Separated At The Hip

Dear Kristin,

Wow it's been busy around here. I finally finished my thesis and turned it in (thanks for your help on that) and I got my Graduation Lecture all ready. I got down to work on my Teaching Workshop Lesson Plan while also applying for adjunct jobs when, totally out of the blue, came a pretty cool email.

A few months ago I sent a query and the first pages of my first novel to a small press.  I didn't hear anything from them after the 3 to 4  months their website suggested it would take for review. So, I sort of forgot about it and went back to work on my second novel which became my thesis. This past Thursday, I got an email from an assistant editor who said, "I really loved the first pages and would love to see the full MS before passing it on to our head editor."

OK, so I know I shouldn't get too worked up about it.  I know that this is still a long shot. I know the odds are against me. But... I also know I made it past the slush pile. And this fact makes me happy. So, for now, while I get back to planning my lesson and applying for jobs, I'm reveling in the knowledge that somewhere out there, my first novel is being read by someone who isn't you or me. That's pretty cool.

Finally took some extra pictures so you can see:
a) what a pretty day in LA looks like
b) how ridiculously long my hair is
c) that I actually do leave the house now and again

Love,
Rose

Dear Kristin,

I think I finished my thesis tonight.  Like you, I feel that it's probably not done... but I'm certainly DONE.  Writing Antigone was a lot like running a marathon... barefoot... over hot coals.  It took forever, I wasn't fully prepared, and I tried to get it over with as quickly as possible to avoid injury and the loss of my mental health.  I go back and forth a lot with this book.  There are times when I'm so proud of it, that I think it has great potential, that all I need to do is give it a good spit and polish and I'll be able to wrangle an agent and some how sell this monster.  But, of course, most days I just think it's been a massive time suck and I ought to have been using all those precious hours on short stories. 

Speaking of stories... I miss them.  I'm tired of this damn marathon.  I want to break from the pack, turn off onto a trail, sprint for a little while and see how far I've gone.  I love that I can write a short story in an afternoon, spend a few days revising it, let it rest, look at it again and then start sending it out into the world. 

Maybe when I've sent in the thesis version of Antigone, a paltry 90 page intro to the 300 page book, I'll get off my own back about it.  Spend a couple weeks reading.  Crank out a short story or two.  Take some naps.  Watch a monster load of X-Files, Community, and Star Trek.  And maybe then I'll really feel up to tackling Antigone.

I'm going to go look at my formatting again and then call it a night.

Love,
Rose