Yesterday was a banner day in some ways. But also a struggle. In my anxiety over my work I let my guard down and ate way over my calorie budget. This morning the scales recorded a one pound gain. So today I’m struggling to keep going with this setback. And to respond to the news I got yesterday from BOTH the literary agent who just finished reading the third revision of my novel, Cherry Bomb, AND the press editor who is interested in publishing my anthology.
I was anxious to hear back from both of them, and ironically I received their emails about an hour apart. It had been seven weeks since I sent the novel revisions to the agent. Her email was encouraging—“ As before, we found your story interesting and commercial. Your writing is well rounded and the dialogue flows well. Congratulations on this edit! Your book has improved.”—but then came the part about how it still needs more work. Nothing as major as before, thankfully, but nonetheless, it’s apparently not ready to be shopped out. So it’s back to work on the novel again.
Meanwhile the editor of the press sent my revised anthology proposal out to readers and shot me back some questions, so I’m busy at work on that project at the same time. The work is so different than revising a novel, and I welcome the change of pace. I love research, so I’m having fun searching for an essay by one of the well-known authors who has agreed to contribute to the anthology. She’s busy traveling right now and doesn’t have time so she said, “Choose something.” I’m like a kid in a candy store. Only these treats have no calories. Yum.