After finding out yesterday that my essay is a finalist in a contest, I was empowered to try again to find a market for it (the contest prizes don't include publication). There is an anthology series called Chocolate for Woman (Chocolate for a Woman's Soul, etc.), and I decided it couldn't hurt to submit my essay, even though I wasn't sure it would be quite what they wanted. I e-mailed it to the editor last night, and got an acceptance for it this morning!! That's got to be my fastest acceptance ever. If all goes well, my essay will appear in the next edition of the anthology, to be published in 2004. Hooray!

Oh, cool. I just found out my essay "Mom's Chair" is a finalist in the short non-fiction category of the San Gabriel Writers' League contest. It's gotten good feedback from people I've shown it to, but I've never found a home for it, or even a good potential home for it. I submitted it to one magazine & still haven't heard back 14 months later, so I'm pretty sure I'm not going to! Now I'm kicking myself for forgetting to enter it in the personal essay contest I meant to in January!

This week I once again dreamed that I sold a book--a rhyming picture book about fathers, which apparently had a unique take on things. I was thrilled as I looked forward to seeing a book with my name on the shelves & feeling like a "real" writer, & felt lucky because I'd written it in one day & would be getting a nice amount of money for it. However, I was a little concerned that the publisher was a small, possibly fly-by-night company called "Dollar Books"!

My 4-year-old is so funny. A few minutes ago, after I told him he must be tired because he kept dropping things, he threw some small toys across the room while acting silly. When I told him not to throw things, he happily excused his behavior by saying, "When I'm tired I don't make the best decisions."

My children's writing finally got some recognition in a ByLine contest. Two of my picture book manuscripts, If I Were Little and The Zoo that Grew, received honorable mentions in their latest Children's Story or Picture Book Contest. I know that both need a bit of work, so I'm happy that they were noticed at all! (Now I guess I need to go work on my short stories that didn't get mentions!)

While everyone is waiting with bated breath (or beeted breath...) for me to finish my beet-related book, let me direct you to the web site of my online friend Chérie B. Stihler, who has another veggie-related book, The Giant Cabbage: An Alaska Folktale, available for purchase right now. She has lots of fun cabbage-related stuff on her site, including a "dress the cabbage" game. And take note: she has Girl Scout cookies, and is not afraid to send them! ;-) When I sent her a cabbage lady decoration I happened to have (yes, one can just "happen to have" cabbage lady decorations), she responded with a treasure chest of Girl Scout cookies, candy, Alaskan toys & goodies, & even some beety treats! The least I can do is plug her book!

As for me, I'm not writing too much at the moment. The world situation has got me down, as it probably has most of us. But I do believe we need stories, and hope, and fun, to get us through life and hard times, so I'm sure I'll be back on track before long.

I got another "good rejection" today. Though that sounds like an oxymoron, it really was good. It said, "Very nice. Not what I need right now, but do send others." So I've already got another submission going out to that editor today! Here's hoping!

Happy Birthday to my husband!!

As for me, I just entered a couple more contests, and I think I'm done with those for a while! (Maybe even for the rest of the year...just depends what comes up, I guess.) My next hurdle is to finish my taxes, and particularly to figure out whether to declare my paltry writing income for last year as miscellaneous/hobby income or self-employment income. It doesn't make a difference in the amount I owe unless I want to write off some of my writing expenses & declare a business loss, which could add a small amount to my refund. Just not sure what is smartest in the long run, as I don't know if I have a reasonable assumption of becoming profitable soon! (And theoretically you are not supposed to declare a self-employment loss for more than 2 out of 5 years.) And then it's back to full-tilt novel writing!