This past weekend, three of my dearest agent friends and I packed up for Connecticut for a much needed Mother's Weekend away.  The trip had been planned for months, and we were determined that  nothing would stop to stop it from happening. Nope. Where there is a will to sleep, eat and drink when you want, there is a way! Despite a storm that left us with a foot of snow, husbands and mothers telling us it was a really bad idea to drive under such conditions, a highway closed down due to said storm and a car that  rattled the whole way on the back roads (yes, the ladies drove through a snow storm on a bald tire) we made it.  We really felt like pioneer women when we had to ditch the car at the end of the road and hike though said foot of snow to the house. But it was so worth it. By 10pm we were sitting fireside, enjoying our late night dinner of cheese and wine (cooking was too much effort) and laughing at how determined (or stupid) we were.

I wanted to share that little story because our determination reminded me a bit of what it's like to sell a book these days. You have to really want it and be ready for a lot of setbacks. People telling you are nuts, roadblocks, detours and well, you get my analogy.  Things don't always happen the way you expect them to, but with a little luck and a lot of hard work, it is worth the ride. With that in  mind, in the coming weeks, I am going to be doing author interviews on all aspects of writing and publishing.  Next week I will be interviewing Rae Meadows, author of the upcoming novel, Mothers and Daughters (Henry Holt, March 2011) on the inspiration behind her book, based in part on the Orphan Train Movement.