Here's the Rub

The problem, at least for me, with submitting is that there are only so many no's and not-for-us's I can handle before my insecurity smothers my creativity.

This Post Is Not About Writing

I am tired! Holy smokes! Who knew? Who knew that after 5 years of non-employment (because I wasn’t unemployed), adding 20 hours to my already 24/7 job as a mom would kick my rear?! And I’ve only worked 8¾ hours of my 20 this week!

But it’s wonderful. In a way that I want to take a nap now and then tell you about work later, but I’m going to go ahead and tell you now because I have mom things to do. We’re out of milk again.

My first day was Sunday. I didn’t even work 3 hours, and I was completely wiped out afterward. My job supports the Religious Ed program for youth at my church, and Sunday was the first day of RE for this year, and everybody needed something. Parents, teachers, visitors. The office was, several times, full of people in those 2¾ hours. Fortunately, there were 2 other people there helping. I guess they didn’t think they should leave me alone on my first day. I handled it, though. People came to me and said, “I need [this].” and “What do I do with [that]?” and “Where do I find [these]?” and “[This] is broken.” To which I responded, “I’ll bring [this] to you,” and “You can give [that] to me,” and “[These] are over here,” and “I will fix [this] and bring it back to you.” I was awesome!

Except I wore the wrong shoes. I knew there was a chance I’d be running all around and up and down stairs and in and out of doors so I wore my clunky Mary Janes, stable but still dressy. They were fine for running around in except for the fact that they’re HOT. So my feet didn’t get tired, but they sure weren’t comfortable. Next week, ballet flats!

It was Super Fun. I left that afternoon and left a to-do list on my desk, which included tasks from data entry to storytelling. I couldn’t wait to get back and do them. I’ve never had a job where I couldn’t wait to go in and tackle my to-do list. NEVER!

Yesterday I worked all day (ish, 6hrs). I knocked the data entry off my to-do list and added a different data entry to-do, was given a ton of new tasks (including posting the podcast! and creating a how-to manual and quick reference guide for my position). The part I was least comfortable with was covering the front desk while our fulltime admin went to lunch, but I managed. It helped that nothing happened while she was gone…

I love my job! What’s that quote about finding a job you love and never working again? That’s me!

Here’s Something You Don’t Think About Until It’s Done…

Listen, you guys. Keep this in mind, okay? You totally cannot UNDO sending your manuscript off for other people to read. I mean, I suppose you could follow up with a note saying, "Don't read that!" but that's probably discouraged, right?

Just wanted to warn you.

Stupid Cover Letter

Seriously, people! The body of my cover letter is literally 6 lines long. And that includes the blank lines in between the 1-line paragraphs!

Is this right?

Back to Writing! In a minute… After I do these other things…

School started, you know, 2 weeks ago. I was sooo looking forward to it for several reasons. First, I’m not an Automated Entertainment Machine with Super Fun Activities in my back pocket, just waiting for 5 or 9 year-olds to get bored; I’m sorry, but I’m not. Second, I do not enjoy refereeing the fistfights that ensue when 5 and 9 year-olds (girls!) are bored. That didn’t happen often, fortunately, but once is too many times.

And third, and this is the big one, with everyone gone to school and work, the house is quiet and nobody needs me and I can write! Also, edit. Or so I thought…

Turns out, now that everyone else is elsewhere, I’m also needed elsewhere. In the last 2 weeks, I’ve spent… Well, let’s just do the math.

14 days in 2 weeks minus 5 weekend/holiday days = 9 days for writing, right? Wrong. 9 writing days minus 5 days of volunteering at the school = 4 writing days (already down 10 days here…). But then, and this is all on me, I know, I spent 2 days doing churchy things. One day I had an interview for that job, and even though the actual interview, including driving time, was only an hour, the day was pretty much lost to anxiety and getting ready. The other day, yesterday, I spent volunteering at the church, doing work that would have been done by the person who left and made a job available. That was just the morning and early afternoon, but then I needed to go grocery shopping so my girls would have milk to drink and wouldn’t have to buy school lunch (ick!).

So: 14-5-5-2=2. Two days. I think I’ve been busier since school started than I was before.

And yet, now that I think about it, I’ve written and revised a poem, edited a chunk of the first chapter of my Tallulah MS, Googled picture book agents (anyone have any recommendations?), and journal-ed almost every day.

Never mind. Being busy is good for my writing, apparently.

(Quick addendum: I got the job. I start Sunday. It’s only part time and so will leave plenty of time for writing.)

Query Letter

By any chance, is one of you a literary agent who represents picture book authors? If so, can we meet for coffee or something and I'll just hand you my manuscript and we can skip the whole query letter thing? I'll buy the coffee. I have a Starbucks gift card.

It would be helpful for you to handle early-reader chapter books, too.