What a Wonder-full Day!

Actually, it's been a wonderful few weeks. After the perfect birthday present - a two-week trip to England, Scotland and Wales with my family, I sent off my new book, Cold Stone and Ivy, to several agents. I'm learning, really I am. Agents are good. Agents are my friends. When you write, you tend to become very solitary, like a cranky old polar bear, and you honestly think publishers are going to flip when they read your query letter. They might like it well enough, but surely, they will not flip. At any rate, two days after I sent off my first query of the new book, I got a request for a partial! Sent it off the very next day, perhaps shooting myself in the foot yet again with a gushing response and eleven pages more than requested. It's such a personal thing, and a growing thing. I think I'm learning, really I do. It may take years before I get it right, but the journey is a terrifying, giddy one, much like a rollercoaster. I do hate rollercoasters. I prefer the merry-go-round still.

So, after actually two requests for partials from two different agents, I get a nibble on my first book, To Journey in the Year of the Tiger from a publisher. Either way, it's all good. There are so many wonderful people in this industry - writers, agents and publishers alike - and I intend to focus on the blessings I find all the way. In some ways, I think the snags, the thorns, the nasty responses, might serve to grow me up better and faster, but as I said, it's all good. No matter what has happened before, or what will happen from here, I am a writer. I know that now. I can call myself that with all sincerity and pride.

My daughter turns 19 on Monday. She is currently in a rented hot tub with a bunch of crazy girls, just a little drunk (on the sly) and very happy. She is happy. She doesn't know what she's going to do with her life but she is happy. Sounds like me, including the 'just a little drunk' part. Life goes so much better with a nice glass of Cab-Shiraz, don't you think?

Anyway, I'll try to keep blogging now. I'm still not really sure the point, but I suppose it will become clear at some point. I hope I have something interesting to say. Short and pithy. That's me.

What a wonderful day...