Really, I Should Pack...

But I'm not. Why, you ask?

Because in order to pack, there's Mt. Laundry to climb and conquer, the girls' fundraiser to tally and prepare for turn-in, and a spreadsheet of activities/school pick-ups/day care arrangements to make for my husband, who will have to be me for an entire week and has no idea how to go about it.

And amidst all of the preparation madness, another agent requested my manuscript today (yay!) but wants an exclusive, which puts me in a bit of a quandary as said manuscript is already firmly entrenched in another agent's pile o' reading. I offered a semi-exclusive, which I hope will provide a good compromise. I hope she responds in time for me to send out the full before I leave for VP.

Oh, and apparently, there's a blog to update.

However, I have organized and packed my little file folder of bus tickets, ticketless plane tickets, ferry schedules and traveling buddy/ roommate phone numbers. So if nothing else, I'll be checking an empty suitcase with a folder full of info. Priorities, yes?

Really, I just don't know what to pack. The best answer I get about the weather is that it's "unpredictable," which means that I pretty much need to pack my entire (paltry, pathetic) wardrobe. I also have a winter clothes problem. I've gained * pounds over the summer, so the few warm items I possess are a little clingy and bring unnecessary attention to my chubby bits. My jeans fit (see post below!) but only because 1/2 my stomach and 1/4 of my butt now flop over the top (compounding aforementioned chubby bits issue). So far, all I've managed to decide is that I: a) need to buy new jeans, or b) need to buy looser tops. What I will most likely choose, given my current poverty of both time and funds, is c) suck it up, suck it in, and smile.

But I digress. Packing will, eventually, happen. By 6:00 a.m. on Saturday, I will have made a final decision about whether or not to take my laptop and/or printed copies of my work (as of now I'm leaning toward both). I will have clothes, shampoo and mascara, which is really all I need.

And all of this stressing about the small stuff? Is to keep my mind from spinning out over the fact that in TWO DAYS I will be at Viable Paradise!

Ready or not, here I come!

Thin and Stretched

Life has been very crazy here. Hence, the long, dry spell continues.

Still, I managed to work on a short story for Writing Group. I think it will be a great story if I ever finish it, but if I only write 2 1/2 pages a year (current rate of progress), I probably will not finish for two more years.

The good news is that I'm up to five pages, and they are five pages that I really like. My peeps seem to like it, too, which is wonderful motivation. I have strong ideas, characters that interest me, and an excellent general idea of what happens. Now if only I could download the theme and how the story ends from the literary mothership, I would be in good shape.

Meanwhile, after the initial flurry of rejections, the query responses seem to have settled. This means some are still "out there." This is good. I am also still waiting to hear from one of the agents from Writer's Weekend, to whom I would really love to send my full manuscript. I can't decide if this wait is good or not, but I must wait nonetheless. And my short story is still out there as well.

And that's all. Teaching resumes Tuesday with a whole new crop of freshmen. It means I will have a lot less time to write, but that doesn't seem to matter. I think I work better when my schedule is chock full and I'm sleep-deprived.

Shouting into the Void

For whatever reason, today ended up becoming my annual Query Day. With only a few breaks and a lunch, I researched and narrowed a list of 89 literary agents who accept e-mail queries, and queried the 15 who accept fantasy.

I discovered that e-mail queries are much more time-consuming. Chugging them out a rate of about two per hour is really discouraging. Even worse, the rejections started coming in before I'd even finished the list. That was fun.

On the upside, I saved so much postage! I didn't have to send the query or waste money and time on SASEs. Not to mention the agony of waiting.

An interesting development: one agent sent me a very nice rejection, and asked to see my YA, even after I replied that it was unfinished. So I got a little two-for-one. I really liked the agent, too, so hopefully her response to my YA synopsis and pages will be positive.

Now that I've got a raging backache, I guess I'll quit procrastinating and get back to polishing Book One. I worked through it some more the other day, and so far, I haven't wanted to change much. It's definitely ready to send off to anyone requesting the full. The story is solid, the writing is solid; all I'm doing is picking at words, and I could do that forever. I am about to officially rename this process "nit-picking" and declare Book One done.