Magical-yes, but easy? No.

That meeting was the culmination of years of work and false starts. First there were all the drafts I started and quit during college and grad school. When I finally got serious, I read a book on how to write a book proposal. I wrote my proposal, researched the market and sent it out to 17 editors and agents. I only received five rejections-most people didn't bother to send anything at all. Ironically one of the rejections came from Simon and Schuster where I ultimately got published! What made the difference in the end, was going to an author book signing (Tony Robbins) and asking him to pass on my proposal to his agent (Jan Miller). Then I got a call back and an invitation to meet in the Nat King Cole bar.

Even then, things didn't just fall into place. Jan Miller didn't like my proposal and asked me to rewrite it. She kept asking for new versions for nine months! I was at my wits end. I felt like giving up. I had given birth to my daughter in this same nine months, but still no book deal. Finally she liked what I wrote and sold the book within a few months. After that it was three years of writing, editing and getting the book done and out.

When the book came out, my daughter was sitting in a stroller as I pushed her into a bookstore. She saw a display of books on the wall at her eye level with me on the cover. "Mommy!" she exclaimed reaching out for the books.

It really happened and was so worth it!

Since then I self-published two books and am now coming out with "How Strong Women Pray." My next book will be "Live Your Joy" which is also the title of our web-based TV and radio show at BonnieStjohn.com. I am committed to supporting others in their quest to make their dreams come true as I have done.

Copyright © 2007 by Bonnie St. John