Brain Stemmed Roses! Here is the gist of my cover letter that accompanied my submission of my latest manuscript just this morning: (11/04/05) Dear Sir or Madam; I currently have two titles published with Publish America; Poison Pearls and Going Without Peggy are their titles. I hope to make it three with this new manuscript of mine. ( Brain Stemmed Roses ) I believe that the quality of my work is well established by now and so am sending this manuscript in without the prior benefit of a query letter. If you wish, you may find out more about my work and my books at my web site, www.poeticat.com . My most recent book, Going Without Peggy, is currently in the Pulitzer Prize competition in two categories, both as verse and as a biography. Winners and finalists will be announced in the Spring of 2006 and if I am so fortunate as to be one of those named persons, I would like to see this work available when we can best take advantage of the fact. Submitting this manuscript now should come out just about right as far as timing is concerned, judging by my past experience with Publish America. This manuscript is divided into six sections, starting with "A Poet's View of Poetry" - thought provoking pieces written about writing poetry. The second section is titled "Early Works" and is just that, some of the best pieces that I had written during the 60's and 70's, including my very first poem that went on to be a first prize winner in college level competition despite the fact that I had written it several years before. "Smart and Sexy" is the third section and it picks up where Going Without Peggy left off, telling the story of an uncertain widower picking up the pieces of his life with some titillating tales from his rediscovery of the fair sex. "The Ukrainian Connection," (Section 4) speaks of my friendship with the Ukrainian artists, Sergey Poyarkov and Wolodomyr Ivanov, and the unlikely connection through them that led to my acquaintance with Anne McCaffrey. That friendship also led to my serious consideration of an overseas romance that took me on the difficult (and dangerous!) trip to Kyrgyzstan in 1999, before any US presence there! That was where love was found, but lost again, possibly to human traffickers. That was Natasha and Poison Pearls is dedicated to her. Section 5 continues with comments on and pieces inspired by my overseas correspondences. Titled, "Finding Marina,"it was originally being drafted as another book dedicated to the "Round the World Romance" that took place between myself and the lovely Russian lady who is now my wife of five years. Since she was shy and self conscious about my writing a book that centers around her, I have taken some of the best pieces and brought them together here in this section. "The Passions of Poetry" is the final section and brings together several of my best pieces that are otherwise unrelated to each other. 02/10/2006... Interesting! It seems that my publisher approved the manuscript and posted a reply to me only ten days later (11/14/05), but I never received it. That came out in subsequent communications when they asked me if I was going to respond to their offer... It's worked out since then and I've approved the proffered contract. I'm now waiting for the formal copy which will be signed and returned to them before they can proceed with the publication of Brain Stemmed Roses. 3/25/06 -- With the contract signed and final version of my manuscript submitted, I'm now waiting for the proof copies to be returned to me for my review. Either it will be acceptable or I will need to point out some errors that need correction. In either case, it will be going to press soon after!
4/30/06 -- Finished with the review of the proofs and the cover art has been approved, so the next thing that I'm waiting for is my author copies! SOON!
5/13/06 -- I received my author's copies yesterday! They look great! Whether It's your first book or your third, it's still a great feeling, especially since they're everything that I hoped they would be! | 
