Updates and BBW

Clearly, my five posts weekly resolution has been smashed. Then it was stomped on, put out with the recycling, and run over with a steamroller.

Oh well.

Tonight, the first 20-odd pages of YA MS the Third are on the chopping block in my Loft workshop. Early reactions are positive, but I manage to retain fear. It's my nature. I'm strong like that: in the face of positivity, I maintain a lack of composure.

I think I mentioned a trailer for YA Novel the First. Perhaps that was on Twitter. Regardless, I've decided, I regret to say, to redo much of it. The more I fiddled with it, the more of the book I felt I was "giving away," such as it is, and not adding much to the trailer itself, visually or oomph-wise. It eventually became really ineffective. So I'm backing up about three of hours of work, rethinking some of the sketches and the narration script. With a live-in babysitter set to arrive tomorrow afternoon, hopefully I can get it done by the middle of next week.

Not that there's any hurry, of course.

As I just noted briefly, by the way, Beth's mother-in-law will be arriving tomorrow afternoon. She'll be with us until Tuesday. I'd warn you that I might not update much during her visit, but since I've been about the slackingest blogger in Minnesota anyway, why bother.

I can hardly believe I haven't said a thing about Banned Books this week. Everyone did, except me. Of course, as you likely guessed, I am opposed to the banning of books. That said, I expect someone will challenge |-1|, and that bothers me not at all. It seems to me that much of the art teens have loved since "teens" became a demographic has been heavily challenged, regarded by much of the adult world as somehow dangerous. I don't expect that will ever change. And frankly, if it ever did, I expect art for teens would simply push farther, as it should. The teen age is one defined by its burgeoning individuality and independence from arbitrary adult and societal authority. Absorbing that which is challenged and subversive is a rite of passage, and a crucial one.

"Self-destructive"

I have a blog? How 'bout that.

Yup, been gone a week. No good reason for it, frankly.

My last Thursday afternoon for work, with MIL sitting Sam, is today. I'll be working mostly on an SAB title, which is nice. My two most promising WIPs (aka YA MS the Second and YA MS the Third) have been gathering dust, not for lack of time (though I haven't been taking write-nights as religiously as I ought to), but for lack of get-up-and-go. I think writing a quick football title for SAB will help me to feel potent again. Let's hope so, 'cause YA MS the Third is so freakin' promising, and yet I am afraid to approach it.

This has always been a problem for me, and I assume for many writers. I write and write like a house afire, and then, upon reaching some roadblock, stop. YA MS the Second has been wallowing for some time thanks to that issue, and I am afraid YA MS the Third is destined for the same fate. Heck, YA Novel the First wallowed on and off for about twelve years. It took some interest from the AE to really bang it into shape.

This afternoon, I have contractual obligations to attack that SAB title. It's due on Monday, after all. But after this weekend, I'm getting my BIC on, religiously. In fact, here's my vow: YA MS the Third will be agent-ready by Halloween.

Not to put to fine a point on it, but just typing that sentence gave me a small anxiety attack.

We have a title!

The big news today is the title of YA Novel the First is official:

The Absolute Value of -1

It may be written as |-1| to save time. So from now on, the tag for anything related to YA MS the First aka YA Novel the First aka The Absolute Value of -1 will be |-1|. Does anyone blog read using the tags? I mean, I know I do, but does anyone else?

Related: I just signed three copies of my contract for that novel and sent them off to my smartly dressed agent back in New York City.

Not related: You can still enter for a complete set of Field Trip Mysteries, the first season. And by that I mean, please enter! I want more entries.

Note to self: Buy for Sam a toy with buttons similar to those of the light switch in the dining room. If you do not, he will throw tantrums until you hold him in front of that light switch and let him push it over and over, possibly for hours at a time.

Sunday in the house with Sam

Yesterday afternoon I finished the first draft of YA MS the Third. It turned out about half as long as I think it will be, with one entire plot missing, a plot which is yet to be determined but that will save this thing once I figure out what it is.

