Life Goes On

Life goes on.

This is the lesson I got in the last week.

I also got this lesson: don't count your chickens before they hatch.

What am I talking about? Is my son's health okay? What's going on?

Well, here's the long and the short of it: life continues happening even in the midst of trials. And it can make it completely crazy, but it can also give you bright spots during the times you're in the deepest, darkest canyon.

Take for example what's happened in the last few weeks. If you read one of my last blog posts, you know my son's been marked for a bone marrow transplant. Not the most fun thing, especially when the two-year survival rate for someone with SDS is somewhere between 45 and 60%, depending on what method and drugs are used to prep for transplant. For this reason, my husband and I decided to get a second opinion, since we want to be absolutely sure that this is the road we'll go down.

Which led to a flurry of activity, and ended with me having a lengthy conversation with one of the doctors who is probably in the top three in the nation, if not the world, with experience with Shwachman Diamond kids. Of course, we can't stay in Kansas City to get our second opinion. After speaking with this doctor, which I'm going to call Dr. S (because her name is too long and difficult to pronounce!), it was decided we'll be heading out of town, we know not when, for that second opinion. Hopefully, sometime in the next few weeks to a couple of months.

So, while we're waiting on the answers, we find out our daughter is NOT a match for her brother, which means we have to go to the national registries. Mixed feelings about that. Glad she doesn't have to go through that, but at the same time, now we don't know whether he'll have a match.

Enter: a bright spot.

You know how a few weeks ago, I said I was giving up on "Homebody"? That I'd decided it was time to tell it goodbye, thanks for the memories, all that? (Here comes the "don't count your chickens" part.) Yeah, I may have spoken too soon.

With everything going on, I hadn't checked my business e-mail in 6 weeks or so. Last week, I decided I'd better do that because I *thought* I may have a short story out somewhere and probably should see if I'd received any mail on that.

Well, I didn't have anything out on my short.

But, I did have a reply from an agent I'd sent "Homebody" to back in--get this--February. FEBRUARY! This was a query only agent, which means I didn't send anything to them besides a letter. I saw their e-mail in my spam box, and thought, "Oh, here's another rejection." But I opened it anyway.

First, there was an apology for the long time in getting back to me. But then I read these words: I'd look at the first 75 pages and synopsis after 8/20 if you don't have an agent.

Did I read that right? I got a request for a partial?

HOW COOL IS THAT?!

So, the day I actually read this, I went around the rest of the day with a stupid grin on my face, unable to do anything. After that, it's been a mad rush--is everything ready? I did some changes to the opening scene--does it read okay? And about that synopsis, I never was happy with it, so let's rewrite that on the fly.

And, I have to admit: I haven't sent in anything yet. But, I'm close to doing it. Hopefully later today. I'm nervous, excited, and at the same time, if this is meant to be, let it happen. Maybe I wrote off this book too soon. If not, maybe I'll get some decent feedback, and perhaps, the agent would be willing to look at another project when I've got them done. We'll have to see.

Funny thing is, I looked at the day they sent the e-mail. It was the day before my son's biopsies. I find that kind of meaningful, but that's just me.


In closing, I thought I'd share something that proved especially meaningful last night. My husband and I have seen "The Fellowship of the Ring" dozens of times. We saw it in the theater when we were dating. But, we hadn't watched it in a while due to the demands of parenting. Watching an episode or two of "Castle" or "Stargate" in the evenings is all we have time or energy for, let alone a 3 hour movie!

Near the closing of the movie, Frodo says, "I wish the ring had never come to me."
Gandalf replies, and I'm paraphrasing, "So do all who live in perilous times."

While I wouldn't say my life is perilous, at least not at the moment, it hit me. I could really get Frodo in that instant. Since we found out our boy has SDS, I've prayed, "Don't let him need a BMT. Don't let him have cancer. I can handle diabetes, but please don't let him ever have to face cancer treatment." Not much different than Frodo's lament.

Oh well. I have a request for a partial, and while it doesn't make my troubles go away, it does make them a lot more bearable.

Life certainly goes on.

Until next time,

Liberty

Jitters

I've been feeling more than a little jittery lately.

And, no, it's not from heavy amounts of caffeine, although I'm weaning off of it again after a bad spurt over the winter of needing it in high amounts.

No, these jitters are nerves for writing.

See, I'm in-between projects right now. I've got "Homebody" which I'm still tweaking, even though I'm sending it out to agents. And, I've got "Reprisal" (the new name for "Cora's Song") which I'm contemplating all the changes that need to be made to make it publishable. (Not that it's not now, it's just gotten a little lengthy, and needs a bit of trimming and consolidating and poking to make sure I've got all the holes in the plot tied together well.) And, I've got one more project ready for editing... and two I'd like to be writing.

But, I'm trying to prioritize, and actually get things ready to go rather than writing, writing, writing and never editing, editing, editing.

Sigh.

Hence, the jitters. With the fact that I'm feeling just a little closer to my publishing dreams right now, it's making me twist into a little ball of nerves.

Which does nothing for any other aspect of my life except make me antsy. I mean, surely, the kids can deal without mommy for a while during the day, right? (Not that they do--it just leaves me feeling that way sometimes.) Surely, TMOTH can understand that I've got to get work done (Yeah, not so much.) And the dog... well, the dog and I go on lots of walks these days which is starting to give me time to think about all the changes to be done to "Reprisal". After too many walks where I'm chasing the kids or hollering to my 3yo to hurry up, these near-silent walks with the dog are ones where I'm having to retrain my brain to think about my plots again.

Anyway, maybe, along with fewer amounts of caffeine, I'll be easing the jitters soon.

And, in the meantime, you can check out and see whether my entry over at Miss Snark's First Victim made the agent's cut this month. "Homebody" was entry #1 last week over there, and today, I'll find out whether I won or not.

Until next time,

Confession Time

I have a confession to make today.

I, a woman who desires little more than to see her books in print form and to sign with an agent, has yet to attend any conference with any literary agents in attendance.

I'll pause while you pick yourself off the floor.

There's a bunch of reasons I haven't made it to any of these. The two primary ones: time and money.

In fact, the last time I went to any conference related to writing was probably at least ten years ago.

Now, I've been to multiple shorter events, usually Sisters in Crime talks, and an occasional book signing.

But to go to a convention, or even a weekend seminar? Hasn't really happened. At least not in person. I did attend parts of the Muse Convention online last year, just before the health mess with my son started getting rolling.

I've wanted to go to Bouchercon for years. This year, it's in St. Louis--which would be a very affordable train ride via Amtrak across the state of Missouri for me. But, I've also heard Bouchercon is more for readers rather than writers. *sigh* What's a girl to do?

I think ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) is also having their conference in St. Louis this year, just a couple weeks later. While I'd fit in theologically, my stories... well, they really won't fit with the ACFW or CBA "guidelines." Hmmm...

Getting TMOTH to sign off on any convention at this point is also pretty iffy, given our son's state and the "mommy" factor--he about panics whenever I leave him, even with Daddy for an hour or two.

Maybe a convention isn't in the cards this year.

But, I do know that I can't afford to keep ignoring this aspect of the writing game.

Today's Question: Have you ever attended a conference? If so, which one(s)? What did you find most beneficial? If you haven't attended a conference, what's holding you back?

Until next time,