ABOUT THE PROPOSAL - I had written around seventy children’s book by the time I decided to write Tales of a Female Nomad. The silly books like MORE SPAGHETTI, I SAY! and WHY CAN’T I FLY? had to be written completely in order to sell them to a publisher. The non-fiction books got some sort of a treatment, usually no more than three or four pages, saying what I planned to include and giving some idea of the style of the writing I was proposing. I’m not sure if I was getting away with a lot because I already had published other books or if the editors knew me, but for many years, if I had a good idea, I didn’t have to work too hard to sell it. Adult books are altogether different.

I read several articles on how to write a proposal and then sat down to write it. I was in New Zealand for the proposal-writing stage and I wasn’t terribly uptight or compulsive about the project because I wanted to experience the community I was living in. It took me close to six months to complete the proposal. It was sixty two pages long: what they call a two-page cover letter, a couple of pages selling the idea, a table of contents, an extended table of contents with a paragraph or two on each chapter, then three chapters and a brief bio. I couldn’t believe how long it was and how long it had taken me to do it.

From proposal to book, a lot changed, especially the structure I originally proposed, which my first editor didn’t like at all. I had planned to alternate chapters, chronological stories and theme chapters (airplane people, traveling alone, etc.). She told me it was lazy doing it that way and that I had to incorporate all those themes into the writing. Eventually I did. Some stories didn’t fit and they were tossed out.