Weekly inspirational blog post: Not written.
Reason: Insanely busy. See below.
So this photo: Irrelevant, but ain’t it cool!
Submissions: Cascading. More so than ever before. Will we always be open to general submissions? Yes in UK. Don’t know about USA – we’re hanging in there for now. Narrowly.
What would make that easier: a) certain individuals not inundating me and b) knocking off the 15% (wild guess) who send completely irrelevant and wrongly targeted material that wastes ridiculous amounts of my time.
Courtesy levels: We try, we try.
Deals: Yes! UK deal for Harriet Goodwin’s HEX FACTOR. US deal about to be announced for . . . . No, you’ll have to be patient.
Foreign: Yes! Great German auction for Brenna Yovanoff’s THE REPLACEMENT. Sold to Loewe Verlag.
Manuscripts: Getting through them. Kindle red hot.
Tax year: Ending soon. Just visited Joe, my number 1 dude (aka US accountant).
Number 2 dude: Eduardo, computer magician. Just set up whizzy Asus EEE netbook (14-hour battery life). Now I can work ANYWHERE (like I didn’t before???).
Number 1, 2 and 3 dudesses (female dudes): Mel, Nikki, Grace – who do money. And stuff.
Coffee: A lot
New York: Tomorrow. SCBWI Winter Conference VIP cocktail party.
Conference: February. Asilomar. California.
Critiques: Look, I’ll get them done, OK.
Italy: March. Bologna book fair. Scheduling. Deciding who to invite to dinner.
Criteria: Cool industry people who we like.
Music currently in Mini CD player: Bach. Brandenburg Concertos.
Why: Lofty. Also soothing.
Sleep: Not enough.
Good news: Everywhere. Greenhouse is blooming!
Weather: Sunny.
Message to writers: Voice. Voice, voice, voice. And plot.
Now: Lunch.
What: Tortilla. Cheese.
Afternoon: Logging off to read and edit.
Reason: Care, precision and thoughtfulness are everything.
Finally: See you soon!