At last, the travel, research, scribbling, writing and editing are finished; my manuscript is complete. The book is a hybrid memoir/science genre that tells the story of the people and places I met following the spring migration of Blackburnian warblers from Ecuador to my home mountains of Vermont.
It’s been quite a journey. I started my book, working title Wingbeats, late in 2019 and after four years of research, a year of writing, half a year of working with an editor my book will be off on its own, out of my hands, navigating the daunting world of publishing. This must be what it is like having children- you do all you can to create the best people you can and then off they go, on their own to find their way in the world. At least you don’t find children sitting on the remainder table, marked down and looking all raggedy.
The first four years was all travel, reading research papers and books, interviewing experts and filling notebooks with thoughts and ideas. Looking back, it seems like a long time. but to follow the entire migration took multiple trips of my own. And sometimes one trip to a place was not enough to get the information and material I needed. I went to Ecuador twice, Colombia 6 times, Honduras once, then to Texas, South Carolina, up the Blue Ridge Mountains to Pennsylvania and finally to Vermont. It was all worth it though. I am very happy with the way the book has turned out.
When will the book be published? Will it be published? I need to find an agent who will enthusiastically present the book to a good publisher. A good publisher is one who is invested in the book and will promote and market the book for the long term and not just let it run out and die a forgotten death. I think I have a good prospect for an agent now so perhaps a publisher might be found later this fall. It would be a wonderful way to end this journey.