Beth read the whole thing last night, and had some very helpful notes for me. I think overall she enjoyed it, and her biggest concerns were the same as mine: "What the hell is going on?"

In other news, I haven't updated in over a week now, which is actually fairly embarrassing. But like I mentioned in the last update: still waiting for the final title of YA Novel the First to be officially final, and for a few other things, that will help to make an update a little more worth reading than, say, this one is.

Right now, I'm hanging out with Sam, letting Beth sleep in a little longer. But I do hope she wakes soon so the three of us can get to our Sunday morning tradition: the Saint Paul Farmers Market. Have I ever raved about the market here? It's truly wonderful. It's fairly small, but every farm represented is local and organic. Throughout the summer, I'd say beginning in early May or so, the stuff for sale changes with the months and weeks; we begin with perennials and annuals for sale to the hobby gardener, and soon asparagus and strawberries show up. The corn appears soon, along with peppers and cucumbers and broccoli, and zucchini, et cetera. Eventually the apple-orchard people come out, with sample slices and fresh-pressed cider. It's really one of the best things Saint Paul has to offer.

So that's where we're headed, once Beth gets up. We'll get everything we need for salads, our traditional Sunday night dinner, plus a couple of coffees to enjoy as we stroll the aisles. And I promise that this week, I'll update twice more, very likely with nothing interesting to report, but a promise is a promise, after all.

It's the July WYAOD

I know. It's been almost a week. If you're tracking my resolutions, you're no doubt as disappointed in me as I am in myself. Here's the thing: I spent much of the week, when not working on a new FTM title, or simply doing the best job ever (watching Sam, that is), simply waiting for word on a couple of things.

First, Aforementioned Editor (how long will I keep up this pseudoanonymity of various people and projects?) and I have been discussing final titles for YA Novel the First. It's down to a few real contenders, one of which I'm favoring especially. It was Beth's idea, that one. In fact, nearly all of my favorites were Beth's idea. ENIV is also favoring that one. I suspect it will be the final title. Meanwhile, though, I wait for word from designers and salespeople and marketers, who are no doubt holding hours upon hours of meetings to discuss the issue, I assume, via AE. I know we're all anxious to settle on something, so I'm sure I'll hear next week.

Next, I mentioned very briefly that a writer whom I admire had agreed to blurb YA Novel the First. The exact wording of said blurb is still TK (I think the acronym list will be growing after this entry, by the way), and I'd love to simply just paste the entirety of her email below, but I think that would be in poor taste. For now, since she already made this public news on Twitter, I can reveal that the blurber is Sara Zarr. Yes! That Sara Zarr. And regarding the email, suffice it to say that when I read it to my mom, she cried.

So. The point is, I was hoping to update the Exile with some final word on either of the above issues. It wasn't to be. Instead, I'll let you know that today is a WYAOD for me. Like a giant doof, however, I biked to the coffee shop, ready to work, and forgot the excellent Father's Day gift cards I'm supposed to be using, per Beth's most excellent gift to me. Anyway, I'll be slaving away on YA MS the Third (poor the Second; why have I abandoned you?), and occasionally embarrassing myself publicly by playing air guitar along with "Aqualung," as I am right now. Don't judge; be glad there's no flute solo in this song.

Not for the squeamish

I didn't want to blog about this. Frankly, the whole episode would be better forgotten. Of course, if facebook statuses mean any posterity, it's far too late for that.

This was my facebook update yesterday morning:


I was out walking Harry, our faithful if irritating terrier, when about two blocks from home I was accosted and chosen as host organism for a horrible beast. Its new domicile was of course my left ear.

The two block walk was difficult. Every so often, the little expletive would flap its tiny wings, presumably to remind me it was in there and that it essentially owned me. Upon feeling and hearing these flaps ("The calls are coming from inside the house!" has never been so poignant), I would -- I believe quite understandably -- freak the hell out somewhat. Which is to say, I'd scream and slap myself in the ear.

