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RWA Conference #3: Trains and Allergies
08/07/08
09:40:38 pm, Categories: General RWA Conference #3: Trains and Allergies
I got up at 5am, gathered my stuff, checked out of the hotel, caught a cab to the bus stop and waited for the bus that would take me to the train station. I was anticipating a smooth trip back to Chicago, after all, what else could go wrong?
Well… the bus arrived on time, the train left on time, we didn’t encounter any freak weather and the entire trip was uneventful… except that I was in a fairly old sleeping-car and it had a serious mold problem… the one thing I know I’m allergic to. The first day wasn’t bad, but I got stuffy that night. I brushed it off figuring that it was something blooming that that train had traveled through and was glad that I’d brought allergy medicine with me. But it didn’t go away… in fact it kept getting gradually worse.
Unfortunately, whether it was the effects of the allergies, antihistamines, or sleep-deprivation, it didn’t occur to me what was going on, that it was the mold, until I was only hours from Chicago. When I woke up stuffy that first night, I should have asked them to move me to the other sleeper-car, but stupid me, it never occurred to me. Live and learn, I guess.
By the time I made it home, I was out of allergy medicine and beginning to have troubles breathing… for the first time I understood a little of what my kids with asthma were going through. But got home, doped up on more antihistamines went to bed and figured I’d be better by morning. **sigh** Well, now I know that if I ever let myself get that OD’d on allergens again, it’s going to take over 48-hours before I have two brain cells to rub together.
So much for working on my book before the kids get home tomorrow. Sometimes life sucks. I’ve got my dream editor waiting for my manuscript and I have four kids to get ready to start school this week and I won’t have time to spend a minute fixing my stupid manuscript. **sigh**
But, on the bright side, my books should be arriving tomorrow!! Christmas in August. That helps, a little.
And… next year’s conference is in Washington DC… I think I’ll fly.
Comments, Pingbacks:
· http://chris-gerrib.livejournal.com Permalink
08/08/08 @ 11:19 This is my one chance with this editor and I'm not going to blow it.
I'm not aiming for perfect, nor am I stalling out of fear or anything else.
To put it bluntly, the beginning couple chapters are stiff, hard to get into, and completely out of character with the rest of the book. And, I know how to fix it.
So, let's look at it logically:
1) Send to my dream editor the beginning of manuscript that 75% of the readers have said that if that was a book they picked up they would not continue reading. And send it knowing that the editor is going to look at these same pages and judge me 100-times more critically than those 75% of my readers.
2) Fix known problems so the first few chapters match the style and substance of the last half of the book, which, by the way, ALL of my readers who have gotten that far say is fantastic.
You are advocating for option#1... knowingly send out something that I know is majorly flawed... knowingly waste my chance with this editor on something I know she won't want to buy? To me, this totally defies logic and common sense. Hell, if I read it, I wouldn't buy it... what makes me think somebody else would buy it?
What am I supposed to do, send along a cover letter saying: "Dear Editor, I know the beginning sucks and nobody can really get into the characters and nobody really understands the situation the heroine finds herself in, but the last half of the book really rocks! Regards, Jackie"
So, nope... not going to shoot myself in the foot... my writing career means too much to me.
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08/08/08 @ 12:01 · http://chris-gerrib.livejournal.com Permalink
08/08/08 @ 16:42 But my books came today, so that helps a little... now I just need to decide what to read... such a terrible problem to have. :-)
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08/08/08 @ 16:54 Leave a comment:
