Tuesday, October 15, 2002

I mailed out four manuscripts today! That brings me up to 23 submissions (including many contest entries) for the year, and I still have another picture book manuscript to send out this year. I also have another idea for a humor article, though I'm not sure if I'll write it soon or not. I probably want to get the picture book done first. I also got a letter from Once Upon A Time today, saying that my humor piece When the Muse Strikes (Out) will run in their next issue, to be mailed out next week.

I also had a very strange dream last night--basically I dreamed an odd concept for an adult literary novel set in Victorian England. I saw the parlor or drawing room where part of it would be set, and I saw the cover of the book in great detail... It was a moody and dreamy-looking cover with the title beautiful hands in lowercase script, in a text box in the center of a dark green book jacket, with a painting (very old and crackly-looking, like the detail from a classic painting) on the top half of the cover of several women's arms and hands extended, reaching up, above the book title. Like this was a novel I was supposed to write or something. But not only can I not figure out what it was supposed to mean, but it doesn't really even appeal to me (except for the book jacket design)! I write contemporary young adult fiction, not adult literary stuff or anything set in the past. (I imagined this as a lyrical, slow-moving tome of adult literary fiction, whereas I usually write fast-paced first person stuff about teenagers today.) Very odd. I can't figure out if I should be trying to learn something from that or not! ;-)

Thursday, October 10, 2002

Woo hoo! I got my first actual writing check today!! I'm not going to cash it until I scan or photocopy it, and I am pathetic enough I'll probably frame that & put it over my desk...if I ever start using my desk. Now I have to figure out what to spend it on. It's not really even enough to go out to dinner on! (At least not with the kids.) So I can't decide whether to spend it on a small celebration dinner, or to buy some sort of keepsake with it. I did recently buy a Native American-style Storyteller figurine from eBay to replace one I got in New Mexico & can't find right now...but I doubt that should be my keepsake because I think it's an imitation and I'll replace it with my old one when I find it. OK...I just went to eBay again & bought a silver charm of Snoopy as the Literary Ace. Maybe that'll be my keepsake! And it was cheap enough I'll still have almost enough to go out to dinner, LOL.

Saturday, October 05, 2002

I signed up yesterday to participate in National Novel Writing Month. It's a challenge to write a 50,000 word novel between Nov. 1 and Nov. 30. There's no obligation to finish & no prizes for completion...all they do is put up the names of people who got to 50,000 words and who are willing to submit their manuscripts to a word count. So, why not try it, if the fun of the deadline will motivate me to sit down & do something I want to do anyway? I do have one young adult novel in progress (or rather, in stasis!) but you are supposed to start something new for the challenge, so I plan to try to blast through a different young adult novel I have an idea for. I doubt I can do it justice in a month, and don't want to alienate my husband and kids, either, but figured I'd at least give it a try! I'll use the rest of October to finish up some short pieces I've been working on and send them out, and will switch into dedicated novel-writing mode on November 1. Looks like I've ordered a keyboard for my PDA (a lovely color Sony CliƩ I got for Christmas last year) just in time!