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Defying the odds gives author a second chance at publishing book
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Run at Destruction
Lynda Drews, a Wisconsin native and dedicated runner, recently gave the commencement speech at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse, her college Alma mater. One lesson she shared with the graduates was: “to journal your life.” When Lynda, an IBM marketing executive, made the decision to retire after her thirty-year career, she returned to an earlier passion. Run at Destruction is the outcome.
While there’s a love triangle between three teachers/runners, a suspicious bathtub drowning, and a small-town community rattled by speculation which makes Drews’ book an intriguing work of fiction, the events really happened to her best friend and running partner, Pamela Bulik.
Pamela and her husband, Bob, were members of Drews’ close-knit running group and part of a three-teacher love triangle. Normally, football is Green Bay’s only obsession…but that changed when Pam died.
It ended up becoming a baffling murder mystery and the trial was deemed as being one of the most sensationalized trials in Green Bay’s history. When Drews takes the stand, the evidence teeters between premeditated murder and a tragic accident.
When Drews decided to write this book about this tragic tale, she tells of another story – how difficult it was to find a publisher.
“I first researched the agents/publishers that were interested in the true crime genre,” she says, “and then developed my query letter and book proposal.
“The latter included a marketing plan that was to include my endorsements. I was able to locate the e-mail of the best-selling True Crime author, Ann Rule, who’s written books like The Stranger Beside Me, Small Sacrifies and Mortal Danger.
“I naively wrote her, asking if she’d read my manuscript and then, if she liked it, write a blurb that I could include in my marketing plan. Amazingly, Ann wrote me back and said, ‘I try to read bound galleys that have been purchased and write blurbs if I find the book something my readers would enjoy. So I have to say ‘no’ right now, but you could contact me when you have sold your book.’
“I included Ann’s potential endorsement in my packet that I e-mailed to about 50 agents/publishers. From this, I received five requests to read my manuscript. One was an agent who was also a runner. She said she was intrigued by my pitch and was eager to see more. I was very hopeful, but like the rest, a rejection letter came in the mail. Hers said, “I just don’t agree that readers will still find this story relevant today, as fascinating as it is.” So… I took her words to heart and changed my book proposal to show Run at Destruction’s relevancy. I realized that my story took place in the 80s, which was actually the timeframe of the “first running boom.” Since there are 40-million U.S. runners, it would be the first true crime book, also categorized as sports/running, to take place during this historical era. This was my hook.
With fresh focus, Drews began the search for an agent/publisher again. Coincidentally, TitleTown, a new local publishing company had just been launched by Tracy Ertl and the focus was to be true crime.
“I met with Tracy for lunch at a restaurant appropriately named TitleTown Brewing Company,” she says, “and discussed my manuscript. She was excited and wanted to read my proposal. Weeks later I got the call. I had a publisher!
“To find a publisher, I had to be passionate and tenacious and, most importantly, willing to change. I had to take constructive advice from the seemingly endless rejections and rework both my book proposal and manuscript before submitting it again.
“In any profession, I believe it is those people who are willing to adapt and to even relish change that can defy the odds.”
Lynda Drews will be on virtual book tour throughout November to promote her new book, Run at Destruction. Visit her official tour page at http://www.pumpupyourbook.com/2009/10/12/run-at-destruction-virtual-book-tour-november-09/.
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