My So-Called Life

Sarah E. just left after spending almost a week at my house (this doesn’t happen very often, so it feels like the shortest visits on earth despite how long they are). We made it a literary experience by watching all of the Jane Austen movies, minus Pride and Prejudice , while working on projects. She made a dress, and I painted a silhouette of a tree on the wall in the yellow room. It actually reaches from floor to ceiling.

I think Tim is relieved when Sarah visits, because he knows she is the sensible one in our relationship and won’t give in to any of my propositions. (However, for those of you who have not had the pleasure of experiencing Sarah in her element, you have no idea: this girl can get quite wacky.)But as far as Tim is concerned, he gets momentary relief from his usual morning routine of saying, “At least try to be good today,” while heading out the door for work. And I can hardly blame him. Once he came home to find a pair of my panties lying in the front yard and since then he has never recovered.

For the record, I have no idea why they were out there.

Speaking of Tim, he is presenting his thesis today. I wish I could’ve gone, but I couldn’t find a babysitter for Isaac. Not like I would’ve understood what he was talking about anyway, but still. By tonight he will be finished with his Masters in Physics, and next week will be the official beginning of earning his PhD in Material Science. I’m very proud of him.

Two and a half years down, two or three to go. During which time I intend to continue writing books. I am currently working on my next novel, and I have one non-fiction piece as well as two children’s books in mind. I’m sort of on pins and needles this week because one of the agencies I queried asked for a partial: which is to say, they wanted to see more pages from my manuscript. It may be that they dislike it and I am back to mailing out proposals again, but as this is my first partial I am very nervous and spend hours a day hovering around the computer in order to check my mail. From their request I can deduce at least three things: they liked my style of writing, they are curious to see what happens in the story, and the standard query letter I wrote isn’t a complete failure. From the research I have done, I’ve deduced that it is highly unusual for a first-time writer to get a proposal from an agency after only mailing out twelve queries. I’m still hopeful.

Isaac Is still not walking yet, but he is quickly learning to balance on his own. I hope his coordination is better than mine, as I fell off a chair yesterday and have a bruise the size of Michigan on my thigh.

I started writing a new song this week. I think I’m going to make it a piano song, so I can sing and play it on my own. But I can’t put up the lyrics because I don’t know how they end yet.