This is our school district’s second and final week of spring break.
Spring break is another of the things I have a love/hate relationship with.
Love it because I don’t have to get up at the butt crack o’ dawn and get jiggy with the making of lunches, the brushing of hair, the conquering of battles over what’s on the breakfast menu.
Hate it because dealing with the constant bickering of bored children isn’t exactly my idea of a break. Spring or not.
Having the kids at home also puts a bit of a crimp in the doing of my to-do list.
And my March to-do list has suddenly gotten perhaps the teensiest bit out of hand.
It includes:
- FINALLY finishing our wills.
- painting the laundry room in preparation for our soon to be delivered spiffy new front-loaders!!!
- taxes
- agent letters
UGH. See what I mean?
I’ve been procrastinating on the wills for obvious reasons. Call me crazy but somehow the thought of leaving the children orphaned doesn’t have me itching to put pen to paper. Or hands to keyboard as the case may be.
The laundry room should actually be quite fun though. In spite of the painting. I plan to take pictures from start to finish so that will be forthcoming soon.
Taxes. Blech. I don’t think an explanation is required.
And the agent letters. Oh yes, those. My gal pal, Wendy, has been bugging me via email to get my novel published (thanks Wendy!). As has Torri. It’s something I absolutely need to do. I realize this. I really can’t say what my hesitation is. Fear of rejection? Quite possibly.
I keep a letter (dated Sept., 2007) in my datebook. It was sent from a hotshot New York City literary agency. They had responded to my initial query letter in which I sought representation for my book. I can’t even convey to you the ways in which my heart leapt when they called (yes, called!) asking to see the first four chapters. I promptly complied of course. But a few weeks later the rejection letter arrived. I wasn’t the least bit surprised honestly; getting accepted by a literary agent is no small feat. I was deterred though, apparently, because I’ve been fairly lax in sending letters to prospective agents ever since. I’ve held on to that rejection letter though. I guess I keep it to remind myself that if I got an agent’s attention once, I can certainly get it again.
I’ve done some research and I’ve come up with seven brand new agents to pursue. I plan to send the first of those letters this week.
Wish me luck.
Lots and lots of it.
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
Hooray for you!!! No, not about doing your taxes. About getting possible agents lined up! And just because the first agent wasn’t bright enough to see your brilliance, it doesn’t mean that others won’t. There’s just no accountin’ for stupid.
I’m in the same spot you are. I have short stories that were rejected and I never persued it again…then came Samuel. He’s my excuse now!
Its funny because I have been thinking about you lately. And about the unpublished book.
I can’t tell you the number of times I thought “Email her and ask about that book, but didn’t want to seem like a nag…well now I won’t worry!
I hope you have a great spring break!
Also, I am G-R-E-E-N over those front loaders!
Good luck getting all that done. I hope you get those agent letters out soon. It’s like you said, you got their attention once, you can certainly get it again. Good luck!
Wait…how do your kids get two weeks of spring break?
I’m impressed about the book. Get busy on those letters, so you can get it published, so I can read it!
I’m a math geek so I love doing our taxes. But I’m sorry you’re not looking forward to it. Hope it goes by quickly!
Ditto Kellie exactly!
And on a unique note, I can’t believe you don’t like painting. I LOVE to paint! I just finished a project in one girls’ room, and will be starting another this week. (pics to follow, eventually..) If I were there I’d paint for ya! But of course you’d have to watch my 3 children while I did it. Mwahahaha.
PS) I wish our school breaks would overlap sometime so we could do a Disney meetup! Ours are always later. We get last of March/first & second weeks of April, then fall break isn’t till October. :(
Good luck with agent letters – that sounds scary! :-) I cant believe you get 2 weeks for spring break – I’m jealous :-) Of course only because for me spring break just means I get my hubby home to help out with the baby!
Good luck! I think it is fantastic that you wrote a book. I don’t have that kind of creative energy, but I am always impressed by those who do.
Y’all have two weeks of spring break? We only have one. Thank goodness. Like you, I’m happy to skip the morning routine, but I know that a week out of school will eventually drive us all crazy.
Shred the rejection letter! It does you no good to keep it around. I have been researching literary agents and such for a book I am writing and hope to finish if there is interest and there is a wonderful interview from the notebook author’s journey to getting an agent. He was rejected by MANY people, and heck, he has done pretty well for himself since.
Lots of Luck!! :)
Wait, did I read this right: you have TWO weeks of spring break? If so, is your district hiring?
Yea, let’s get that baby published, yet another thing to be proud of you for, I LOVED the book!
How’s the list coming? I may have to do this too – mine is long and everything seems to be moved to the following week. I can’t wait to see the laundry room pics – I need some inspiration for when we make ours nice and pretty. And congrats on the great feedback you’ve received. I can see how the process can be scary, but I hope you can delight in the little successes along the way. :)
Good Luck with the book! That is awesome!!
Send the letter? I need a real autographed copy from my favorite new author!
Keep sending it out! You’ll find your (very lucky) agent eventually. Pixie dust for you :)