Sunday, May 29, 2011

Pitching...and other stuff.

I pitched to an editor this weekend, only the second person I've shown/pitched The Jerk List to.  She had an interesting perspective.  In her opinion, it's straddling the line between romance and women's fiction, and isn't really either.  The way she said it immediately started the wheels in my head turning.  She was right.  More importantly, I know how to fix it!  Therefore, that is what I will be doing for the next month, which will mostly require reordering chapters and making them transition properly.  So, I still plan on pitching it at Nationals, but thanks to the pitch, I will now have a stronger story to pitch and hopefully (fingers crossed), I'll get a request.

Wish me luck!

I only wish my personal life was going as well.  I really feel like my life is about three things:  Work, Love, and Friends.  The problem is that all three can NEVER be going great at the same time.  For years, romance suffered, and now that I've got a great man, it seems that work is falling thanks to a single mistake that I did NOT make.  As it is, I will be struggling to have work to do for the rest of the year, which may result in leave without pay.  Plus side?  I'll be able to write more.  Negative side?  I'll be freaking out about paying rent.  I found this all out the day the tornado sirens started going off and we were told a tornado hit somewhere near my house.  Luckily, the tornado didn't hit my house, but as I'm sitting in the bottom level of the parking garage, wondering how I'm going to pay my bills for the next 6 months, and wondering if I have a home anymore, I suddenly remembered that I have renters insurance! 

My quirkiness kicked in and I started thinking...What are the advantages to having your house hit by a tornado?  I'm supposed to move at the end of the year and I could do this sooner since I wouldn't have to wait for my lease to finish.  It also wouldn't be as hard to move because I wouldn't have anything to move.  I could start over.  All new clothes, all new furniture...what woman wouldn't welcome a new wardrobe they didn't have to pay for?  My boyfriend looked at me like I was crazy.  Evidently, when when things look bad, my brain looks at the positive.  It must be a self-defense thing.

I've seen the devastation of tornado's all my life and they really aren't something to joke about.  If it had really happened, I would probably have been devastated.  But tornadoes are a part of life in the Midwest, so thinking of the positive is the best thing a person can do.  As long as you don't lose people, new memories can be made and stuff can be replaced.  

2 comments:

  1. Good luck on the story change. Thank goodness your house didn't get hit. But my banker lady who took care of our house-building loan lost her house in a tornado a few years back, and she also said, "it's a great way to clean out all your old junk!!" So you're not the only one who thinks that way.

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  2. I hesitate to say this, but one of my neighbors said it to me, and it amused me so much I have to repeat it.

    "You never see the people on the news who are dancing in their front lawns saying, 'Yes! It hit my house! Hello new house!'"

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