I can only imagine what my neighbors must think of me.

Upon reaching our house, I (can you guess?) googled "a bug is stuck in my ear." One suggestion included "stick a blade of grass in your ear." I suppose that sounds . . . reasonable? But in my panicked state, I read "stick a blade OR grass in your ear." That sounded downright insane, so I tried a different site. Before I had a chance, however, my new little ear friend decided to do some serious flapping of wings. I screamed in a very manly way, and then woke up Beth and the baby to explain very calmly what was going on.

A few things we tried, thanks to Beth's clear head, helped. Among them: flushing the ear with water. This helped the little expletive get one . . . ugh . . . wing out of the ear canal. Beth, coyly, spotted the wing but did not fully let on that the creature living inside me was indeed a moth. She knew this would upset me. She did, however, suggest I stand next to a light.

That's when I knew.

"Ohmygod it's a freakin' moth!"

I won't get into the hoary details of my screaming and flailing and insisting everyone back away, no sudden moves, et cetera. Suffice it to say, just as I was getting ready to head to the ER for a mothectomy, the thing crawled out and fell to the bathroom floor.

I then killed it with tremendous passion and loathing. I think even Roo will understand.

It was a complicated day after that. That is, despite this unquestionable low point in the early morning, it turned out to be a good day (we bought Beth her new laptop), then a very good evening (we had supper at the Lakeside with many a Bracken), and then a freakin' amazing night (an author whom I respect and admire has agreed to blurb YA Novel the First, and sent me an amazing email telling me so).

FTM, revealed!

Finally, if you'll glance slightly to your right, the classified acronym has been revealed. Stone Arch Books newest series of chapter books, the Field Trip Mysteries, authored by yours truly, was so fun to write, so well designed and illustrated, I can hardly bear it. In fact, I'm in the middle of submitting the next four in the series!

Seriously, I just love the art by C.B. Canga. Get a load of these covers.





































In other news, edits on YA Novel the First are done! The manuscript, still untitled, is now being sent around for blurbs. My heart is inside out with apprehension and excitement. Aforementioned Editor and I will now discuss titles and cover ideas. I also want to note that the best titles that will come from my end of that conversation were thought up by Beth. She is much better at this than I am.

Oh, also we took this little trip out to New York to see fam and friends, so there was that. Boy, did I eat. Seriously. I can hardly remember anything else. Eddie's pizza, of course (twice actually), plenty of the more typical New York-style pizza, one hot dog from Papaya King, a burger and shake from COZY Soup and Burger (best shakes in the city, hands down), loads of bagels, and plenty of other great, great food. I don't want to think about it, because I'm pretty sure I gained twenty pounds over seven days. The airline should have charged me for an extra carry-on, I kid you not.

Those people from PIX are not as excited as they should be.

We're off to New York in the morning! Pizza, bagels, egg sandwiches, Eddie's* (which will be the first pizza Sam ever tries; everything is going according to my plan) . . . a 6:30 a.m. flight! We'll have to rise early even for us (our normal wake-up time is 5:30 or so). Wish us luck, please, as Sam is teething like nobody's business at the moment and has had a screwy couple of days as it is.

Perhaps you'd better wish the other passengers on our flight luck, as well.

YA Novel the First news: I sent back my second revisions to Aforementioned Editor. Assuming he approves of the minor changes I made and the itty-bitty new scene I painstakingly crafted, I think we're about to work on a final title for this thing. Finally. I've been sweating through every conversation about YA Novel the First, just dreading the inevitable "So?! What is it called??" As if that's all that matters. Sheesh.

We thought we'd see samples of my latest series for SAB last week, but they didn't show up. It's a shame; I'm looking forward to finally dropping them on the Exile and revealing what "FTM" stands for in the sidebar. Hopefully they'll be in by the time we return from back east. They're a treat to write (I just finished another for the next group in the same series today, as a matter of fact), and hopefully they'll be a treat to read. I can tell you one thing: I've seen much of the art and design, and they're positively gorgeous. They're bound to be my favorite SAB titles.


