Things to Be Thankful For

I realize it's been quite a long time since my last posting, and that is, of course, because I have had very little to report. I keep hoping for news, and alas, none comes. Right now I'm still waiting to hear on one partial and one full, and since I was starting to freak out that the end of the year is nigh (and many agents don't accept or look at submissions in December and early January) I went a little crazy and sent out another dozen or so queries. The total is now 26. I got one rejection today from someone I queried yesterday, so the stats are:
6 rejections
5 no responses
5 partials or fulls (of which 3 were subsequent rejections)
I'm actually not that unhappy with those numbers. But we'll see what happens now that I have many more outstanding queries. I have resolved myself to the fact that this is a numbers game, and I need to have as many options as possible. Plus I need to keep things moving or I'll go insane. The idea of querying a few agents and waiting for a response is good in theory, but so far I've only gotten useful feedback from one agent, and now that it's been 2.5 months on the full and 2 on the partial, I can't keep waiting around. Either someone's going to like my writing enough to want to represent me or not.

Back to the title of this entry: I had really hoped to add "getting an agent" to my list of things to be thankful for this year, but it appears that is highly unlikely. So, barring that one glaring omission, here are, in no particular order, the top ten things I am grateful for:
1) That I have a happy, healthy (present cold notwithstanding), wonderful baby boy
2) That I have a loving and supportive husband who let me quit my job to take care of said baby boy and pursue my passion
3) That my husband is safe and sound here at home and not deployed
4) That the people I love most (namely Sarah and John, but also the rest of my family and good friends) are finding success in their endeavors
5) That I have a warm, safe place to live, even if it isn't the house of my dreams
6) That I can afford most of the things that I want and all of the things that I need
7) That this body of mine can give birth to a baby and run a marathon all in the same year (must learn to appreciate it more!)
8) That even though I feel hopeless and down on myself much of the time, I have the strength and perseverance to keep on fighting for my dreams
9) That my parents are both alive and healthy (for the most part) and I get to see them in a month
10) That I get to live less than ten miles from my best friend

I'm sure I'm leaving out a whole slew of things, but clearly, I have many, many reasons to be thankful this year. It sounds like Mr. Jack is awake and stuffy, so I'm off to attempt to clear out his little nostrils (which is far more difficult than it sounds, believe me). Tomorrow we leave for Atlanta to celebrate Thanksgiving with family. Here's hoping for safe travels!
Happy Thanksgiving!

Marathon Mama

Finally, after months of training, I can quite proudly say that I am officially a marathon runner! Sarah and I finished in a respectable 4 hours, 20 minutes and 33 seconds. I would have loved to have finished under 4:15, but considering we were dodging runners the entire 26.2 miles and had to make two pit-stops (I had some serious stomach issues), the fact that we even managed to stay together and finish as well as we did is pretty impressive. I wish I could say I enjoyed the whole thing more, but frankly, it was pretty long and painful. I am, however, thrilled that it's over!
The last few miles were the toughest, especially for Sarah. But I managed to dig deep, remind myself that I gave birth, and I told myself what may amount to a lie: if I can finish a marathon, then I can get my book published! Whatever the case, it got my ass across the finish line.
Today, alas, it's back to reality. No rest for the wicked I'm afraid. We went trick or treating last night with our friends, and Jack was a real trooper - he spent 7 hours out and about with Daddy during the race, then put on his pony costume and went out for another couple of hours. I am as proud of him as I am of myself.
Of course, it has to be noted that John was there for me the whole time - I got to see him and Jack about mid-way through the race, which was a nice boost, and I have even more respect for him and his crazy running now that I've completed a fraction of what he's done. I am also more concerned for his sanity - I can't imagine doing that four times in a row, let alone doing another one in the next couple of months (if ever)! Sarah and I have decided that if we ever do decide to do another marathon, there will have to be more incentive (like a trip to Hawaii) involved.
As for the rest of my life, no news whatsoever on the book last week, although I did recently submit three more queries. I'm starting to get really down on myself about the whole thing. I feel like it's just not going to happen. But I managed to work a little more on the book last week, and I'm confident that once I finish my job in three weeks I'll be able to get some more writing in. If nothing else it will take away one stress factor in my life. Not having to worry so much about training should help too.
Well, Jack is awake from his nap so I'd better run (well, let's be honest - hobble) upstairs and get him.
I did it!