Just 'Cause

Rando Photo

Happy Birthday to Me!

So technically it's not my birthday yet, but as this is not a Leap Year (and therefore I don't actually have a birthday) I feel justified in dragging out my birthday as long as possible. Hence, Kimmy's visit for the weekend, starting Friday and sadly ending tomorrow. We had a fabulous girls night away in Annapolis, staying at the absolutely adorable Chez Amis. It was a momentous occasion as it was my first "real" night away from Jack (not counting the two nights at Sarah's house for our 20-miler and the night before the marathon). Alas, I did not sleep as well as I'd hoped, but it was still great to be able to spend an entire 24 hours sans baby. I was surprised by how much I missed the little bugger.
Along with shopping and eating, we paid a quick visit to the Naval Academy (the photo above is from the church there) and had a delicious dinner at a wine bar (followed by much gallivanting about town and culminating in the best photo ever of Kim and her seamen).
On the writing front, it was a good week. I made it past the first round of the Amazon contest, and I got a request for a full from a new agent. I did also finally get a rejection from the agent who's had the partial since September, but I had pretty much given up on them so it didn't sting as badly as it might have (I was also coming off the request for the full, which helped significantly).
All in all it was a great pre-birthday week and I still have a couple of presents to open. Happy birthday to my brother Aaron and to Sarah, too, of course. I have high hopes for 31!

Inspiration on a Wednesday Morning

So the car died this morning, but that's completely beside the point. I'm just working on BDC and found this little vintage caravan whilst doing research; isn't she the perfect bit of inspiration for the book?
Photo by Hilary Walker, from the book My Cool Caravan (photo taken from the Guardian website)

Perspective...

Yesterday was a rough day, as I said. I was feeling really down about my book (all it takes these days is five minutes in Barnes and Noble for me to start feeling sorry for myself) and John and I had a stupid argument, and I was irrationally upset that we couldn't go to the zoo because of the high winds. I vowed to make today a better day, and it was, although I had a migraine-quality headache this afternoon after a trip to the Textile Museum to see the ikat exhibit with E and S. At any rate, John tapes Frontline and always tries to get me to watch it, and I usually don't because it ends up being depressing. Well, tonight was no exception. The show was about the illegal sex-slave trade in Eastern Europe, and after an hour of listening to the horrible things that happen to these poor young women, the show ended on a particularly dismal note. After seeing something like that, it's hard not to feel like a wretch for whining and complaining about not being able to get a book published. I need to remind myself more often that not having my wildest dreams come true does not constitute a crisis, or even reason for complaint. Part of me is absolutely terrified that if John does get the Foreign Service, we'll end up in a place like Moldova. I'll get sold into the sex trade, Jack will be sold into slavery, and that will be the end of us. Then I think, maybe that's the kind of perspective I need in my life (not being sold into slavery, obviously). We'd actually have a chance to make a difference in a country that needs it; yes, there are far more glamorous (and safer) countries, but that's not really the point. Whatever happens, I know we'll make the best of it. In the meantime, I need to start being a little more appreciative of what I do have, and stop worrying so much about what I don't have.
Today, I'm grateful for a husband who runs a marathon in the morning (just for training), then comes home and watches Jack and buys groceries so I can go out to lunch with my friends, and then makes a delicious dinner for us.
Oh, and the headache is finally gone :)

Beauty for Beauty's Sake

I'm having kind of a rough day, so I thought I'd post something pretty to cheer myself up. This is one of the beautiful peonies John got me for Valentine's Day.

A Little Makeover

So I've done a little bit of redecorating here at Scribble Babble over the past week, including renaming my URL. S and I are participating in a really cool blog all about doing what you love, and I wanted to make sure my blog was up to snuff when the time comes (not that anyone will look at it, most likely, but you never know!). S also started her own blog, so we've made vows to at least read each other's and appear as guests occasionally.
Last Monday I received an agent rejection, as well as one on Friday, but I also got a request for a partial from an agent I'd queried in November, so at least there's one more small glimmer of hope out there. I haven't worked at all on the new book recently, so I'm hoping to be more diligent this week. Grandpa finally wrote back to me, but he didn't have much to offer regarding his time in the war (he says we need to talk in person, but that won't happen until September at the earliest). So I'll just have to do my best improvising for now and hope he has some fun anecdotes to share that I can use later on.
(John is watching Airplane right now and making me crazy.)
Jack is doing well, finally feeling better after his awful cold (which I now have, of course). He is having a lot of trouble falling asleep at night for some reason (or he wakes up about an hour after we've put him to bed). I don't know if it has to do with all the changes going on in his life right now (learning to walk, learning to talk, etc.) but I feel bad for the little guy. He must be very tired.
(God this movie is awful!!!)
Well, it's getting late and I'm not feeling too fabulous, so I'll sign off for now. Hopefully there will be some more news (good or bad!) this week to report next Sunday.

When God Closes a Door...

...he opens a window, or so they say. A door has certainly closed this week (the agent who had my full for 5 months finally sent a rejection - and unfortunately it didn't have one useful bit of feedback; she said it was "amazingly written" and that she "really loved" the story, but she didn't connect to it as much as she needed to) and it remains to be seen if the proverbial window is going to open. The agent I resubmitted to wrote back almost immediately telling me she would read the changes and get back to me, and now I'm freaking myself out that I didn't do nearly enough to the manuscript. But what's done is done, so there's no point worrying about it now. I sent out 7 more queries on Friday and have already received one rejection and another query bounced back. If I don't get a partial out of this group I'm going to be really disappointed.
Meanwhile Jack has been really sick this week, his first real illness ever. It appears that John and I might miraculously make it through unscathed, but I'm taking preventative measures just in case. I can't afford to get sick right now. This week I plan on sending out more queries and then it's time to start working on the new novel.
I can't believe I'm turning 31 in just a few weeks. EEEEEEK! For some reason 31 sounds a lot older than 30, and it seems my plan of getting an agent while I was 30 hasn't panned out either. I guess my next landmark is 35. At least that buys me a little time :P
Off to a Super Bowl party with the mommy gang. Looking forward to wine, food, and gossip. As for football...