Summer is Here and the Heat Makes Me Random.

Here's a whole lot of nothing with a few spicey bits mixed in. Hopefully.

Still waiting to hear about the future for my manuscript from the publishing house it is sitting in. (at?) Have had some lovely daydreams about a successful conclusion to this adventure. I love my imagination when it's focused on the positive. I've had hundreds of different paths in my life that have all been utterly amazing in my fantasy life.

I've had 47,000 ideas for new books to work on. Six of them are started on my desktop. Come August I will push myself to focus on one. I would like to have a new novel completed for ABNA 2011. I work well with deadlines, but I don't look forward to developing belly jelly and a fat arse again this fall.

I have devoted this summer to painting far out and funky designs on my nails. Last time I went in it was flowers and lines with a deep purple background with neon yellow toes. I now have zebra print nails. They are truly tacky in a most fun way, and they actually promote interaction with other people. I've done this to remind myself not to take life so seriously. We all need some stupid harmless fun in our lives. And I like the kind of fun that draws me closer to other people.

Speaking of people and relationships, as I get older, I value relationships with others more, and am finding that my need for social interaction is increasing. Being a person that is shy (I was a "hide behind mother's knees" kid) by nature, it's sometimes tough moving out of that position. I do think that my work as a counsellor (which I don't usually mention here) affects the movement of relationships with others. Some people are intimidated by what I do, and view me in a different light because of it, making it hard to move past the first roadblocks to relationship. Maybe one day, in the future, I can call myself an author, and see if there's a difference in the first steps of relationship forming. I wonder what other author's experiences are when they say that: I'm a writer. Does it provoke curiousity and wanting to know? Does it lead to further conversation rather than a halt to it? Maybe I'll do an experiment this summer just for the fun of it to see if there's a difference for me. Tell people I'm a writer rather than a counsellor. Hmmm.

I bought one of Stephen King's books today. The last book I read of his was whatever he wrote after The Stand. I don't remember what it was, but I haven't even looked at his books since then. The Dome looks interesting, so I picked it up. I've also got another book by James Rollins and am reading Mike Wood's Alchemy.

I have 4 apples on my apple trees! One for each of us in our family, and one for Curtis. I'll have to prank someone with that one.

I'm going to be spending my summer RVing. Here's wishing me sites with plug ins so I don't roast, a tickless dog, and a husband who learns how to cook more!

When all Else Fails, I Read

Did I ever bother to mention here that for the last few months, my manuscript has been sitting at a publishing house, waiting to be read? Um, well, yeah. That's where it is, and that's whats up. I've stopped submitting to agents and I'm playing the waiting game with a publisher.

Why?

Because this publishing house says that they will read the whole manuscript. And that's what I've wanted and felt that I needed all along the way - someone who will read the whole thing, and make a decision from there. I know my first 50 pages are rough. I know I need to do a major re-write of some of the manuscript. And I'm willing to do that. I'm KEEN to do that. I just figure it would be better to have an editor from a publishing house tell me what to do at this point, and I still have an optimist buried inside me that keeps saying..."if they read the whole thing they will get the story, love the story, and they'll help you fix the bits that don't work."

They requested 4 months for a read. It's been 2 and a half months, and every day that I don't find my manuscript returned in my mailbox, I find my happiness quotient increasing exponentially. Am I in for a fall? Could be. Do I care? Nope. I'm just enjoying the daydream factor. Maybe at the end of the four months they'll reject me. And I'll have a bad day, or week, or month. But leading up to that, I've been hoping, wishing, dreaming, getting excited, making up fantastic scenarious of success in my head. So, if I do the math...I have four months of feeling good, vs. whatever time it takes to recuperate if they dish me. I'll take the four months of fantasylandthankyouverymuch.

Now, this wasn't what I was going to write about at all. I was going to write about James Rollin's new book and some things I learned as a result of reading it over the weekend. But, seeing as I have been horrid at posting lately, I am posting whatever shows up out of my fingertips at the moment they type. I'll save the tale of the bees for tomorrow...or as soon as I can get to it. Stay tuned, and enjoy your dreams!