*That picture I found is awesome.

Going back east, sans laptop

I am saddened, for two reasons:

1. I lost a follower on this blog! I'm back down to 30. Sadness. I think I get a few followers here who aren't terribly interested in anything I have to say but are merely hoping I'll follow them back. I get a tremendous number of such followers on Twitter, too. Oh well. Good riddance, I suppose.

2. My laptop--aka, the most important inanimate object in my life--is in dire need of repair. The display simply doesn't work, 9 out of 10 times I try to start it up. And that 10th time, it usually goes black after a few minutes. The thing is still on warranty, so I'll have to ship it out to Dell and wait for it to return to me.

I am cheered, as well, though. For beginning Tuesday of next week, my family will spend a week in New York! This is great for all the usual reasons (i.e., food), but also because we will finally meet Sam's cousin Jaden, born to my brother and his wife in California way back in December!

With any luck at all, my laptop will be back in my possession shortly after we return home in early July. Then I can get cracking on YA MS the Third, which I am re-excited about after a long discussion with my agent yesterday. Oh, and YA Novel the First? I have to write the two tiniest little passages you ever heard of, which I'll probably do this weekend on Beth's laptop (using it right now!), and then I do believe the editing portion of our show will be over. Woo! Then it's final title, cover ideas . . . I can't stand it.

Oh, and speaking of early July, here is a public service announcement: Please, if you live near a family with a dog, don't shoot off firecrackers or fireworks. Thank you. Oh, also if you have fingers.

In which yet another writer makes me want to quit

Apologies. I finished Liar like three days ago and never came back to tell you how much I freaking loved it right to death. Amazing! I was maybe ten or fifteen pages into part two when I was overcome with an urge to never do anything for the rest of my life but read this book.

So yeah. Loved it. Read it like your life depends on it*. (When I rave about a book, I freakin' rave about a book.)

My one problem is the cover, because the model used looks exactly nothing like the protagonist Micah, who is partially of African American descent and has very close-cut, kinky hair. Not remotely the person on the cover. Still, it's just a cover, and if it puts the book in more people's hands, I'm okay with it.

Anyway, not much other news. Dragged Sam to the Como Zoo and he still couldn't care less. The fact is, he'd rather admire Harry up close than an orangutan from fifty feet away. He did giggle at a bison, though I missed the joke there.

Got my first notes from Aforementioned Editor, too, by the way. On Friday, in fact. I've gone through them. I have a little work to do. I don't think anything too, too terribly difficult came up, so hopefully we're close to sending this bad boy out for (dun dun DUN) blurbs! I have a wish list. I'm not telling it to you.

*Important note: Liar will not be on sale until the very end of September of this year. My apologies, but your life will have to wait.

The Truth about Naps

My apologies for another string of silent days here at the Exile. Here's what's new:

I read Sara Zarr's latest, Sweethearts, and while it didn't have quite the same effect on me that Story of a Girl did, it was of course great. She humbles me at every turn of the page; I maintain the slightest hope that she will stoop to blurbing YA Novel the First.

Authors Now!, class of 2010, has graciously accepted my membership. Not sure when my profile will be added to the site, but I'll check occasionally and keep y'all posted. (Not that anything terribly thrilling will be on my profile.) So far, both debut-author-promo groups I've joined have been hella understanding about my previous pubbed work, and therefore nice and loose with their definition of "debut."

I went and joined a crit group via MeetUp.com! It's a weekly group, which is so much more frequent than most I've heard about. Also, it's not strictly children's, which is fine with me. The folks I've met so far haven't been the slightest bit dismissive of YA as a veritable genre of literature, and in fact enjoyed the first chapter of YA MS the Second quite a lot. In many ways, I think YA is as suited with a group of writers of adult lit as it is with a group of writers of children's, especially picture book or chapter book writers, or more so.

