Stay Close to Your Phone and Closer to Your Email

There are certain events that you come across; some are ordinary while others are extraordinary. This one takes the cake of unexpected events as to when a slight twist of fate enters your regular day to day routines. It is also another reason of reassuring appreciation within of how crazy and eclectic life can be at times.

Months ago while still living atop a foggy cliff side in San Francisco, I had finished a manuscript. Had it edited by a bunch of interns/students you name it, went through revisions. Re-edited. Re-revised. If you have ever completed a project of this nature you know the process is brutal and still amazingly gratifying.

Before the summer hit I started sending out queries to agencies all over the US and UK in all hopes that someone would be interested in picking the piece up and be willing to represent it. I got lucky with a couple of bites at first but they weren’t very solid offers. It has been months and with all of the moving and shaking that has taken place I completely forgot that the manuscript was completed let alone queried. It has been under lockdown collecting electronic dust.

The other day I was contacted by an agency based out of New York that informed me that they received my query and supporting pages. It’s currently being passed around and going to be taken under consideration. Could this really happen? After all of that [forgotten] time, can it be?

I want to put all of my hopes into saying yes but know from previous experiences that it is a dog eat dog world in the publishing industry and am staying calm until I get the final word..and a binding document. Which could take more months depending on how long the pitch is deliberated for.

The conversation made me think about how easily I put that manuscript on the backburner and forgot about it. How quickly I brushed it aside to do something different like move and start exploring a new city. So I spent an entire day wandering around, cleaning and deciding on what the next step was.

Regardless of the decision, I am moving forward with this project but keeping it to myself (and obviously here) for the time being to figure things out and keep track of certain ideas. It makes absolutely no sense to have it completed and not out of my computer. If the agency accepts the pitch then I will obviously move forward with their options but if they don’t I have started to look into other avenues of independent publishing.

To go about this is terrifying and exhilarating as I have never been down this road before but why not give it an attempt to see where it can go. There is nothing to lose. While it will mean more to me than anyone else who reads it, to have the opportunity for an outside reader to understand the emotions and feelings portrayed and how it could help or inspire them. How can I say no?

It’s simple. There is no NO for this answer. There is only try.

And so this is my mission for the coming weeks that is being thrown into the mix of missions already in place. To find a way to publish this manuscript as a possible alternative, to see if I can do this because I know deep down it can be done.

Talk about living in the moment!

Winter Wonderland....minus the wonder!

So a little about me before all of this gets started. I am 29 years old and finally on the verge of getting comfortable and finding some permanency in this crazy thing I call my life. I tend to be a magnet for strange happenings that really aren't a big deal but to a certain friend they are, so at her request I'm writing about them since I'm in a new place I can't share these things with just anyone.

I went to college out of state to study Cinema and fell in love with the city I was in, but after I graduated I got hit with a major dose of reality and decided to stay near my family rather than move to the host state as originally planned. California is a mighty expensive place to live, and San Francisco as much as I love you, I cannot afford thee. Five years later, I was still living near my family, working like the rest of corporate america and feeling like I was going to go bald or go home from the stress. I was in need of a change. Badly.

Two jobs later, stress levels off the charts and money saved in the bank I was able to save up enough money to rent a truck and make the move back to San Francisco. No job, a seedy apartment...and no job. Not the wisest of decisions but that pull to leave the city I was in, and the horrible sounds of firetrucks running along the streets every fifteen minutes gets old pretty fast.

San Francisco or bust, we'll lean towards bust but that's okay. I love that city, I love the people and the land. What I don't love and what is so sad, the Bay Area has been hit with an epidemic. Please beware if you are considering moving. Ouch, it will take you awhile to get something for work. So here comes the soul searching time. The real itch to move yet again. Can I do it? Where do I go? Am I ready to settle down someplace and make this a permanent place to live? I mean this is not rocket science, it's not like I am married and have children but it feels like a serious relationship...

My boyfriend...the moving process.

Ten months into foggy San Francisco I decided I was unhappy, needed friends and mostly needed stability. I researched like crazy this time on good places to live, lifestyles, community and settled on Illinois. Never visited the state before, knowing absolutely nobody as all of my family live thousands of miles away. Why here? Why not, the city is amazing, the people are friendly and three months in I feel like I am getting comfy and cozy somewhat. Minus the job...but we're getting close to something so I'm keeping my fingers crossed with a prospect.

Anyways, that's me. My life is just like anyone else's, spending days drinking copious amounts of coffee reading the paper or clearing my blackberry, a glorious death kill for an alarm clock and spending way too much time in my kitchen with the sounds of hockey filling the front room. Which I forgot started an hour early because of the time difference so it's time for another distraction.

PS....I am still getting emails from jobs I applied for in SF from a year ago. Smart move!