Happy Holidays and All that Stuff!

Hey cyber world,

I'm taking a well earned holiday from life and am heading away for two weeks, my sole aim, to enjoy myself, relax and accomplish as little as possible. Okay, maybe the accomplish part is a lie, but this is going to be about fun accomplishment.

My back still pains me, but less than it was, and my goal is to come back to the real world in 2010 with a renewed fighting spirit. The world of agents and publishers served to poke a bit of a hole in my gumption during the last part of this year, but I refuse, refuse, refuse to believe there isn't someone out there that wants a manuscript that is funny and entertaining, quirky, interesting and complex. Like hallo!! There is a block buster Sandra Bullock movie sitting in my hands and all you sillies aren't getting that. I have no problem with moving right to a movie without the intercept of a publisher, but I think the full meal deal would be a win/win/ win for everyone.

I may start publishing parts of the book here next year. We'll see. I haven't yakked about it that much on here, so I have a bunch of options up my sleeve, and after a little rejuvenation, look out world! I may also post a resume. It would view something like this. Type A personality, totally driven, accomplishment oriented counsellor/author seeks an agent/publisher who can keep up. I have more than enough motivation, smarts, and drive for both of us to make this book a success, so if you can manage to get off your seat and send me an email, I'll be happy to do a lot of the work and whip your butt into shape.

Happy holidays all. I'll see ya all in 2010. In the meantime, I'll be hanging on the beaches of Cabo and splatted against a tree or two in the Kananaskis. Cheers!

One Little Sneeze

One little sneeze is all it took to send my back into shattering spasms of pain. Me, I, who has never had a back problem, was struggling wholeheartedly to conquer a single stair this morning. Nothing like a dose of humility. Nothing like a left field experience to send one somewhere else. I've been pushing my body lately. Long three mile walks, isometrics, and every form of muscle crunching activity one can do, have all been completed daily in an attempt to get back to the form of body I recognize as being mine. Strong. In doing all that, I've injured nothing, suffered no ailments. But yesterday morning, as I reached down toward the floor to pick up a piece of lint I sneezed, and was taken to my knees as my back protested against the combination of sudden muscle movements that was required of those two seemingly simple things. Out of nowhere came the unexpected, trying to move me away from my goal, slow me down, get in my way. And now, as I sit and think about what that all means, I know that I am looking for ways to get in shape that get around the fact that I have a stupid back injury. I'm taking advice from my chiropractor, but also listening to myself. I'm determined to keep working toward getting in shape and I'm finding exercises that allow me to do that without further inflaming my back. I've hit an obstacle, but I'm moving around it, determined to succeed, and that's what I need to do with my book. Move around the obstacles, work toward publication even when things get in my way. Not sure what that looks like yet, but I'll find that. The last year has shown me how determined I can be. I'm only now discovering just what exactly that means.

The Silence of December

As I have continued to work on shrinking my expanded back side over the last month, through long walks with my dog and assorted muscle burning exercises, I've had a lot of time to think. What did I think? Primarily I thought that I feel a lot healthier and more energetic when I'm on the move, rather than engaging in the sedintary activity of typing away on my computer. I've felt guilty a few times, when I thought I should be pushing things more regarding my writing, but the reality is, I pushed myself incredibly this summer. In just over 4 months time I completed my novel, all 387 pages of it. I don't even want to fathom how many hours I spent sitting in front of my computer screen as I worked at hitting my goal. And I did it. I finished my novel, I've been successful in making it funny and entertaining, with a great story. But now, things are no longer soley under my control. Trying to find an agent or publisher who is willing to take a risk on a first time author seems to be almost worse than finding a needle in a haystack. I mean, if someone puts a needle in a haystack, you know it is in there somewhere, and it's just a matter to taking the time to find it. With finding an agent or a publisher, there are all sorts of factors to consider, including wondering if my query letters are stunning enough. Maybe in one of my next posts I'll write an online query letter. Then it will be there for all to see in cyber space.
In the meantime, I've been in the midst of a great chasm of silence. No rejections, no nothing in my inbox day after day. Just waiting for some responses that seem so long in coming. And when you believe in something, like I do in this book, it can be hard to sit back and wait even when you know it's the right thing to do. Right now, waiting is the right thing, but boy, would I be happy, if when this silence finally breaks, it the is sound of "We would love to see the rest of your manuscript." that shatters the stillness of my inbox.