August 12, 2002
I mailed out 10 queries today and prepared the final packet of requested material for a non-rejection that for some reason I never seemed to make time to mail. I identified the next 10 agents to hit and typed up labels for them. All this and I'm still on target to make it to bed by 11:00. Frankly, I'm ready now, but VH1 is showing 1 Hit Wonders - Heavy Metal at 10:00 and I feel I must watch it to gather character material for book II.
In case you were curious, the patron saints of authors are: St. Lucy of Syracuse, St. Francis de Sales, Paul the Apostle and John the Apostle. I had a dream about Gene Simmons while I was in DC. (He is the God of Thunder and Rock 'n' Roll.) I always think it's a good sign when he pops into my subconscious. He and I were searching for Paul in a hotel - Paul Stanley, not Paul the Apostle. I remember him saying something like, "I'm not sure if Paul is here." Then we went to look for the frontman. I think in real life I must have been feeling confident that Gene would help me with my book. He took my hand and led me through the crowded lobby on our way to Paul's room. I think that was the same night I wrote in my diary that I knew Gene would help me if no one else would. I must have believed myself.
Can you tell I only got 4 hours of sleep last night?
August 13, 2002
Last night my computer froze before I wrote the weirdest (and funniest) part of my journal entry. Sorry to those of you who read the chopped off version.
I mailed that last non-rejection packet today. Now I'm waiting for more non-rejections to come back. It's gotta happen.
This week I had my 400th website hit and received my first international reader acknowledgment. My sister/editor has been telling me about her cool KISS-fan friend, Jill from Germany, and I just heard from her. Jill, if you're reading this, you're already on my short list of PR rep candidates for when I sell the international rights to the book. Are you up for travel in Japan and Australia (2 hot spots of KISS freaks)?
August 14, 2002
I received a rejection today, but it might be the start of something good. According to all the pros at the writers conference I went to, if you receive personal feedback with a rejection it means your work has merit. I'm not jumping for joy at the returned envelope, but the the enclosed letter said my main problem was the consistent avoidance of the pluperfect tense. Okay, I thought with determination. I'll fix the friggin' pluperfect-needing spots. What the hell is pluperfect tense? (You'd think after almost majoring in Spanish because I loved conjugating verbs, I'd remember. But no.) I went to the internet and found hundreds of latin verbs converted to pluperfect, but what does that mean to a KISS novelist? Then I thought, Maybe the woman who wrote back to me made notes on my manuscript. I dug the chapters out of their return envelope and flipped through. At first I found nothing. But then, every few pages, I saw she had inserted the word "had" before some of the verbs in my flashbacks. Aahhhh. Got it. I think I might write that woman a thank you note.
A pluperfect end to my day.
August 15, 2002
I started making corrections and feel grateful to the agent who gave me concrete feedback, but I'm going to need help. Pluperfect feels like I'm adding extraneous words, which I hate. It's very awkward. I need to sit down with someone for a lesson. I found an article online about proper use of pluperfect in creative writing, but after going through the agent's notes, I'm positive I don't know where I need to make all the changes. I think I might also do well to hire an editor to add "had" about a thousand times to my manuscript. Other than that, the only mistakes I saw were a couple of those darn prepositions that seem to get the best of me. I wish I could halt all the samples I mailed out so I could fix my poor past-tense verbs. Oh well. I shall continue until I get it right.
August 16, 2002
Today at lunch I got an informal tutorial in pluperfect. I think I'm getting it, but I still don't like it. Using it still sounds awkward. The man I talked to said that in speech, pluperfect is almost extinct, which at least made me feel better. I got out the yellow pages tonight and found almost zip in terms of editing services. There was only one proofreading service offered, and it was just someone's name and his/her phone number. I saw a woman at the Pennwriter's conference who runs her own writing/editing business. Maybe I can look her up and work with her long-distance. I think she was from somewhere near Pittsburgh.
The day job is going awfully well. Today, I think I achieved something I've wanted to do for several years - give people the specific skills to develop a big-picture leadership style. It's one of those things I'm good at, but I've never been able to teach. Today, I think it happened. As I watched the participants in my workshop practice (with great success!) it gave me goosebumps. I'm feeling energized. I'm glad it's going well, but I hope it doesn't make me lethargic in my book work.
Must get published. Send positive vibes my way. Now. Do it.
August 19, 2002
Sorry I was away a couple days on a day job staff retreat. I tried to jot down some book ideas, but honestly didn't accomplish much. My friend Tim must have been reading my journal because he referred me to the husband of one of his friends. Apparently the fellow has editing other books. I must look into it.
I'm feeling unexpected amounts of passion for the day job. Ugh. I did some things this week that I think could affect not only the people (continued)
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