Anyway, last night was my first meeting with the group. Only five of us discussed long-form stuff, which was nice, since everyone who submitted material got a good amount of crit in the two hours we spent around the table. At one point, the group leader suggested I go last, because that way I'd be "dessert." I assumed that was a bad thing, like, they were going to eat my piece last, like a drooling cave monster might save the tastiest adventurer to really savor the kill. Of course, you realize I had that wrong, because you, unlike me, are not a crazy person. In fact, "dessert" simply meant "treat," because everyone really liked the chapter I supplied. (I confessed to them that while, yes, I'm confident with my characterization, it's my plot arcs that typically need help. They should stay tuned for the trainwreck that is the continuing YA MS the Second.)

I feel like I probably digressed.

In other news, Sam has one tooth, now visible, as reported by Beth a few days ago. This means his eight-month-long freedom from brushing his teeth before bed has ended. Each night, for the rest of his life, he will have to brush before bed. For now, Beth will do it for him most nights, naturally, but there's no turning back now.

I guess he needs a second tooth before he can floss. So that's something.

Today we're cleaning the house to prepare for the arrival of Beth's mother-in-law, which is a roundabout way of saying "my mom." She arrives Friday afternoon. And you know what that means: live-in babysitter!

Naps seem much longer when you're not taking one.

(That's a lot of text. I better find some images to put in here so your eyes aren't bleeding before you reach the end.)

SOLD!

This had been a pretty stellar day.

First of all, my latest Eric Stevens/SAB title, about basketball, BTW, is nearly done. It's due tomorrow, and I shouldn't have a problem wrapping it up before lunch. Tomorrow, that is. I would have finished it today, perhaps, but for. . . .

Lunch with Roo. That was great! Great conversation, great food even at Pizza Luce (apparently the vegan food is also quite good, as Roo was happy with his), and great to feel a sort of connection to back east. Though I know Oz would be better all around, it might be pretty cool to have a dude like Roo in the neighborhood. Okay, in the state. Of course, the downside of lunch, besides not finishing my Eric Stevens work, was missing a phone call.

From my agent! But after some email and voicemail and receptionist back-and-forth, we finally spoke, and YA MS the First is officially SOLD! I'm over the goddamn moon, and sorry to say "goddamn," but I think protagonist would have wanted me to say "goddamn." If not worse.

So yeah. Big day! The above made it fairly easy to ignore the fact that it snowed here on the last day of March. Some lamb.

Band practice tonight. I will celebrate the day with a couple of beers. Better hit the package store on the way to pick up some Two Hearteds.

Mmmmm . . . literary hops.

Four items of varying degrees of note

Hey hey!

Good evening, happy Friday, and such and such.

No news on the YA MS the First front; I trust the esteemed EN4 arrived home from Bologna today and will be back in the office on Monday. I feel confident I'll hear all about the details (or "deetz," for you young people) at that time.

In news today, however:

1. I remembered most of the bass lines I was required to play at our first band-back-together practice last night! We're having another practice tomorrow afternoon, after . . .

2. Taxes! Tomorrow, lunchtime-ish, I'll be off to see our tax professional. Being a freelance, self-employed person is complicated, what with home offices and 1099s and expenses and such.

3. It pays to comment on your favorite blogs, people! I have been invited to become a new contributor at The Spectacle. This is pretty cool! And it's all because I dropped the correct answer to this week's Stump the Bookseller, one of the current contributors clicked over here, and thought I would be a good fit! My first official duty: write next week's Stump the Bookseller.

4. Since I was at practice last night, I'll have to make some write time this weekend. If I don't, Eric Stevens will be missin' deadlines, and that ain't cool.

Nothing more to say! Have a good weekend, y'all.

