Matthew displayed he was handy yesterday. Two out of three of our bathrooms had ailing plumbing. The flapper chain thingy in one of the bowls had broken, and the flush handle thingy on the other had cracked apart and would no longer do its job. And to top everything off, the light switch in our master bath had been possessed by some evil spirit that got its jollies from flickering the lights off and on at random intervals.
My intrepid hubby went to Home Depot, picked out the correct replacement parts, and installed them all by himself! (Well, I held the flashlight and was in charge of tool acquisition.) So now we don’t need to call either an electrician or a plumber! I’m so proud of Matthew.
And in Cool Happenings Out of the Blue, we got an email from an NPR reporter who was doing a story on Mount Airy Lodge in the Poconos (where Matthew and I honeymooned). Apparently it’s closing down and auctioning off all its fixtures and stuff. She’d come across my write-up on our experience and wanted to do a phone interview with us. So we emailed her back, and she called us shortly afterward. Interview happened, story slated for Friday’s Market Place. Neat! I spoke little, as this triggered my speaking in front of people phobia, but Matthew was great. I hope they got a few good sound bytes from us. Going to tune into NPR’s Market Place on Friday for sure!
Writing Stuff
Sent out
eight queries to agents yesterday (yes,
mroctober, one of those was to
bgliterary). I think I figured out why this whole query/agent thing is freaking me out. With queries especially, agents gauge whether or not you get bumped up the slush to the next tier of consideration solely on the basis of an introduction letter–not the first page of a manuscript, not even the first paragraph. The letter.
I’m pretty confident about my prose. I can tell when something really sings, and when something really sucks. Can’t always get the sucking bits to sing, and certainly can’t coax forth much more than a warble most days, but I trust myself to know. Not so with queries. Totally new ground there. I mean, I’ve read fiction for most of my life and I know what I like and what works. I haven’t read very many query letters. What’s a masterful query? What’s the equivalent of the Eye of Argon?
Also, I’m fine with having a story judged by its merits, but I’m freaked out by the idea of having me and the future of my writing career evaluated solely on the caliber of my introductory letter. Glah.
To top off my anxiety, I received a rejection from Surreal yesterday. It was a nice one, as they went; they invited me to submit again, but I’m not in a good headspace for rejction right now.
However, in the taketh and giveth front, arkhamrefugee contacted me about a paying writing gig. It’s always sweet to get solicited.
Words: 700 – The Chinese fairy tale continues apace. ‘Bout halfway, and I’m pleased with how it’s turning out.
Club 100 For Writers
5
500/day
19
