Well, I woke up this morning feeling confidant and full of vim and vigor. I am not a shy, tongue in cheek individual.  Actually I can be aggressive and sometimes rather outspoken when I know of which I speak....so to speak.  I wrote a fable with a purpose.  I believe wholeheartedly in why, I wrote it, how I wrote it and that it will accomplish my goal. I specifically designed the story  for this reason. I never claimed it to be a literary masterpiece, nor did I profess to be the best story teller in the business, although I can come up with a slew of ideas in a small unpressured time frame.  But that's another story, no pun intended.  I am not going to beat around the bush, I am venting so here goes.

I pulled from my files a list of newspapers up and down the East Coast; targeting  the coastal areas first.  Because my fable, Olivia's Magic Conch deals with the ongoing problem of trash left behind on the beaches endangering birds and sealife. I am trying to inform tweens about  this horror so they can help preserve some endangered species.  It's my goal to teach them through an entertaining informative adventure, without making it  another lecture; unleashing the dismay of their raging hormones. These kids are on pressure overload already.

Okay, sorry I drifted a little in the riptide of my mission. Anyway, I called the first paper and the receptionist was quite nice and gave me the contact's name and number. I called 20 papers in all and deserved to take a break feeling proud of my accomplishment.  After a  cup of coffee, I was ready to send out  my press release along with a synopsis and a bio and all the necessary paperwork.  To  my chagrin, one by one I was told almost verbatim, that  since I was unknown and untraditionally published, there could be no press release for my book. When questioning each one in depth, I was told the same tale of woe repeatedly as if from a script. " If we could read all the emails and snail mail that comes in with the same request from unknowns it would take a month of Sundays.  We go with the sure thing,either a published author or a person with celebrity.  Sorry.

Well after the fourth time, with sixteen to go  I repied,"So because they have celebrity their books are always going to be on the best seller list?  I don't think so, I have seen more than a few on the clearance table."  By the tenth decline, I changed my verbage to." It's amazing a serial killer in jail for life can write a book and get instant press, But no one wants to give an unknown who has financed her own book from day one (because it will help save birds and fish caught up in trash left behind by humans), a chance to spread the word in an adventure fable set in present day. Absolutely amazing."  Now it was time for a break and I can tell you this, it wasn't coffee.  Stay tuned because I do not give up on anythjing or anyone I believe in.  P.S.  I'll tackle the next few tomorrow.  I may shift  to the West Coast the day after.