Movies that move me

The Where the Wild Things Are trailer is up, and everyone's linking it, so I won't bother. But I will say I am the following things:

1) excited
2) apprehensive
3) intrigued by the fact that the vibe feels at once MG and YA, not at all PB, and that the script adds lots of drama that the original PB fans would never have "gotten" when they were enjoying the PB as children. If you follow me.

Anyway, I've been hurt before, by the Narnian films, and The Dark Is Rising, which LORD I wouldn't put myself through, but I've heard only horrible things. So I'm keeping myself from getting excited. But I am pleased with the team that put this one together; unlike those two trainwrecks I mentioned, WtWTA looks like it was made by real fans of the work and children at heart, not just studio big-time POP BANG LOOK AT ME filmmakers. So that's nice.

What else? IDK. Sam and I went to storytime at the Red Balloon Shop on Grand on Tuesday. Holy cow, this was some crowded storytime. Fifty babies, I kid you not. Plus their parent(s), obviously. But seriously, the group we went to at the library in Saint Anthony Park had, at most, 5 babies on any given day. And once it was 2 babies.

Not much else is new. I think I might have an offer for YA MS the First in the next few days, so that's exciting, but it isn't news as much as it is an updated schedule.

Class tonight, after two weeks off. I wrote three short papers in that two weeks, which I will hand in today. Hopefully that will satisfy him -- for now.

Until next time, America.

Spring in the air!

Another five days have past. So sad.

Here's the news:

It's spring-like here, freakin' finally. I've given Harry three baths in as many days, therefore, because long walks with the family all over our defrosting neighborhood leave his shaggy underbelly terribly muddy. But the walks have been delightful. In fact, after Beth got home from work yesterday, we all four walked (well, Sam rode in the stroller) to Dairy Queen for ice cream cones. And yeah, neither Sam nor Harry had any ice cream.

I have a tremendous amount of work to do right now. Much of it is for the one class I'm taking and have been effectively ignoring while not actually in the classroom. It's time to catch up. Beyond that, I've got a title for SAB due in a couple of weeks, as does Eric Stevens, and hopefully I'll be working on revisions of YA MS the First fairly soon too.

Neil Gaiman was on Colbert last night. I'm embedding the video!

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Neil Gaiman

Colbert Report Full Episodes
Political Humor

Rap Battle
NASA Name Contest

It's trivia day!

First and only question:

1. What is McIntosh & Otis?

a) An apple and an elevator
b) A comic strip from the 1910s about two hobos, riding the rails
c) One of the oldest and most respected literary agencies in the world
d) The agency that represents Steve Brezenoff, author

If you said a, c, and d, you're right!

I have been enthusiastically offered--and have enthusiastically accepted--representation from the firm of McIntosh & Otis! I'm officially agented, which means everything can get rolling with YA MS the First!

More news soon. . . .

The third thing is the main reason for this entry

First things first:

I officially agree with Alea that the new "followers" box is spectacularly unattractive and should be returned to its earlier state.

Second thing, the snow in Minnesota is becoming a nuisance. We have about 5 inches on the ground right now, here in Saint Paul, and despite a brief lull, it seems to have started in earnest again. And me already having shoveled. Nuts. I need a remote control shovel.

Third thing, and here's the doozy. I've been holding back--somewhat, from some people--in spreading this around, but I'm feeling now like I can probably reveal it to some degree:

I'm about to sell my YA novel! No, seriously. Give me about a week and a half, and I'll have an agent--and a book deal for YA MS the First.

Answers!

I am taking this opportunity to answer some of the questions posed by me, myself, yesterday.

So.

1. Not much more, I don't think. Today he only put up with a few spoonfuls before growing tired of it and refusing to open his mouth again.
2. Yes! I just did. Pretty thrilled about it.
3. Some reading is due. The speaker canceled, too, which means we'll be working in small groups. Groan. Some people know how I feel about working in groups: not entirely good.
4. Holy crap, so far six slices of toast, and considering it's only Tuesday, I'm doing fairly well, I think. Almost through the first jar of jam, too. Or jelly. I can never remember which is which.
5. Since #2 has been answered, and since I mentioned YA MS the Second on the phone with the receptive agent in question, I suppose I better get on that in full. That will be my Thursday evening, I expect.
6. Today it has a little. So yay for that!

