The weather has been fantastic and I’ve taken the beasts for multiple walks.  My writing has been in my notebook and so it hasn’t ended up in this blog.  There’s threat of rain today, so I’m upstairs waiting on the mail’s arrival. With any luck, it will hold good news.  After a few bruising rejections, I could use good news.

I turned 42 in the past week. I’m surprized, but grateful that I’ve made it this long. I have two stories that need to be finished; I don’t usually work with an outline, but these two tumbled out so quickly that I was forced to capture them that way.  In a very bizarre turn of events, a person at Samuel French wants a look-see at the one story. Interest is interest.  I’m still puzzled by his request, but I plan to wrap the story up in time for this month’s writer’s group. After the savage reviews and caustic comments come in, I’ll re-write if I need to and perhaps set it aside for the minimum of a week before I look at it again. So if you’re reading Mr. Patterson, that’s the plan…

Besides the changes for seasons, I’m close to being done with the library.  One more coat of paint and I’ll be able to place the paperbacks on the shelves.  The trim is on and the green walls look stately somehow. I cannot wait to get back in there to write!  The process hasn’t taken as long as I thought it would.  I have about a dozen more books to add to the data base and then I’ll be able to cull the duplicates and print out a list of the titles.

Of course, when that’s finished, I’ll want to start on the hardcovers.  Luckily the walls behind those shelves are already painted…

And so much for ‘bonus’ blog entries, though I’m glad that I’m still on the schedule I imposed upon myself. These last two weeks were filled up with incredulity. The superintendent of our schools and the impotent BOE who act as though they are powerless to stop her have been annoying lately. I tend not to care one way or the other in such matters, but the audacity has been brazen.

This ‘woman’ was fired from her last job and the chumps on the BOE took her puffed up resume and agreed to let her loose on our faculties. The teachers are afraid of being fired. The superintendent is raking in the dough and it’s all just so much crap.

You know who needs the retreats, the new furniture, and the raise? The teachers. And who is getting them? Ms. Wright — and if that name isn’t ironic, I don’t know what is…

Nevertheless, the shenanigans are just fodder for future fiction. I re-read Stephen King’s On Writing this week, always a good book to review the basics with. I applied the 2^nd draft = 1^st draft – 10% on an essay I wrote a while ago. Stripped down, I think it is a better piece than it had been. The Buffalo News put out a call for work and I submitted that one.

I also did something I’ve not attempted before. I simultaneously submitted one story to three different magazines. Normally, I’m against this practice, but with the three I submitted to, the average response time was four months, so I don’t feel there’s any harm in what I’ve done.

Last night, I read the version of ’Screwed’ I submitted to the writer’s group. I wish I had been able to trust my instincts a few months ago. The original (fourth or fifth revision) I sent was strong; it only needed a few changes as opposed to the many I was struggling to fix in the eighth revision I incorporated the writer’s group’s suggestion into. Too many cooks…

And yesterday was brilliant. Blair and I ran errands and shopped and had lunch at Red Lobster (Lobster-fest baby) and when I came home, the lovely little contract had arrived, making it a step closer to seeing another thing I wrote in print…

Like everything else, I think I will need to modify even this, my ‘easy’ blog. While writing here once every two weeks will not fall to the wayside (I hope) several times during the past two weeks, I wanted to write. The only thing stopping me was that I had said it would be a bi-monthly blog. So, now it’s a minimum of two posts a month. What did I feel the urge to write about?

Submissions, waiting and the feeling of acceptance. I frequent the short story discussion boards of Zoetrope and for whatever reason, the ‘celebration thread’ has held my interest for the last month. Last week and this one I entered my stats. Marko Fong is the person behind the recent posts and it’s inspiring. While virtual, it reminds me of the ‘after hours’ portion of the writer’s group I coordinated several years ago. After the meetings in the private dining room were over, the editor of the local paper and a man who has gone on to some political prominence and I would go for a beer in the bar in the Leland House. Triumphs and disappointments were discussed and encouragement offered.

 I’m averaging (and that is my latest goal) three submissions a week. I’ve been using Duotrope’s Digest to track my submissions. I think it’s a brilliant system. It helps to know how long I have been waiting and knowing when a response might be arriving. Rejection isn’t any fun, but this week I was offered some useful advice from an editor about a story I sent in. The next one I send there I hope will be the charm. I did have a story accepted and that feeling is fantastic. In the April issue of Eclectic Flash Literary Journal–Chief Editor’s Desk , look for my story “Quick and Dirty.” That’s all for now. My husband is painting the ceiling and the fumes are getting to be a bit much. Until next time…

First posts have such an emphasis placed on them which makes it so hard to write them. Should I be witty? Tell a joke?  State things sarcastically? How about attempting to be just  myself… What will I do?

I welcome you to read this blog though I will be straight up honest with you, I am aiming for a post on every other Sunday.  Why?  Because while I’ll be thrilled to have you stumble across this page, I am a writer.  Most of my energy is going toward new work.   I am starting this blog as a place for you to find out just where those pieces have ended up – either in print or on a zine.  I was able to link one of one of my ‘most colorful’ pieces so you could listen to what I can do in a few words. I’m still learning the tricks of linking, so patience on your part would be appreciated . 

And that is it for my first post.  I hope to find you back again around here in a few weeks.  I’ll probably have a lot more to say by then…

Thank-you for stopping by.  So far, this is just between me and you. Are you going to keep it a secret?