I have spent the last 3 days at the hospital with my mother because she had unexpected gall bladder surgery. She's been a miserable lady since last October and at 77 the doctors were more concerned about her heart than why she had such pain in her lower back and stomach. Well, Thursday early AM, her system decided enough is enough and my dad took her to the emergency room. On a scale of 1 to 10 her pain was a 10 and her blood pressure was 209 over 93. They admitted her to a room and plied her with blood pressure medicine so they could get her bp down. She had surgery Friday night and had a rough night. When the surgeon spoke with my father and I after the surgery, he told us her gall bladder was half dead and that she should have had the procedure two weeks earlier.
With all the poison from the sick gall bladder, she had a white count of 27,000 (normal is 6,000). This surgery can be done on an outpatient basis. She's going to be in the hospital 5 days. It's hard to sit by and watch anyone suffer. There's not much you can do but be there. My daughter was quite good given all the hours we spent hanging out. She gets bored easily (7 year olds do), yet she behaved herself very well. She's enjoying a brand new Game Boy cartridge.
So today, I get home (after some seriously overdue grocery shopping) and jump on the computer. I didn't have any e-mails waiting for me so imagine my shock when I checked the Divas's website (as is my habit) and saw the 2007 Spring Into Romance had announced their placements and that my two manuscripts took 1st and 2nd. I can't begin to express how happy this made me after such a difficult weekend at the hospital. The placement of the two manuscripts reversed how they had done in the preliminary round and gives me some direction.
What I'm grateful for: My mom's going to feel better than she has in a LONG time.
Today's goals: Polish my manuscript
Yesterday's achievements: Learning from my mistakes
Time flies when you're having fun
Whenever I use that cliche it is a with great deal of sarcasm. Shame on me for letting an entire month go by without posting something here. I love reading other blogs and I should be much better about contributing my thoughts. Recent events, however, are not for public consumption because they are of a sensitive nature and this is a very public forum, even if no one actually knows who I am. And I ask myself, does anyone care about my trials and tribulations?
With four books in various stages of completion, I have been in the grip of indecision for far too long. I have been blessed with an abundance of riches in the various contests I've recently entered and currently have editors judging 3 manuscripts. As I await placement, I just found out that I have 2 ten minute pitch sessions at the WisRWA conference. I have never pitched a book in person before and attacked the experience as I do with anything new: research.
The internet is a marvelous tool. By typing in a few choice words I am able to get all sorts of advice. After a couple hours of wondering what do I pitch I settled on the story that I believe is my most marketable. I learned that I should have a maximum pitch of 2 minutes in length. I discovered that I should wait to be asked about the book before launching into the plot, hook and what makes it interesting. And most intriguing, someone recommended the three word pitch. Imagine that, three words to pitch a 55,000 word novel. So here's what I came up with: 1) ex-boss 2) sailboat 3) Caribbean. This exercise intrigued me so much I began looking at my other 3 novels. A Case of Meddling: Not Really Pregnant. A Christmas Bargain: Fiances Love Triangle. Bending to Blackmail: Revenge Father Framed.
So see, I could pitch a dozen stories in ten minutes. But I think I'll stick to one and hopefully they will be intrigued enough (and not just polite enough) to want to read my story.
Today's Goal: Blog more often
Yesterday's Achievement: Back to writing after dry spell
Grateful for: An abundance of riches in my road to publication
With four books in various stages of completion, I have been in the grip of indecision for far too long. I have been blessed with an abundance of riches in the various contests I've recently entered and currently have editors judging 3 manuscripts. As I await placement, I just found out that I have 2 ten minute pitch sessions at the WisRWA conference. I have never pitched a book in person before and attacked the experience as I do with anything new: research.
The internet is a marvelous tool. By typing in a few choice words I am able to get all sorts of advice. After a couple hours of wondering what do I pitch I settled on the story that I believe is my most marketable. I learned that I should have a maximum pitch of 2 minutes in length. I discovered that I should wait to be asked about the book before launching into the plot, hook and what makes it interesting. And most intriguing, someone recommended the three word pitch. Imagine that, three words to pitch a 55,000 word novel. So here's what I came up with: 1) ex-boss 2) sailboat 3) Caribbean. This exercise intrigued me so much I began looking at my other 3 novels. A Case of Meddling: Not Really Pregnant. A Christmas Bargain: Fiances Love Triangle. Bending to Blackmail: Revenge Father Framed.
So see, I could pitch a dozen stories in ten minutes. But I think I'll stick to one and hopefully they will be intrigued enough (and not just polite enough) to want to read my story.
Today's Goal: Blog more often
Yesterday's Achievement: Back to writing after dry spell
Grateful for: An abundance of riches in my road to publication
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)