In other news, I am now in my third week of obsession with Squeeze's "Vicky Verky." If there is a better, more positive, more optimistic song about abortion, I haven't heard it yet. (I bit that line very slightly from a very old friend, and I don't think he'll mind.) Anyway, I have been thinking about writing a novel based on that one song. That's how rich Glenn Tilbrook's characters often are. I'm sure the urge will pass.

Or maybe "Separate Beds." That's such a YA too. Not quite the oomph, though, that "VV" has.

Six months!

Thursday! I can hardly contain my excitement.

Here's the news from Lake Stevebethandsam. Tomorrow is Sam's six-month birthday! With it came his well visit to his doctor, a day early, this morning. He is in good health, as I learned last Thursday, you undoubtedly recall. He is fifteen pounds and five ounces, 26 inches long, and has the head size of a grown man, essentially. Huge headed! I think that's probably why he's a little late with the sitting without support.

Also, you can rest easy knowing that the too-hot-cup-of-coffee-sleeve thingies are no longer unitaskers!



They are also this baby's favorite toy.

In other news, I was up at 6 and at the dentist's office at 7 am this morning for a routine cleaning and exam. It was without question the least bad one of those I've had in about ten years, I'd say.

Tonight, being Thursday, will be my night at the DBC. I am giving YA MS the First another look through, fixing some minor consistency issues that are bound to arise when one covers the same timeline three times from different POVs, and then sending it off to Aforementioned Editor once again.

I think at that point, the revisions in earnest will probably begin.

No news on the agent tip yet, natch. I expect I'll hear from at least one of these people next week. Maybe? I hope?

Ooh, Beth is making rice and beans for supper tonight. It's a recipe I taught her many years ago, and that she improved over the years to the point that I no longer think of it as my recipe and much prefer it to the shwaggy budget meal I used to whip up for myself and my vegan apartment-mate back in the late 90s. I too was vegan at the time, if you're wondering.

Digression over!

Blog post over!

Written

I'm about to really get to work now, for the next several hours, I hope. I've settled in at White Rock, which so far is pretty good, as far as free wifi, plenty of outlets, fairly quiet, friendly staff, good Americano (served in a glass; too weird). The coffee cake has too much crumbly on top, which I hadn't realized was even possible. Oh, and one other negative: outside, one-hour parking. No meters, though, so I don't see how anyone would have any idea how long I was sitting there.

Simply Red just came up on my iTunes. I'm laughing. Probably I look crazy.

So anyway, I came in here to the blog to mention two things:

1. YA MS the First is now, I think, finished, which is to say that the major (though fairly easy) changes discussed with Aforementioned Editor have been implemented, including the creation of a new epilogue. I've decided the melodrama and pretentiousness of the new copy is allowable and even desirable because the narrator in that section is a college student. Makes sense, right? I mean, you should see my journals from when I was in college. Lord forgive me for that crap. But it served it's purpose, which was to purge myself of the drive to imitate everyone from Sam Beckett ("Oh boy") to Franz Kafka.

2. Some of what I wrote last night (if you follow my twitter) was incoherent crap and has been replaced, so my announcement last night was premature. But this one, I think, is not.

Either they're having a celebrity-lookalike contest in here, or Ted Danson and Kevin Kline are hanging out here. Maybe neither, actually. But eerie.

iTunes update: Ah, the Foundations, "Baby Now That I've Found You." This is a goddamn song. (It's also one of the two songs that makes Harry bark when I sing it.)

Oh! One more thing: I've decided, after speaking with some more experienced friends, to seek an agent. I am hoping this will not be difficult, given some aspects of my current situation, and have therefore sent out several query letters.

It just gets harder and harder to sleep through the night, for serious.