A Hallmark Moment

A little while ago, I saw an ad on Facebook that Hallmark channel was accepting manuscripts for possible use for one of their movies or series. I have described myself as a “hallmarkie” type of writer, although my novels do have some drama that you more than likely won’t see in a Hallmark movie. I gave it a little thought and then decided not to do it. Once again, I saw the notice, but this time it said they were accepting self-published works only until early September.

Of the three novels about my family, I thought the one about my maternal grandparents, A Life Well Loved, would work well with the Hallmark theme. I knew there were some incidents in their story that would not work in a movie or series, but I assumed they would simply leave those out if they chose my work. My thinking was that there was a good 85% of the book that would make a wonderful love story, especially since their story spans almost 100 years.

They asked for a query letter, a 3- to 4-page synopsis of the novel, and the manuscript itself. First I had to research a query letter, because I had never written one before. I found some samples and wrote up what I felt was a pretty good letter. The synopsis was a bit harder, because I wasn’t  sure what to include. I didn’t want to give the entire story away, but after a time, I summarized the book fairly well—at least it read well to me.

I filled out the form on their website, uploaded the required documents, and hit submit before I could talk myself out of it. I felt so nervous, my hands were actually shaking. I posted on Facebook and told my family and friends what I had done. I did mention that I was pretty sure they would not accept my work. It’s not that I didn’t have confidence in the book, because I do feel I told a good story. But I anticipated they probably received a lot of submissions, so I even wondered if they would get to my novel.

Five short days later (actually they felt anything but short), I saw an email with the return address of Hallmark. I could see the “Dear Patty,” before I opened the entire note. Well, it said exactly what I was expecting. They thanked me for giving them the chance to read my work, but it wasn’t  what they were looking for. I wasn’t  surprised. What did surprise me was how bad I felt when I read the email, which I think I read about ten times. I knew my chances were slim, so why did I feel that badly? My guess is that deep down, I was hoping I would be on the positive side of that slim chance.

So what did I do? I took the day and felt sad the entire day. I let my FB friends and family know what had happened and thanked them for the support they had shown me when I posted earlier what I had done. I had many lovely comments that lifted my spirits. An author friend of mine, someone I have never met in person, told me that my book is one of her favorites and is often reminded of it when funny or similar things happen in her family. That meant the world to me. All that support and love reminded me that I need to let go of the sadness and do one very important thing—keep writing!

My point in sharing this with you is that, if you find yourself experiencing a major disappointment, don’t let that stop you. See what you can learn from it. Maybe there is nothing to learn, but simply pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again. Isn’t that from a song? If you love to write, then don’t let anything stop you from continuing on. There will be setbacks and disappointments, but so what? Not every day is a good day and that’s okay.  I’m still glad I stepped way out of my comfort zone and submitted my work to Hallmark. If I hadn’t, I would always wonder what if? I may never see my work on the little or big screen or ever see a title on the NYT best seller list. I still love what I do and won’t let anyone or anything take that away.

Thanks for stopping by. Keep reading, keep writing, and enjoy your day and the journey!