*looks around* Everything seems the same ... I've been mostly offline for the better part of five days, and I'm afraid there's no way I'm going to be able to catch up on my flist -- did I miss anything?

We got the kid graduated (pictures to come later) and the Relay for Life -- um -- Relayed (pictures below), and I had time to send in a writing submission (more about that later). We even got a little yard work done. Now that I'm back, I'm off again -- we're going to be spending a day this week at Ball State University in Muncie, hoping to use Jillian's college discount to get her an affordable Mac laptop. Whether she got enough graduation gift money for this, I don't know yet ...

Next on the agenda is the fire department's fish and tenderloin fry fundraiser, which we do every year during Albion's Chain O' Lakes Festival -- if you're within a hundred miles of northeast Indiana, it's worth traveling for the great fish! Check your calendars for the afternoon of June 10. :-)

About five hundred people attended the Noble County Relay for Life, and despite a large drop in corporate sponsorship, preliminary estimates are that the money raised was higher than last year. The organizers did a great job!
( Relay for Life pics -- not dial-up friendlyCollapse )

Now that I'm back on the Business of Writing wagon, I'm going to post all my submissions and rejections here -- not so much for the encouragement (although that's fine!) as to help keep track myself.

So, on Friday, May 29, I mailed a query letter, synopsis, and the first three chapters of Coming Attractions to Avalon Books. Avalon often sells direct to libraries, and prefers its books without graphic sex or cursing -- that makes this novel a good match, since it's mostly a "sweet" romantic comedy. There were some suggestive scenes/language I had to change; naturally, I kept the original manuscript in case the next publisher prefers a spicier story.

Next I'm going to do a revision of Radio Red: My former agent requested numerous changes (most of which I went along with), and I need to decide which I want to keep, and which to change back. The publisher I have in mind for this book wants an electronic query, including a cover letter, the complete manuscript, and -- a business plan! That's a new one on me. I wish I'd taken some business courses and paid more attention to that aspect of the publishing world -- and I wish I already had a writer's website. But it's something I would have done anyway, so now's the time to get started.