The pitch jitters

Today marks the first day that I’m sending out a query letter not for a magazine or newspaper article but for a book proposal. It’s been more than a year since I put the finishing touches on the first quarter of my manuscript, and then all these things got in the way for both me and the photographer I’m working with: life, finding a job in DC, other personal crises. Plus, taking time to work on a book project is a huge risk, if only because there are always other freelance assignments that are guaranteed a payoff. So why would I spend time on a gamble? The answer, I regret to report, is predictable: because it’s my dream.

This whole thing is very thrilling. I’m trying not to get my hopes up (who sells a book on the first try, anyway?) but I have so much faith in and passion for the project. “Home” follows New York City nomadic subcultures–I’m talking couchsurfers, street vendors, and the like, not gypsies, although the book contains one bona fide Gypsy too. I’ll get to stretch my journalistic muscles, but also the creative writing ones, which are starting to feel, not atrophied, certainly, but they could use a little juicing.

So here goes. I ain’t gonna make history overnight, and I may not even remember this day as the beginning of a new era, but this is it. Wish me luck.

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