Something's Coming

I disobeyed my writing office’s primary rule today. It’s an informal office, and the rule was jotted years ago with a Sharpie on a Post-It, which I then taped to my monitor (those Post-Its don’t stay up long term without a little reinforcement, and this rule needs vigorous reinforcement!).

The rule says Write First, Surf Later. It evolved because I endured this whole phase where I spent my writing time with online groups and newsletters. I was pretending to be a writer, and maybe I needed to hobnob before I broke away and started to actually write. But Web surfing is a vast and tiring endeavor. One link leads to another, and another. I needed to spend my energies more wisely. The limited time I have now goes mostly toward writing, with a little surfing as a wrap-up reward. The sign helps.

But I’ve had this feeling that something good is coming, so I had to check my e-mail (which inevitably leads to surfing). I submitted a piece via e-mail last week (don’t you wish more publications allowed this practice?) and have attributed my something good feeling to a prescient sense of imminent acceptance. No acceptance letter, but I did find some contests worth entering and some presses worth noting. Thanks again to Hope at Funds for Writers .

Of course, the something good may have already happened, and now I am greedily expecting more! I had the afternoon off yesterday and got to shop first for others and then for myself. The gift and toy stores where I shopped for others wrapped my packages with flair. I then strolled around Marshall’s, musing about how to spend my gift card. I emerged two shirts, a throw rug, and a kid’s puzzle later, feeling satisfied. On top of that, I took the wrong coffee off the pickup counter at Starbuck’s. It was a scrumptious chilled mocha. They let me keep it (since I had already sipped it), and gave me the one they had made me, too. No wonder I only slept for about five hours!

I am working on queries about my book, and am teetering on a scary precipice. Once I’ve sent the first query I risk rejection and even failure. Initial feedback on my draft has been encouraging, although one writer suggested that only amateurs start a query with a question (and I thought I was so clever!). Another writer suggested I spend three months researching agents. This sounded ridiculous to me, as I am the act first, fill in with research later type. I have researched some, but now I want to start my query process. Perhaps I can restrain myself while I research a bit more. But definitely not for three whole months: I’m afraid I would burst from the delay.

I was inspired not long ago by The Prizewinner of Defiance, Ohio, a memoir about a mother who subsidized her large family with contest winnings: jingles, poems, essays, and the like. She was a feisty, clever mother who used her very limited time (she had 10 kids) to simultaneously fulfill her creative impulses and earn some much-needed cash. I don’t think I’ll ever reach her level, but once in a while I hit it right. I’ve won a handful of contests, mostly small potatoes but one was an all expense paid self-publishing package. The latest one I entered was, if you can believe it, a love letter to witch hazel. Surely worth the 3-paragraph effort for the $1000 prize and the chance for a trip to France. Oh, and of course a lifetime supply of witch hazel (which I actually do use so I was not prostituting my talents).

Another Saturday, another swim lesson for Gavin, although this time my mom will join us in the pool. Then off to the Deep River Ancient Muster, which is a huge event in our area. I heard the drum tattoo last night as Gavin and I hunted for fireflies. Later today and tomorrow I get to give out nearly all of those daintily wrapped gifts I bought yesterday. My friend Pam’s daughter and my visiting niece will get Calico Critters (the hottest new girl’s toy – I was amazed by the volume of choices). My 16-year-old niece will get a jewelry set, which a teenager in the store helped me choose. I am hanging on to one box, Gavin’s birthday gift to my mom (she reads the blog so no details here). I will get the satisfaction of a gift well chosen and hopefully well received. Maybe that’s my something good. Whatever it turns out to be, I am delighting in the guessing game.