I've decided that I'm not going to worry about whether or not to make Rosemary and Time lighter or darker until I hear back from Groundwood Books one way or the other. As of yesterday, it has been eight months since the first three chapters and the synopsis were sent to them.
It's an interesting dichotomy of opinion, however. My parents both think that moving Rosemary and Time more firmly into middle grade territory would make it easier to publish. Dan and Cameron want it moved into the teen realm, though. Why? Well, Dan loves the budding romance, and Cameron loves the opportunity to make the storyline darker.
Sums up their characters in a nutshell.
One of the final words goes to Erin, who says that Rosemary and Time would be harder to sell as a teen novel than as a middle grade novel.
In an earlier post, I talked about the possibility of Canada annexing the Turks and Caicos Islands. I made a couple of assumptions that have since proven incorrect. The biggest one is that I suggested that the archipelago had a population of under 50,000. While technically correct, this gives the impression that the islands have more people on them than in fact they have. According to a July 2002 estimate, the islands' population is 18,738.
The information comes from the invaluable CIA World Fact Book, courtesy of Alfransen at the Urban Toronto forum.
This would leave the Turks and Caicos Islands with almost one-tenth rather than one-half of the population of Prince Edward Island. The islands would become Canada's fourth territory, with a population smaller than that of the Yukon (31,000). My earlier estimate would have made the Turks and Caicos Islands the most populated territory of Canada. Ooops.
Anyway, this makes the decision to annex the islands even easier, in my opinion. The costs would become just that of building and maintaining a coast guard, and, as MrG says, "the meagre cost of extending Canadian-style human rights and dignities to a population smaller than Owen Sound, Ontario".
I'm in.