Good News and Bad News

I’m back from Surrey. I just got home about 10:30 a.m., which means 30 hours with no sleep and I have to go to work at 2:30 to work until 2:30 a.m. I would go take a nap, but I’m afraid I will oversleep.

The fish are alive. Yay!

I’ll try to write a more complete report tomorrow.

The good news and bad news.

Bad news first. I need to rewrite the first chapter. No surprise there. Frustrating, but no surprise. Well, not completely rewrite it, but it needs a new opening. Several hours of off and on thinking rendered the following.

Bad news always rode a fast horse. The horse coming down the hill was both fast and exhausted.

The other bad news. I really feel like I am in kindergarten with crayons while everyone around me is sitting there with computers. So very many talented writers.

The good news. Janet Reid, Rachel Vater and Paul Stevens asked me to submit to them. Janet and Rachel, I think were being very kind. Having said that, you have no idea how impressed I am with the professionalism and expertise of these people. Paul, who knows why he asked? I think it piqued his interest a bit, but we didn’t really talk about much except length and the various problems Gen has. Perhaps the tiny blurb was enough to tell him it isn’t completely jaded. I wouldn’t submit to him without an agent, but it’s a shot in the arm to know he invited me to submit.

They were all very sweet and I’m so thankful I had a chance to visit with them.

Of course, now I need to finish it and get revisions done.

6 Comments

  1. Hey, welcome back.

    Not sure about Rachel Vater and Paul Stevens, but I bet Janet wasn’t just “being very kind.” I mean, you DID share the Old Hooker/Pickled Egg/Slim Jim/etc. story with her, didn’t you?!?

    Seriously, sounds (so far) like the weekend did a lot of what you were hoping it would do. So happy to hear that!

  2. Tony, thanks so much. I am still trying to catch up on sleep, but I am getting some writing done, so that helps.

    I’m very excited about the invitations even if they don’t pan out. Just getting that far means I at least have a good idea. Now, hopefully, I can follow through with execution.

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